It may sound like Shakespeare but the March 16 performance by The Improvised Shakespeare Company at the ECC Arts Center will not resemble any play written by the Bard. The performance will begin at 7:30 p.m. at the Blizzard Theater in Building H, the ECC Arts Center, on the Spartan Drive Campus, 1700 Spartan Drive, Elgin.

Based on one audience suggestion (a title for a play that has yet to be written), this Chicago-based improvisational ensemble creates a brand new Shakespearean masterpiece. The performance is not planned-out, rehearsed, or written. All of the dialogue is said for the first time and the characters are created as the audience watches while hilarity ensues. You've never seen the Bard like this before!

The Chicago Tribune says “The show channels Monty Python as often as the Bard,” and according TimeOut New York, “The chemistry among the performers was amazing, and their play came together seamlessly. By the time they started to speak in rhyming couplets, the crowd was totally sold… Don’t miss them. Seriously.”

Founded in 2005, The Improvised Shakespeare Company has been performing its critically-acclaimed show every Friday night at the world-famous iO Theater in Chicago for more than seven years and continues to entertain audiences around the globe with its touring company. The Improvised Shakespeare Company has been featured at the Piccolo Spoleto Fringe Festival, the Bumbershoot Music and Arts Festival, and the prestigious Just For Laughs festival in Montreal.

Tickets for the performance are $33 and $29. Tickets for all performances in the ECC Arts Center are available online at tickets.elgin.edu or at the ECC box office located in the Arts Center. Box office hours are noon to 7 p.m. Monday through Thursday, and noon to 5 p.m. Friday and Saturday.

Jazz guitarist Friday, Saturday—Frank Vignola will grace the stage of Elgin Community College Arts Center with his jazz guitar on Friday, March 15 and Saturday, March 16. He'll be joined for this performance by fellow guitarist Vinny Raniolo. Both performances will begin at 8 p.m. at the SecondSpace Theater in Building H, the ECC Arts Center, on the Spartan Drive Campus, 1700 Spartan Drive, Elgin.

Vignola's virtuosity at the guitar has made him an in-demand performer for many of the world's top musicians, including Tommy Emmanuel, Madonna, Donald Fagen, Wynton Marsalis, the Boston Pops, the New York Pops, and guitar legend Les Paul.  He picked up the guitar at age six and by age 27, he had signed with Concord Jazz and recorded his first Concord session as a leader, Appel Direct.

In addition to his work with Concord, Vignola also recorded three releases for the Telarc label as co-leader of the group Travelin' Light. The early 2000′s found him recording a solo guitar CD for Acoustic Disc as well as performing regularly with Les Paul, who named Vignola one of his five most admired guitarists.

Matt Cauthron of Intermission Magazine says of Vignola, "There is little in this world so awe-inspiring as witnessing total mastery of a musical instrument. Like seeing Yo-Yo Ma play the cello or Placido Damingo belt out an aria - sometimes a performer's perfection can elevate a piece of music to heights beyond the realm of imagination. By all accounts, Frank Vignola conjures just that sort of magic with his acoustic guitar."

Vignola is also a teacher of the guitar, having written 18 instruction books and recorded six educational DVD's. He has performed hundreds of clinics and master classes at major universities and colleges throughout the world including Julliard and Boston University.

Tickets for the performance are $22 for March 15 and $25 for March 16. A pre-show dinner prepared by ECC's award-winning Culinary Arts and Hospitality program and served in ECC's Spartan Terrace Restaurant (just a few steps from the theatre doors) can be purchased for an additional $24. 

Tickets for all performances in the ECC Arts Center are available online at tickets.elgin.edu or at the ECC box office located in the Arts Center. Box office hours are noon to 7 p.m. Monday through Thursday, and noon to 5 p.m. Friday and Saturday.