Q&A w/ Melanie

■ Matt Kissane started his career in comedy after attend-ing Second City’s Player Workshop in Chicago after he graduated from the University of Maryland. He’s performed at ven-ues from Summerfest in Wisconsin and also opened for “Weird Al” Yankovic. He can also be seen many times on WGN TV Morning News as a guest comic. His DVD “Live From Chicago...It’s Matt Kissane” offers a look at some places around Chicagoland.

■ Barb Alexander of Batavia and Rob Winnie of Wheaton will perform in the comedy “Any Wednesday” in the brand new home of the Oswego Playhouse Theatre, with enter-tainment and food in the offing. The stage is on the lower level of Washington Place, 123 Washington St., Oswego, under the Tap House Grill. Directing the Muriel Resnik comedy is Daina Giesler, who frequently directs at Steel Beam Theatre in St. Charles.

■ Known for parodies of Michael Jackson, boy bands and the world of rap, “Weird Al” Yankovic returns to the McAninch Arts Center at College of DuPage in Glen Ellyn for a 7 p.m. show Sunday, Aug. 29.

Here’s a sample of what’s on our blog at otg.mysuburbanlife.com:

CHIT-CHAT

BAMTHEATRE’S ‘BEAUTY AND THE BEAST’WHEN 3 p.m. and 7 p.m. Aug. 14; Noon and 3 p.m. Aug. 15

WHERE Nazareth Academy Auditorium

HOW MUCH $14 at door or bamtheatre.com

MORE INFO (630) 455-5728 or [email protected]

IN THE BURBS | FAMILIES

Aside from the brain boost, chess is all fun and games

Boasting chess’ many rewards, illi-noisscholasticchess.org, cites stud-ies that found children who play chess improve reading and math scores, and that the game exercises abilities in spa-tial geometry, visual memory, problem solving, logical and critical thinking, calculation and sportsmanship.

Chess can be introduced to kids in first and second grade, says Tom Paravola, owner of the Elmhurst shop It’s Good To Be King.

“With patience, anyone can learn it,” he says. “It’s helpful if you have a bit of an analytical mind, and if you’re a bit competitive. If you learn to play, it helps you organize your thinking.”

To understand the scope and pas-sion of the sport, Paravola recom-mends a critically acclaimed 1993 film about a gifted young player.

“If you’re the parent of a child who shows an interest or some aptitude for the game, a great movie out there is ‘Searching for Bobby Fischer,’” he says. “Both kids and (adults) would enjoy watching.”

He calls chess a good learning tool that’s also fun, noting schools, park districts and libraries commonly offer classes on the board game for children.

“Once a kid starts playing a little bit, that may revive an interest in the par-ents,” he says.

Paravola’s shop is one of the few stores primarily dedicated to the game, offering everything from $5 travel-size magnetic sets to wooden boards with historic figures in the $400 to $500 range, which double as aesthetic deco-ration in the home.

— Renee Tomell

MORE INFO■ It’s Good To Be King, 160 N. York Road, Elmhurst, (630) 833-5060, goodtobeking.com■ Illinois Chess Association, www.il-chess.org■ Classes for all ages through Friends of the Gifted and Talented, meeting during school year at O’Neill Middle School, 635 59th St., Downers Grove, www.dgfrog.org■ St. Charles Chess Club meets Thursday eve-nings in Baker Community Center, www.stcparks.org

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When Melanie Lamoureux was 13, she — along with the help of a few friends — started BAMTheatre, a youth acting program. Ten years later, 250 young thespians help the group put on productions of well-known Broadway plays. At just 23 years old, Lamoureux has experience many professional play actors might wish for. On Aug. 14 and 15, BAM presents its rendition of “Beauty and The Beast.”

How do/did you balance the theatre and going to college?When we really got BAM going, I was in high school. So it was easier to manage since I was in the area. Being away at college, my mom takes care of a lot of meetings and I do a lot of con-tracts and licensing while I’m at school. So I still do some prep work even when I’m not there.

You started this at 13, how did it get here in 10 years? Did you expect this?If you asked me at 13 if I would be doing this at 23, I would have said no. I never thought it would last my entire life, but I’m thrilled to see what BAM has developed into.

With young kids, how did you pull together “Chicago?” It’s a pretty big production.It was huge. We really wanted to do something epic for the tenth anniversary year so we

produced a show we’ve never done. But it was a huge chal-lenge with the recent movie. Everyone connects the charac-ters in the movie to the ones in the play, so the play transforms in the live theatre.

What role do you play in pro-duction?At first it felt like we were run-ning a camp. But I’ve moved more towards directing as an art rather than just teaching. After my first year I got to study directing at school and I like to make it more of a director than a teacher. Plus, I get to learn the ins and outs of actually running a business.

What’s your plan once you finish your masters in music?I’d like to keep developing BAM. I don’t know if I want to keep it exclusively a summer thing or make it all year round and involve more people.

What’s it like being this young and starting some-thing some professionals haven’t done?I still think of myself as the equivalent of a 23-year-old, if that’s what you mean. But it helps make things not as scary as well. For class we have to write our own original musical, and I’m looking forward to it while some of my classmates are dreading it.

What’s your favorite produc-tion you’ve done at BAM?I’d say “Little Shop of Horrors”. It was a turning point for BAM. We really started taking the time with that play. It kind of gave us a deeper look at the meaning of the play and it helped the actors approach their roles. It really opened my eyes to the things I didn’t see when I acted in it two years earlier.

— Skylar Bergl

MELANIE LAMOUREUXBAMTheatre founder revels in a decade of youthful success on stage

Melanie Lamoureux, 23, of Hinsdale founded BAMTheatre a decade ago.

Photo courtesy of Melanie Lamoureux

NEWS22 Reporter Wednesday, August 4, 2010 For photo and page reprints: snapshots.mysuburbanlife.com