Zach on Weddings

I have never been to a wedding. 

I am 25 and although I have had married friends I have simply never had the occasion to attend such an event.  This is a little odd but not really a problem except that my first wedding is likely to be in June and I am likely going to be the one who is officiating. 

Several years ago I got ordained at an online church.  My friend who is getting married said at the time she would have me do her ceremony and we had a good laugh.  And yet now as her big day approaches she still seems to have remembered this promise and despite knowing that I have never been to a wedding nor seen that many movies with weddings in them  She still seems to be determined to have me marry her (and I don’t mean become her husband).  I think I need to familiarize myself with Hugh Grant’s body of work.

Zach on Italian Food

I love Italian food.  The thing I love about it is its versatility. Essentially it is a combination of pressed wheat flour, sauce and cheese.  Flavor to taste.  From the highest end foods that you would find in five star restaurants to Sunday at Grandmas it’s all variations on a theme.  There is no part of it so extravagant or so simply to be unattainable.

Leslie Frame plays Finola

On Being a Woman with Choices

My great great grandmother, with two children and a drunk husband, found herself pregnant with her third at the age of 24. She knew that her small family could not afford to feed a third child. As she sat in her kitchen discussing this problem with her sister and mother, the hopelessness of her situation quickly became apparent to all three. She had no choice. No options to explore.

She could not chose to terminate her pregnancy in 1910, rural Indiana. She could not go out and get a job for extra income. Her only option was to try not to starve. Her mother, all at once and in what family lore has since agreed was a convoluted act of love, pushed her off the chair in which she was sitting in an attempt to make her miscarry.

She did, and died as a result of it. Just four short generations ago, my Great-Great Grandmother Berenice died for want of choices.

Here I am ninety eight years later. I find it odd that I look so much like the extant pictures of her and my problem is too many choices. Too many roads I could travel. Too many roads I am trying to travel simultaneously. Too many options to pick to be happy with one.

My Mother told me I could do anything I set my mind too. That the world was my oyster and I was very capable of cracking it. Trying to narrow my options down to what I want keeps my up at night.

Trying to embrace the options my mothers fought so hard to give me gives me heart palpitations. How can I commit to a life as an actress in Chicago when I might very well be a student in Paris or a tour guide in Rome or a mother on some quiet farm in some lovely corner of rural paradise?

Where I come from, today, here and now, women have more choices open to them than any of their mothers before them, and, it does not escape our collective conscience, more options than are still open to many of our sisters around this world.

The enormity of this, the responsibility of this can be at once exhilarating to contemplate and very sobering to face. We, as those women, are bound to make mistakes now and then, the mistakes that are intrinsic to any human life.

But we owe it to posterity to face each choice with courage and honesty, to take each step from a place of love.

Because we will never again be pushed from a place of fear.

This is why we love Momma B.!

My favorite Italian food is pizza – not the wimpy kind, but the kind with lots and lots of toppings!

Megan on being a woman with choices…

Choices…I HATE making choices.

I am probably one of the most indecisive people you will ever meet. Don’t get me wrong, I love HAVING choices, I just hate MAKING them.

Over the years I have definitely frustrated many individuals with my inability to make a decision! I think it’s so important for women to have choices. I’m no feminist, but I definitely feel that through the years women have not been given as many choices as men.

I feel often times women just go with the flow and do something because they think it’s expected of them rather than follow their heart and do what they truly want to do. Life is way too short to go around without giving yourself choices.

Without having options how does one grow and expand their horizons? Especially when it comes to marriage and relationships one needs to explore and experience many different people in order to know what you eventually want.

I came across this awesome show last week called Quarterlife. It’s about twenty-somethings and not knowing what’s going to happen and having to make choices that will eventually shape your life.

I want to close with a quote from the show: “So I guess when all is said and done nothing’s done…It’s all a work in progress, which I hate. I hate not knowing, and waiting, and finding it so hard to figure out what we’re all supposed to be, but what’s my choice anyway…”

Celebrate your choices because in the long run it makes you who you are! 

