With teams traveling from all over the Midwest to be a part of PureFest 2018, the organizers of PureFest 2018 are excited to share this event with the Chicagoland area. The inaugural Christian improv and sketch festival is hosted by Cross Point Church in Lockport, Ill., on October 6, 2018, beginning at 2 PM, with doors opening at 1 PM.
Like similar improv and sketch festivals hosted in Chicago, PureFest will provide a stage, platform, and community for the talented groups with a root in faith. PureFest creator Dave Ebert is pleasantly surprised to see several teams from outside of Chicago register.
“I think the fact that we have Denver, Grand Rapids, and Milwaukee teams coming speaks to the need for an event like this,” said Ebert. “In our first year we projected a low interest until we got this going, but I am ecstatic to have a wide range of talent from around the Midwest coming.”
Opening the afternoon’s festivities will be local team MADtrimony, which stars PureFest creator Dave and his wife Bobbie Ebert. The Eberts are members of Cross Point Church, home of PureFest, and are also the leaders behind the creation and execution of the festival.
Traveling from Grand Rapids, Mich., a sketch team representing Master Arts Theatre will perform second. The sketch to be performed is called “Table for One,” and will be a fun scene with a very important lesson. Master Arts Theatre runs several faith-based shows in the Grand Rapids area each year.
The third act is the team of Jake Hovis, Dano Qualls, and Taylor Wingerter, known as Ringo Starr of Bethlehem.The members of Ringo Starr perform together at the Bovine Metropolis Theater in Denver. Team administrator Wingerter is as excited as the PureFest organizers for the event.
“It’s encouraging for me to know there are like minded individuals participating in the redemption of all things,” wrote Wingerter to PureFest organizers.
Following Ringo Starr will be nationally-renowned troupe Fish Sticks Comedy from Milwaukee. Fish Sticks has been performing for over eleven years throughout the Midwest. In 2017, Fish Sticks added a Dallas franchise to broaden their reach. Fish Sticks hosts an annual Christian Improv Comedy Conference, which is the venue that inspired Ebert to pursue PureFest.
Rounding out the lineup is HaHaMen Improv and Sketch Comedy Troupe. Also founded by Ebert, this group will perform their short-form improv that has been entertaining Chicagoland audiences for the last five years. HaHaMen recently completed a summer tour of shelters for DuPage Pads. The team’s monthly free-admission benefit shows named Good for the Soul have proven to be a hit with DuPage County audiences as well.
“I am truly looking forward to building our community of believers in the performing arts,” added Ebert. “Chicago is the American hub for improv and sketch, so why not offer a showcase, and also build the community of, teams that perform improv and sketch? But, let’s also do so for a higher purpose. We believe that such teams can be just as good as their secular counterparts.”
For more information or to purchase tickets in advance, visit PureFest.org, or email info@PureFest.org.
