Foreign travel
ECC offers two trips
Elgin Community College’s Corporate and Continuing Education Division will offer two international trips as part of its ECC Explorer Series with Getaway Travel of Elgin.
The Duoro Valley Grand River Cruise is a seven-day cruise aboard the Douro Queen as it travels on the Duoro River in Portugal and a two-day hotel stay in the capital city of Lisbon. The trip includes stops at various ports of call from Thursday, July 31, through Sunday, Aug. 10. The cost per person ranges from $2,579 to $3,054. Airfare is not included.
The second trip, “The Land of the High Kings,” will take travelers on a 14-day trip to Ireland starting Monday, Sept. 29. Travelers will visit both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland and make several stops throughout the island nation. The cost is $2,149 per person. Airfare is not included.
For information, contact Getaway Travel at (800) 564-5130. A portion of the trip costs will support ECC Continuing Education’s programs and services.

Fine Line
Emerging artists to exhibit
The Fine Line Creative Arts Center in St. Charles displays its Emerging Artist Exhibit until Saturday, July 19, in the Kavanagh Gallery. The exhibit, which formerly was known as the Student Artist Show, includes artists with skill levels ranging from beginners to professionals displaying diverse media including fiber, oil pastel/stick and acrylic paintings to pottery and sculpture. Gallery hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Saturday at 6N158 Crane Road.
The educational center provides year-round classes in media, including weaving, knitting, crochet, machine knitting, dyeing, jewelry, beading, pottery, drawing and painting. For information, visit www.fineline.org or call (630) 584-9443.

Art Milestone
Orleans gallery feted
The Orleans Street Gallery at Pheasant Run celebrates five years of exhibiting contemporary Chicago art with an anniversary exhibition highlighting breakout artists, many of whom have since exhibited nationally and internationally.
“5 Years on the Run” includes works by Miguel Cortez, Mary Ellen Croteau, Kazuki Eguchi, Erik Fabian, Nathan Keay, Makeba Kedem-DuBose, Industry of the Ordinary, Anne Lass, Aimee Lee, Jason Reblando, Chris Roberts, Brandon Sorg and Brian Sorg. It also features paintings by Rachel Weaver Rivera on the Art Wall and a digital slideshow of the works of more than 130 previously exhibited artists.
The resort is at 4051 E. Main St., St. Charles. For details, call (630) 524-5048 or visit www.orleansstreetgallery.com. The gallery is open from noon to 7 p.m. Thursday; noon to 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday; and 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday.

Photography
Winning artist to exhibit
The Norris Art Gallery in St. Charles exhibits “Heavy Metal & Heavenly Light” from now through July 26, showcasing three distinct bodies of work by photographer and St. Charles native Robert Rydin. A reception is from 3 to 5 p.m. Saturday, July 5.
A self-taught artist, Rydin explores form and light. The show features black-and-white studies of historic railroad locomotives; the high country of Colorado taken using both medium and large format “view camera” methods; and an exploration of natural landscapes and cityscapes, using digital technology to create panoramic prints, some 6 feet long.
The Norris Gallery, 1040 Dunham Road, is open 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Saturday.

Eyes to Skies
Fest announces stars
Tickets are now for sale online for Eyes to the Skies Festival concerts from Thursday through Sunday, July 3 to 6, in Lisle Community Park at Route 53 and Short Street, Lisle.
Country recording artist Blake Shelton will perform Thursday; the rock group Kansas (“Carry On Wayward Son” and “Dust in the Wind”) will take the main stage Friday; and teen heartthrob Drake Bell (star of Nickelodeon TV’s “Drake & Josh Show”) Saturday. “American Idol” finalist and country star Bucky Covington is preceded by the US99-sponsored Colgate Country Showdown Chicagoland Local Finals to cap off the festival Sunday evening.
All concerts will start at 8 p.m. except Sunday’s Showdown, which kicks off at 7 p.m.
Purchasing tickets online offers a discount. For details, visit www.eyestotheskiesfestival.com.
The festival also offers Pazzo’s Patio showcasing local entertainment and a new Children’s Stage featuring performances by Radio Disney, including a chance to meet Alyson “Caitlyn” Stoner and Meaghan “Tess Tyler” Jette Martin from the new Disney comedy, “Camp Rock!” Other events include the Espana Extreme Aerial Stunt Show and Circus, the All American Lumberjack Show, craft fair, carnival, Battle of the High School Bands, Let’s Do Art Tent, daily firework shows and hot air balloon launches and glows, weather permitting.

