Arenzville native John Love has turned a passion for performance that he’s had since third grade into the career of his dreams.
“I get to travel around the United States and I get to perform and those are my two big loves,” Love said. “It’s a dream come true.”
Love is music director for one of the touring companies of Second City, the famed Chicago-based comedy institution that has launched the careers of many world-renowned performers. He works with a six-person troupe of actors to develop and perform original music that then is presented before live audiences during the troupe’s improvisational performances.
“The actors are constantly writing new material, and some of that material includes music,” Love said. “They may have some ideas for me or no ideas at all, and I need to work with them to come up with the original music and lyrics they perform on stage during our two-hour sketch show.”
Love performs the music on the piano as the actors go through their skits. Did we mention that a large part of the Second City performance is improvisational — literally made up as the skit progresses?
“We have the set sketch and the set songs that we have written, but maybe 30% of the show is always going to be improvised,” Love said. “So I won’t always know exactly what I’ll be playing on any given night, which is terrifying, but it’s also very, very fun.”
“If it’s a scene that is supposed to be kind of dramatic, I’ll play bigger, more dramatic chords,” Love said. “If the actors are pretending to be children, I might play something on the higher end of the key with more child-like sounding rhythms and melodies. It is definitely something new every night.”
The other part of Love’s music director role is sound design. He finds music that can pump up an audience and he plays it after each scene to keep the audience energized.
Love’s Second City traveling troupe has performed up and down the East and West coasts, along with Alaska, Colorado, Florida, West Virginia and Oklahoma. But Love’s most memorable show was in June before a hometown crowd at the Hoogland Center for the Arts in Springfield.
“We were in Alaska and found out that Springfield, Illinois, was on the list,” Love said. “I told the producers that I would love it if our company could be the one that went to Springfield because it’s my hometown area. So I was able to do a home show with people that I know and love in the audience.”
Love was born in Jacksonville and raised in Arenzville. He is a Triopia High School graduate and earned a degree from Illinois College with a major in communication and rhetorical studies and a minor in theater.
Love has always known that he wanted to do something “performative” as a career, and moved to Chicago in 2016 to take writing and acting classes at Second City. He got an agent, worked nights at Second City and, at the same time, began working in 2017 as a music director for a production company called Huggable Riot.
“A Second City producer came to see one of our shows and said, ‘We’d love it if you came over and worked for us,’” Love said. “And I told him, ‘Well, I kind of already work for you as a night staff worker.’”
Love hasn’t yet shared the stage with any really well-known comics, but some big names have dropped by to see Second City shows when Love has been in Chicago, including Second City alumni Steve Carell, Stephen Colbert, Steve Martin and Martin Short. Pop singer Olivia Rodrigo also was in the audience one night.
“As I progress with Second City and do some main stage shows, perhaps I’ll get to share the stage with some big names along the way,” Love said.
Love intends to stay with the Second City touring company for a few more years. After that he’d like to be on one of the bigger Second City stages, such as the Main Stage or the E.T.C. Stage, which are the big-audience draws. Love also has been thinking about sound design work for commercials or movies and would like to go on the road with his four-person group, The North and Wells Band.
“North and Wells is the name of the street corner that Second City is located on,” Love said. “The four-person band includes Sam Roth, a Jacksonville resident, and we all met while working at Second City.”
Central Illinois residents can see Love on Aug. 26-28 as he takes part in the Ken Bradbury Foundation’s production of “From the Writer’s Desk (and the Director’s Chair),” a compilation of the late Bradbury’s notes, thoughts, and anecdotes written during his many years as a playwright and director. The production is being staged at Green Pastures Christian Retreat Center off U.S. 67 near Meredosia.
“It’s the highest honor, because Ken is truly the reason why I am in Chicago doing what I am doing right now,” Love said. “Back in third grade he was the first person to get me excited about the arts and performing.”
Love also credits his family for his performing success.
“I could not be doing what I am doing without the support of my family, particularly my mom, Sally Briggs Stock of Arenville, and my sister Wendy Love Debolt of South Jacksonville,” Love said. “What I am doing a lot of times can scare a parent, as unstable as it can be sometimes.”
If you have a suggestion about someone who should be profiled, send their name and any contact information available to communitynews@myjournalcourier.com.
"stage" - Google News
August 22, 2022 at 12:27PM
https://ift.tt/sakSNZw
Neighbors: When improv troupe takes the stage, Arenzville's Love puts words in their mouth and a song in their heart - Jacksonville Journal-Courier
"stage" - Google News
https://ift.tt/3WRbDlx
https://ift.tt/Wxu9f2K
Bagikan Berita Ini
0 Response to "Neighbors: When improv troupe takes the stage, Arenzville's Love puts words in their mouth and a song in their heart - Jacksonville Journal-Courier"
Post a Comment