OP_032317

opprairie.com Life & Arts
the orland park prairie | March 23, 2017 | 27
Orland Parker to perform at Chicago Improv Festival
Smeared Inc. to
offer 1980s-, John
Hughes-inspired
comedy
Jason Maholy
Freelance Reporter
For many people who
grew up during the 1980s,
the teen-centric films of director
John Hughes were a
de facto introduction to cinema.
Movies such as “Sixteen
Candles,” “Ferris Bueller’s
Day Off” and “The Breakfast
Club” — all of which
were filmed in the Chicago
area — were funny, featured
memorable characters and
had heart. They also found
a huge audience among the
youths of the Decade of
Decadence.
A comedy troupe whose
members all hail from the
Chicago area and have a
special place in their hearts
for Hughes’ flicks will draw
from their movie memories
during a performance at the
Chicago Improv Festival.
Smeared Inc. is scheduled
to take the stage for a skit
titled “POP (Pardon Our
Parody) 80s” at 4 p.m. Saturday,
April 1, at the Athenaeum
Theatre, 2396 N.
Southport in Chicago.
The festival is to be held
March 27 through April 2 at
various sites throughout the
city.
Smeared Inc. — “as in
incorporated, because improv
is funny,” quipped cofounder
Josh Blair — started
as an improv comedy
podcast in 2014. The troupe
features original members
Blair, Sean Conroy and Kate
Wiersema, and additions Joanna
Leafblad, Nikki Ramel
and Johnny Leopardo.
Leafblad, of Orland
Park, joined Smeared Inc.
this past year and is having
a blast performing with
people whose company and
comedy she enjoys. The
Orland Jr. High School and
Andrew High School alumna
delved into improv about
eight years ago by taking
classes at The Second City.
“It’s something I’d always
wanted to do,” she
said of improvisational
comedy. “I call it recess for
adults, because you can say
anything you want.
“Smeared Inc. is awesome.
We just all really
blend well, and we have a
lot of fun together, and everybody’s
super-talented. I
learn all the time working
with these guys.”
Leafblad, 48, has had a
lifelong love affair with
the stage, and began honing
her acting skills as a
child in plays and musicals.
She continued performing
throughout her high school
and college years, and after
graduating law school
joined a sketch comedy
team.
Her career as an attorney
has not kept her off the
stage, and this past December
she and her two daughters
each play multiple parts
in the Orland Park Theatre
Troupe’s production of
“Beauty and the Beast.”
“It’s always been a passion
of mine, and nowadays
it’s just a great hobby and
something I just enjoy,” she
said of performing.
Leafblad said her work
as an attorney and her
hobby as a performer actually
complement each other.
Acting as a child probably
assisted her as a green assistant
state’s attorney in Cook
County, and her days in the
courtroom developed skills
she uses in improv.
“I think they are very relatable,”
she said. “Early in
my career, I did a lot of work
in court, and as a young
prosecutor they put you out
there, and you have to learn
your craft and do your job. I
didn’t have a fear of speaking
in front of people, and
certainly I had to learn how
to think on my feet. So, I do
think it all plays together.”
Smeared Inc.’s members
have known each other for
several years, but the seeds
of what would grow into the
troupe were first sown during
Blair’s and Conroy’s fitness
center workouts.
“We’d be [saying] goofy
stuff while working out on
the treadmills, and we decided
other people would
probably want to hear this,
which kind of started as a
joke but rolled into a podcast,”
Conroy said. “Now
we have multiple followers,
downloads and all kinds of
cool stuff that comes with
that.”
To be exact, Smeared
Inc.’s 71 episodes have
been downloaded a combined
13,407 times.
Like Leafblad, the other
troupe members are all,
to some degree, trained
performers. Blair, 38, is a
2015 graduate of The Second
City ‘s Conservatory
Program. Conroy, 30, has
been performing in plays
since his freshman year of
high school, with the seminal
moment coming when a
Second City traveling training
show visited his school.
“And I’ve been in love
with it ever since,” he said.
“I did plays and stuff, but
improv is the one thing I
keep going back to; and I
keep finding ways to do it,
whether it be with Second
City or co-founding my
own thing. I can’t shake it
— even when I want to I
can’t.”
Blair described “POP
80s,” which the troupe has
performed only once, as an
abbreviated “long-form improvised
play inspired by
1980s movies.” The skit has
its roots in Hughes’ films;
specifically, “The Breakfast
Club.” The 1985 comedy-drama
covers a day at
Saturday detention for five
high school students who,
on the surface, embody the
archetypes of five distinct
personalities.
“Pop 80s” is about how
2017
&
Smeared Inc.’s characters
— which are inspired by
“The Breakfast Club” —
ended up in detention, and
evolves based on suggestions
by the audience.
“Everybody loves the
’80s,” Conroy said. “I don’t
care when you were born,
everybody loves the ’80s.
Everybody has their favorite
’80s moment, movie,
whatever the case may be.”
Attention Builders:
Advertise with
22nd Century Media
Reach 92,000+ Southwest Suburban homes.
®
Contact
Lora Healy
Reach more that 88,000
homes & businesses
GUIDE
PUBLISHES APRIL 13 TH
Reserve your space by March 29th
Please call 708.326.9170
to reserve your ad today!
www.22ndcenturymedia.com
708.326.9170 ext. 31
l.healy@22ndcenturymedia.com