‘Tosca’
DuPage Opera to perform
DuPage Opera Theatre will present “Tosca” in July.
Curtain is at 8 p.m. Friday, July 18; 2 p.m. Sunday, July 20; 8 p.m. Thursday, July 24; and 8 p.m. Saturday, July 26, in the McAninch Arts Center at College of DuPage, 425 Fawell Blvd., Glen Ellyn. The Puccini opera will be sung in Italian with English supertitles. For tickets, call (630) 942-4000.

Wheaton Symphony
Trio of concerts in store
Wheaton Symphony Orchestra presents three more concerts this summer season.
Featuring soprano Christine Pfenninger, “The American Musical” will be performed at 8 p.m. Saturday, July 12, at Cantigny in Wheaton. Philip Bauman will conduct. For tickets, call Cantigny at (630) 260-8207.
A classical concert with violin soloist Caroline Chin will be at 8 p.m. Tuesday, July 22, at the Fine Arts Center at Wheaton Academy, 900 Prince Crossing Road, West Chicago. Bauman will conduct music by Elgar, Walton, Turina and Richard Strauss.
Wheaton Symphony Orchestra and Chorus will perform music by Rodgers and Hart at 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday, Aug. 1 and 2, in the academy’s Fine Arts Center. Four vocal soloists will be featured, and Brian Groner will conduct.
Tickets to either of the concerts in the Fine Arts Center are $24 in advance or $32 at the door. Call the symphony at (630) 790-1430 or visit ticketweb.com. The concerts are not a function of Wheaton Academy.

Buffalo Theatre
‘Melville Boys’ to premiere
The professional Buffalo Theatre Ensemble presents the Midwest premiere of Norm Foster’s touching play “The Melville Boys,” about brothers, sisters, rivalry and secrets in a Michigan lake cabin.
The show, which contains adult themes and language, runs from Saturday, July 5, to Sunday, July 27, at the McAninch Arts Center at College of DuPage, 425 Fawell Blvd., Glen Ellyn. “I have loved and wanted to direct this play for years,” director Kurt Naebig said. “It is wildly funny and touches the heart in the same way Neil Simon’s ‘Lost in Yonkers’ does.”
The play concerns brothers Owen and Lee Melville who arrive at their aunt and uncle’s cottage for a weekend of fishing and beer. Lee, a quiet, responsible, married man, hopes to get Owen, his irrepressibly lively brother, to face some serious news about the future with realistic maturity.
But before they get the junk food unpacked, Owen has hailed two beautiful sisters boating on the lake. Also dissimilar, the eldest is steady and unselfish, and the younger sister is a free-spirited flirt who is made to order for Owen. Immediately, Owen is making plans for all four of them, even his married brother, creating unexpected mayhem, delightful temptations, tears and laughter.
The cast includes Bryan Burke as Lee; Adam Sweders as Owen; Emily Bach as Mary; and Simone Roos as Loretta.
Show times are 8 p.m. Thursdays, July 3 (preview), 10, 17 and 24; 8 p.m. Fridays, July 11, 18 and 25; 8 p.m. Saturdays, July 5, 12, 19 and 26; and 2 p.m. Sundays, July 6, 13, 20 and 27. To purchase tickets, call (630) 942-4000 or visit www.AtTheMAC.org.

School of Art
Art in Your Eye classes set
Registration is open for the Batavia School of Art, featuring classes and workshops by regionally respected artists between July 21 and Aug. 4. This will precede the fourth annual Art In Your Eye Fine Art Show and Festival taking place on the Batavia Riverwalk the weekend of Aug. 9 and 10.
The Batavia School of Art presents the following courses:
• College Portfolio Development Workshop for High School Artists, July 26; instructor is Diana Stezalski
• Composition and Design for Oil and Oil Pastel, July 28, 29, 30; David Hettinger
• Drawing the Figure, July 23; Diana Stezalski
• Exploring the Artistic Eye — For Children and Teens, July 28, 29, 30, 31, Aug. 1; Kate McShea
• How Did You Choose That Color?, Aug. 1; Anne Von Ehr
• Linear Perspective, July 23, 24; Robert Krajecki
• Oil Painting Ala Prima, Aug. 4; Robert Krajecki
• Painting the Figure, July 25; Diana Stezalski
• The Artist and the Sketchbook, Aug. 2, 3; Kaye Buchman
The classes are at various locations in Batavia and will be filled on a first-come, first-served basis. A brochure with course details, times, fees and a registration form is available on the official festival Web site at artinyoureye.com. Brochures are also available at Batavia Government Center, Batavia MainStreet and Batavia Public Library.
For information or to order brochures, contact festival coordinator Becky Hoag at (630) 482-9157 or artschool@artinyoureye.com.
During the Batavia School of Art, a series of free, art-related programs open to the public will be offered at the library.
An additional pre-Art In Your Eye festival event will be July 18, with an expanded Full Moon Friday Night Arts Walk from 5 to 9 p.m. at various downtown businesses. For information about all the activities of Art In Your Eye, visit the Web site, call Hoag or e-mail her at becky@artinyoureye.com.

