Three presidents in Revels lineup

On Friday, Jan. 26, and Saturday, Jan. 27, President Zimmer will save the world—thanks to the help of Hanna Gray and Hugo Sonnenschein.

Yes, the University’s legendary team of skit comedians, the Quad Club Revels, is back. And this time the group has more presidents than ever before.

The group, which has been lampooning the University on and off for over a century, has starred classicists, physicists, economists, ministers, deans and Nobel Prize winners. But never before has the group boasted three University Presidents.

Directed by Howard Timms, an editor at the World Book Encyclopedia, this year’s show, “Hooray for DNA,” will not only feature Zimmer in his Revels debut in “The Zimmer March,” but also will feature cameos by President Emerita Gray and President Emeritus Sonnenschein.

“It’s a tradition to have a President,” said Nancy Levner, producer of the 2006 and 2007 Revels show, former Director of Publications at the University, and wife of longtime Revels contributor Robert Ashenhurst, Professor Emeritus in the Graduate School of Business. “But we’ve never had three Presidents.”

This year’s show takes place in Arthurian time with flashes to the Quad Club’s Round Table, the legendary discussion spot for faculty. Written by Andy Austin Cohen, wife of Ted Cohen, Professor in Philosophy and the College, the show also will feature for the first time an appearance by two time-travelers, four singing Jewish grandmothers, and a 375-million-year-old fish with legs (yes, Tiktaalik, the fossil discovered by Neil Shubin, the Robert R. Bensley Professor in Organismal Biology & Anatomy). The Jewish grandmothers are, of course, a reference to last year’s finding that 60 percent of all Jews can trace their ancestry to one of four women. Keeping the University hospital involved, one of the Jewish grandmothers will be played by Phillip Hoffman, Professor in Hematology/Oncology.

In addition to the faculty and staff cast, the Revels, as usual, include performers from the Hyde Park community. This year, both Illinois House of Representatives Majority Leader Barbara Flynn Currie and award-winning mystery novelist Sara Paretsky will continue their participation in the show. A city of Chicago policewoman will also join the group this year.

The show’s music composers are Ted Cohen, Ashenhurst and Julian Harvey.

Tickets to the 8 p.m., Friday, Jan. 26 performance are $20 per person, with a buffet meal available for an additional $20. The Saturday night performance will include dinner and will begin at 6 p.m. Tickets to the dinner and show on Saturday are $65 per person. For more information or to make reservations, please contact the Quadrangle Club at (773) 702-2550.