​A little over a year ago I got involved with a little local indie group called BYOT.  The acronym stands for Bring Your Own Theater.  Every month a group of folks get together, are given a theme, and writers get about 12 hours to put together a script.  Actors and directors meet up the next day to spend the next 12 frantically bringing those scripts to life.  It's a great time for a number of reasons, in no small part because it's often a group of sincere people acting in earnest together to bring to life something that didn't exist 24 hours earlier. 
 
The clip above is from a recent show (performance starts about 3:24).  Full disclosure, I wrote this segment -- shameless self promotion!  However, I encourage you to stay on the Youtube page to drift through the many offerings.
 
If you like what you see then here's two more details. 
 
One:  BYOT is open to anyone in the Chicago area.  Regardless of your status, amateur or pro, anyone can sign up for a shot.  Never been on stage, but always wanted to try acting?  This might be the chance to dip your toe.  Maybe writing feels like an opportunity you want to explore, well, this could be the dive into the deep end that gets you going.  So follow this link https://www.byotproductions.com/ for more info on what the organization is as well as how you can sign up. 
 
Two is this:  tomorrow is the annual BYOT fundraiser.  It promises to be a fantastic evening broken into two very different sets of performances.  The start of the night is more traditional BYOT, but after a certain point the gears shift into more adult oriented shows, going from sketches and subtlety to outright burlesque.  It's going to be wild and all the good kinds of weird.  Local sponsors such as the Music Box Theater have already lent their support with generous donations, so why not bring yourself by to see what's so amazing?  For more information, here's a word from BYOT's own wonderful Megan Richards:
 
"We start with more traditional fare at 7:30 and then transition into our "after dark" portion of the evening at 9:30. Tickets for one of the events is $15 in advance or $20 at the door, tickets for both are $25 in advance and $30 at the door. You can purchase tickets at: https://that70sfundraiser.brownpapertickets.com/
 and a link to the events below:
That 70's Fundraiser: https://www.facebook.com/events/156107141717661/
That 70's Fundraiser After Dark: https://www.facebook.com/events/2017223115217714/
We adore you all. Come and hang out with us, celebrate BYOT's birthday, and keep this wonderful little company going for a long, long time!"