Interactive ‘Alice’
Family show to visit MAC
College Theater presents “Wonderland Runs Amok or The Day Before Alice Went Down the Rabbit Hole” outdoors at the McAninch Arts Center Courtyard at College of DuPage.
Scripted through improvisation and interweaving the characters from Lewis Carroll’s “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland” and “Through the Looking Glass,” such as the Cheshire Cat, the White Rabbit, Alice and more, the final production looks at what might have happened in both Wonderland and Alice’s world before she went on her adventures, ultimately helping teach lessons of community, patience and tolerance. Audience members are invited to bring picnic baskets, blankets and lawn chairs. Curtain is at 7 p.m. Thursday and Friday and 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, July 3, 5, 6, 11, 12 and 13. The MAC is on campus at 425 Fawell Blvd., Glen Ellyn. For ticket information, call (630) 942-4000.

‘Oliver!’
Community musical set
Ranging from ages 12 to 74, more than 140 men, women and children from throughout the western suburbs and beyond will take to the North Central College stage as actors, singers and dancers in “Oliver!,” the high-energy musical opening July 10.
Each summer, theater faculty audition community members to stage two productions for the public.
“We always pick one show to feature a lot of young people,” said Brian Lynch of Warrenville, the college’s fine arts director.
Some of the show’s memorable songs include “Consider Yourself,” “I’d Do Anything,” “As Long as He Needs Me” and “Food Glorious Food.”
The play’s key roles are Oliver and Fagin. Richie Roesner, a seventh-grader from Wheaton, plays Oliver.
“He’s an amazingly talented young man,” Lynch says. “Richie has been in previous North Central College shows.”
Chris Oechsel of Naperville plays the thieving Fagin. Oechsel and his entire family have been involved in many North Central summer productions. In “Oliver!,” Oechsel’s son Christopher plays the part of Noah Claypole, and daughters Alex and Taylor are members of Fagin’s gang and the workhouse.
In August, daughter Erin will play a lead role, and wife Beth will work with costumes for the college’s second summer musical, “My Favorite Year.”
“The entire family is gifted, talented and, above all, nice, wonderful people,” Lynch said. “They’re sort of the perfect family!”
“Oliver!” is directed and choreographed by Lynch, with musical direction by Michael Sundblad, a 2003 North Central College graduate and director of music at Thomas Nelson Community College in Hampton, Va.
With six performances, some main parts are double-cast. Featured roles are: Bill Sykes, played by Peter Sipla of Warrenville and David Musselman of Woodridge; Dodger, Alex Gonzalez of Plainfield and Dan Leahy, 12, of Downers Grove; Charles Bates, Matthew Zuckerman, 13, of Wheaton; Noah Claypole, Christopher Oechsel, 14, of Naperville and Brett Bush, 15, of Clarendon Hills; Charlotte, Rose Grizzell, 15, of Naperville and Antonia Jankowski, 19, of Oak Forest; Mr. Bumble, Stuart Vance of Naperville and David Scott of Wilmington; Widow Corney, Kim Beyer of Plainfield and Cheryl Newman of Naperville; Mr. Sowerberry, Spencer Diedrick of Glen Ellyn; Mrs. Sowerberry, Abby Stark of Bolingbrook; Bet, Alaina Wis, 15, and Victoria Newhuis, 12, both of Naperville; Old Sally, Judy Colonero of Warrenville; Mr. Brownlow, Tom Paulsen of Wheaton; and Dr. Grimwig, Roger Hendrickson of Naperville.
Curtain is at 8 p.m. July 10, 11, 12, 17 and 18, with a 3 p.m. matinee Sunday, July 13, in Pfeiffer Hall, 310 E. Benton Ave., Naperville. For tickets, call (630) 637-SHOW.