An evening of good wine, good vibes and free local theater is coming to Downtown Bloomington on Nov. 20 in a new event dubbed Libations Live.
The event, organized by David Prete, a film professor at Illinois State University, is not a new concept by any means. Prete said the evening promises ISU-based actors performing theatrical readings for a live audience.
“The one thing that I really wanted to create with this event was not just the event itself, but a way in which the ISU Theater Department, maybe even the literary department, got out more into the public space,” said Prete in an interview for WGLT’s Sound Ideas.
The readings are set to be performed at floral studio and wine bar Vera & Buck, all focused around one central theme.
“There were two things that started to emerge, which was they all had a New York theme to them, and they all had a young person’s theme to them,” Prete said. “Someone, a young person, who was getting very affected by everything that was going on around them, and either it was a New York writer or it took place in New York or both.”
Prete gave a sneak peek at the readings.
He assembled four actors, including senior acting student Adjoa Nkansah performing a short story to be announced. Le’Mil Eiland of ISU will perform a Langston Hughes short story called Thank you, Ma’am and Connie Blick, of ISU and Nomad Theatre Company, will be reading a to be announced short story.
Prete himself will also perform a story of his own, Three Thursdays in the Bronx, previously published in Narrative Magazine.
“As simple as it is, it’s unique,” he said about the merging of reading and live performance. “We don’t normally see the short stories being read in such a theatrical way, and that’s one of the things I really love about it … because those two things play a huge part in my life.”
Prete said, yes, the two may still be an obvious pairing but they play upon the storytelling nature of people, which makes it so compelling.
“Everybody wants to be wrapped by a really good storyteller, so if you’ve got an amazing writer and then you’ve got a really terrific actor, you’ve got two elements that are coming together that give people a really emotional and thoughtful performance.”
Prete said for actors and audience alike, the vibe of this kind of performance is a chill one. Vera & Buck, of which he is a frequent patron, sets a good scene to relax.
“The doors are going to be open an hour before the show, so people can come in and have some wine, talk to people, maybe meet some people,” Prete said. “There’ll be two stories and intermission, people get another glass, talk a little bit and then we’ll do a second act.”
Similarly, it is a casual opportunity for the actors as well. Prete and his colleagues get to keep their chops fresh, and student Nkansah gets a professional performance for her resume.
“It’s not the high-pressure situation that you would have in a play where you’re charging an audience, you’re in rehearsals for a week and then you’re in tech, and it becomes this build up to it,” he said.
Ideally, Prete would like the opportunity to grow into something more like a recurring event with new themes and rotating performers.
He hopes others crave the same intimacy, communal in the event that he does where people gather in a room together, read off paper and create an experience.
Libations Live takes place at 6 p.m. Nov. 20 [doors at 5 p.m.] at Vera & Buck, 115 E. Monroe St., Bloomington. The show is free, the wine is not. Details on Libations Live's Facebook event page.
