There’s a long tradition of Chicago theater performers donating their time and talent for a good cause—especially when it comes to HIV/AIDS charities.
This month features two talent-packed concerts with some casting overlap benefitting Chicago nonprofit organizations that were founded in the ’80s in response to the devastating HIV/AIDS crisis: AIDS Foundation of Chicago (AFC) and Season of Concern.
Belting for Life is back for its ninth outing on Monday, May 13, in its biggest venue yet at Mercury Theater Chicago. For 2024, the show benefits AFC for a second time.
A week later, on Monday, May 20, there’s Second City Divas: A Benefit Concert for Season of Concern. Like New York’s Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS, Season of Concern was founded in the ’80s to directly help performers affected by HIV/AIDS. After protease inhibitors became available for HIV treatment in 1996, Season of Concern evolved and expanded into a general short-term emergency fund for Chicago’s theater community.
“(Performers) don’t have a whole lot of disposable income that we might like to use for charitable purposes, so the thing that we can donate is our talent,” said Christopher Pazdernik, the creator, producer and casting director of Belting for Life.
“‘Family helping family’ is what they say, and I’m so proud to be a part of it,” said Jeff Award-winner Cory Goodrich of Second City Divas. Goodrich and Malkia Stampley will appear in and co-produce Second City Divas under the umbrella of She Inspires Productions.
Birthday party becomes a fundraising tradition
First out of the the gate comes Belting for Life, originally titled Chris’ Birthday Belt Fest. Its original title is a clue to its origin as a party concert for Pazdernik; he wished to see Chicago musical theater talents tackle material that he thought would be ideal for them. Pazdernik turned the concerts into fundraisers for organizations (like Howard Brown Health) that assisted him after he was diagnosed with HIV in 2009.
“The singers show up to sing, and this is how I know to give back—that’s by putting on a show,” Pazdernik said.
Since Pazdernik is also the producing director for Theo (Ubique Cabaret Theatre), he rotates in a lot of performing alumni from that intimate venue along the Evanston-Chicago border (which previously hosted Belting for Life twice). The fundraising aspect of Belting for Life also allows Pazdernik to attract union performers from Actors’ Equity Association who can perform on their Monday off from work.
Though many of the Belting for Life performances are birthday surprises (Keely Vasquez and Carolyn Brady are respectively responsible as director and music director for this year’s Belting for Life), Pazdernik revealed a few acts on this year’s bill.
Jeff Award-winners Heidi Kettenring and Nancy Voights will sing a Belting for Life duet. And after her hilariously drunken take on Stephen Sondheim’s “The Ladies Who Lunch” at Belting for Life in 2023, famed Judy Garland tribute artist Angela Ingersoll will host this year’s concert.
Chicago’s divas get back together
Ingersoll and Kettenring are also on the bill for the Second City Divas show, which last held a benefit concert for Season of Concern in 2019 at Mercury Theater Chicago. For their return, the Divas will be in a much bigger venue at the historic Studebaker Theater in Chicago’s Fine Arts Building.
“We wanted a theme of friendship and Chicago history that all of the lovely women have had together,” Goodrich said.
Since many plays and musicals often don’t pass the Bechdel Test measuring the number of female performers, Second City Divas, founded in the ’90s, is a social network and performance group for Windy City actresses. The Second City Divas have put out a few CDs and are active for social occasions as well.
The Second City Divas’s new concert features more than 30 female lead performers, with Roberta Duchak as music director. The concert opens with “Old Friends” from the Sondheim/George Furth musical Merrily We Roll Along, and also features a tribute to the late 11-time Jeff Award-winning Chicago actress Hollis Resnik, who passed away in 2022.
“Some (numbers) have come as requests from the performers themselves—things that they want to sing,” said Amber Mak, who is co-directing this Second City Divas concert with Johanna McKenzie Miller. “It’s not just solos, but there’s group numbers, there’s trios and there’s mother-daughter duos.”
Indeed, Mak teased a mother-daughter duet from Broadway veteran Mary Ernster and her daughter, Isabella Andrews. And it’s not just show tunes, since some singers also tackle pop, folk and other music genres.
“In 2019 when we last did this concert, it was the old school divas—all of the women over 40 who had gotten together,” Goodrich said. “But with this concert, we’re sort of passing the torch to the younger generation, so we have a mix.”
Belting for Life, a benefit concert for AIDS Foundation Chicago, is at 7:30 p.m. Monday, May 13, at the Mercury Theater Chicago, 3745 N. Southport Ave. Tickets are $40 for in-person attendance, and $20 for an on-demand online performance to be released later after the concert. For more information, visit action.aidschicago.org/event/belting-for-life-2024/e572174.
Second City Divas: A Benefit for Season of Concern with a post-show reception is at 7 p.m. Monday, May 20, at the Studebaker Theater in the Fine Arts Building, 410 S. Michigan Ave. Tickets are $25 to $100. Call 312-753-3210 ext. 102 or visit seasonofconcern.org.