St. Charles community leaders to take part in fundraiser for Kane Repertory Theatre

Kane County Repertory Theatre artistic director and co-founder Daniil Krimer knows that fundraisers have reputations for being stuffy affairs.

In planning for the St. Charles theater’s first fundraiser, Krimer said they wanted to make sure the event was anything but that.

“What we wanted to do with this event is really take it in the direction of something more fun and more silly, something where people get to laugh and have a good time,” Krimer said.

Kane Repertory Theatre Presents: The Who’s Who Sketch Comedy St. Charles Fun Time Fundraiser for Theatre will be held at 6:30 p.m. April 30 at 116 Gallery/Mixology Salon Spa, 116 W. Main St. in downtown St. Charles.

“We are trying to convey the message of quirkiness and silliness as opposed to being stiff and dry,” Krimer said.

The night will feature a one-act play starring community leaders such as St. Charles Mayor Lora Vitek, Colonial Cafe Board Chairman Tom Anderson, developer Curt Hurst, St. Charles City Council 3rd Ward Alderman Paul Lencioni, 116 Gallery/Mixology Salon Spa owner Phoebe Falese and others. The event also will feature DJ Teresa Bondavalli.

“It’s going to be a blast,” Krimer said. “It’s going to be a good time.”

Tickets cost $60, which can be purchased at Kane County Repertory Theatre’s Facebook page, @KaneRepertoryTheatre. The money raised by the fundraiser will help the theater in the projects it has planned for this year, including continuing the Shakespeare program it started last year.

In October 2019, Kane Repertory Theatre put on its first production, “Our Town.” A few months later, the COVID-19 pandemic hit and Kane Repertory Theatre was forced to put its live productions on hold and switched to virtual productions.

Last August, Kane Repertory Theatre presented its second live production since the nonprofit professional theater company established itself, when it presented, in partnership with the St. Charles Park District, an outdoor production of “Romeo and Juliet” at the pavilion at Pottawatomie Park in St. Charles.

The theater company will bring back the Shakespeare program this summer, and will perform William Shakespeare’s play “Twelfth Night” at the Pottawatomie Park pavilion.

“We’re really trying to build it as a staple of this community,” Krimer said.

Kane Repertory Theatre also will be commissioning playwright Ken Urban to write a play. He is the senior lecturer and head of dramatic writing in the music and theater arts program at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

“We’re basically commissioning a world premiere play by him that’s going to premiere in St. Charles, and we’re going to take it to Chicago,” Krimer said.

Krimer hopes that Kane Repertory Theatre can continue to offer live productions.

“Theater is really an experiential experience of the five senses,” he said. “You have to be in the room with the audience or outside with the audience. Doing it online is just not a representation of what theater is. It was a substitute because artists need to have a venue to express themselves, and that’s why so much moved to online and everybody tried to adapt and figure out ways to still create theater over Zoom.”

More information about Kane Repertory Theatre is available at its website, kanerepertorytheatre.com.