Megan on Italian food…

Italian cooking – YUM!

To be honest I don’t know much about Italian cooking, okay, I know nothing, but I do know that I like to eat it! Italians know how to do it up nice! I’m not much of a meat eater so I enjoy great pasta and bread – yes, all those nasty carbohydrates everyone cringes at (I could never go on the Atkin’s diet!)

Oh, and pizza, who could forget pizza – it rocks the stadium of my heart! Most recently I’ve become a fan of gelato. There is this awesome little cafe next to where I work called Via Gelato and they boast that they have the most authentic Italian food around. The owner spent three years in Italy studying Italian cuisine. I’m a huge fan of ice cream – it makes everything better, but gelato blows ice cream out of the water!

I most recently stumbled upon something called affogato. It’s basically gelato with espresso drizzled on top. With two of my favorite things put together in one delicious treat you can’t go wrong!

Perhaps I should expand my horizons and perfect my Italian cooking, but for now I’ll just rely on Paul to show me all the best pizza joints in the city!

Barb Rosenbalm on Italian Food

Ya gotta love people who can think of a thousand different things to do with tomatoes and noodles in a bunch of different shapes but each with its own name.

 Is macaroni really any different than angel hair pasta? It is to Mama B!

Will Wilson plays Father Donny

I am pleased to be joining the cast of Italian Lights; Not Stars. Playing a priest is not too much of a stretch for me since I was cast as God (or rather, the voice of) in the Chicago Gay Men’s Chorus 2006 production of The Ten Commandments: The Musical. Maybe one day I’ll get to be a bad guy.

As we begin the 21st century, the question arises; Have the windows of the Church been opened, and do both sides see more clearly? As a practicing Catholic, and a lay person, my response is a resounding Yes.

 

While it is true that many of our customs are much more relaxed, it is unusual to see people dress for Mass unless they are attending a wedding or a funeral, I never fail to be amazed at the number of lay Catholics who continue to seek a more accurate understanding of scripture and how to apply that understanding to their daily lives.

 

The Church is a living entity, and as such, we may on occasion, take two steps backward for every step forward, yet, that is the process of growing.

 

As St. Paul says, At present we see indistinctly, as in a mirror, but then face to face. At present I know partially; then I shall know fully, as I am fully known.  (1 Corinthians 13:12)

Megan E. Brown plays Maria

So I’m basically Just a small town girl, livin’ in a lonely world.

I moved to Chicago from Upstate New York about a year ago now and I’m still getting used to living in the city! I graduated from Elmira College in 2005 with a BA Theatre and spent a year on the road touring with the Missoula Children’s Theatre.

 

Considering I’m almost a quarter of a century old I’ve traveled and seen my fair share of things in this world! Since I’ve been in Chicago I’ve appeared in Girl Blue with the n.u.f.a.n ensemble and You Gotta Kick Up You Heels with A Table and Chairs. Most recently I appeared in Profile Theatre’s production of Things We Said Today.

 

I’m rockin’ out the role of Maria in Italian Lights; Not Stars. I definitely feel like I can relate to her because I’m at that age where all of my friends seem to be getting engaged and married, and yet I personally am no where near ready to make that commitment.

 

I feel like I have so many things on my to-do that I want to get done before I settle down. There is so much pressure when you get to a certain age to take that next step with someone, especially if you have been in a serious relationship, but I feel too many people rush into things because they think it’s the thing to do.

 I admire Maria for being honest with herself and with Tommy and for realizing what she wants. I’m no where near Italian – I’m more of a Heinz 57 variety, but I’m having a hell of a time filling the shoes of an Italian in this piece!
 

Momma B. on being a woman with choices

Here is my insight on being a woman with choices:  Being a woman with choices is like being a man with choices only with different plumbing.