Download FOR APPROVAL Press contacts: Jay Kelly, LCWA Samantha Frost

FOR APPROVAL
Press contacts:
Jay Kelly, LCWA
[email protected] or 312.565.4623
Samantha Frost, LCWA
[email protected] or 312.565.4624
Jim Jarvis, Paramount Theatre
[email protected] or 630.723.2474
THE CAPITOL STEPS BRING EQUAL OPPORTUNITY POLITICAL
JABS TO AURORA’S PARAMOUNT THEATRE ON OCTOBER 12
The Capitol Steps. Click here to download a hi-res version of this photo.
AURORA, IL, Sept. XX, 2012 – It’s an election year – meaning many people are in need of laughs. Enter
The Capitol Steps, a political satire group who are setting out to put the “mock” in “democracy” on
Friday, Oct. 12, at 8 p.m. at the Paramount Theatre, 23 E. Galena Blvd. in downtown Aurora. Tickets are
$30-$35. For tickets and information, go to ParamountAurora.com, call the Paramount box office,
(630) 896-6666, or visit the box office Monday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., or two hours prior to
evening performances.
About The Capitol Steps
The Capitol Steps have performed for the past five presidents (six if you include Hillary). The only
complaints The Capitol Steps seem to get are from politicians and personalities who are not included in
the program! The material is updated constantly. Recent examples include songs about Mitt Romney’s
plea to the GOP (“Help Me Fake It to the Right”) and President Obama’s class warfare (“If I Tax a Rich
Man”). In addition, they offer their own take on such trending topics as Secret Service indiscretions and
the European Union’s money woes and what to do with Greece. No matter who or what is in the
headlines, you can bet The Capitol Steps will tackle both sides of the political spectrum and all things
equally foolish.
The Capitol Steps cast members at the Paramount are Mike Thornton, Matt Pearson, Evan Casey,
Delores Williams and Tracey Stephens. The pianist is Howard Breitbart.
Thirty years ago, The Capitol Steps began as a group of Senate staffers who set out to satirize the very
people and places that employed them. In the years that followed, many of the members ignored the
conventional wisdom ("Don't quit your day job!"). Although not all of the current members of the The
Capitol Steps are former Capitol Hill staffers, taken together the performers have worked in a total of 18
Congressional offices and represent 62 years of collective House and Senate staff experience.
Since they began, The Capitol Steps have recorded more than 32 albums , including their latest, Take the
Money and Run for President!, and their special holiday release, Barackin' Around the Christmas Tree.
They've been featured on NBC, CBS, ABC and PBS, and can be heard four times a year on National Public
Radio stations nationwide during their Politics Takes a Holiday radio specials.
The Capitol Steps were born in December 1981, when some staffers for Senator Charles Percy were
planning entertainment for a Christmas party. Ronald Reagan was President when the The Capitol Steps
began, so co-founders Elaina Newport, Bill Strauss and Jim Aidala figured that if entertainers could
become politicians, then politicians could become entertainers. They decided to dig into the headlines
of the day, creating song parodies and skits that conveyed a special brand of satirical humor that was as
popular in Peoria as it was on Pennsylvania Avenue.
About The Paramount Theatre
The Paramount Theatre is the center for performing arts, entertainment and arts education in Aurora,
the second largest city in Illinois. Named “One of Chicago’s Top 10 Attended Theaters” by the League of
Chicago Theaters, the 1,888-seat Paramount Theatre, located in the heart of downtown Aurora at 23 E.
Galena Boulevard, is nationally renowned for the quality and caliber of its presentations, superb
acoustics and historic beauty.
Last spring, the Paramount Theatre turned heads by appointing Chicago stage veteran Jim Corti as the
company’s first artistic director in 80 years, then announcing it would self-produce its first-ever
Broadway Series at the Paramount in 2011-12, presenting three-week runs of the popular musicals My
Fair Lady, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor® Dreamcoat, A Chorus Line and Hair, each featuring
Chicago’s top professional directors, actors and designers. In less than a year, this new series attracted
nearly 13,000 subscribers, with each production playing to rave reviews and wildly enthusiastic
audiences. This season, the Broadway Series includes Grease (September 12 to October 7); Annie
(November 21 to December 30); The Music Man, (January 16 to February 3); and Fiddler on the Roof,
(March 6 to 24).
The Paramount Theatre opened on September 3, 1931. Designed by nationally renowned theater
architects C.W. and George L. Rapp, the theater captures a unique Venetian setting portrayed in the art
deco influence of the 1930s. The first air-conditioned building outside of Chicago, the Paramount
offered the public a variety of entertainment, including "talking pictures", vaudeville, concerts and circus
performances for more than 40 years.
In 1976, Aurora Civic Center Authority purchased the Paramount and closed the theater for restoration.
The $1.5 million project restored the Paramount to its original grandeur. On April 29, 1978, the
Paramount Arts Center opened, offering a variety of theatrical, musical, comedy, dance and family
programming. In 2006, a 12,000-square-foot, two-story Grand Gallery lobby was added, with a new,
state-of-the-art box office, cafe, gift-shop and art gallery.
Today, the Paramount Theatre continues to expand its artistic and institutional boundaries under the
guidance of Executive Director Tim Rater, Artistic Director Jim Corti, a dedicated Board of Trustees and a
devoted staff of live theater professionals.
The 2012-13 Paramount Theatre season is sponsored by American Airlines, The Beacon News and
Naperville Sun. The 2012-13 Paramount Broadway Season is sponsored by BMO Harris. This season is
partially supported by a grant from the Illinois Arts Council, a state agency.
For more information, visit the Paramount Theatre online at ParamountAurora.com.
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