Background helps Libertyville High grad go Blue

Tim Heck, 26, belongs to an elite group, a small band of highly skilled performers who nightly paint themselves a primary color and then appear in a highly popular show that combines singing, dancing and physical comedy but defies easy description. He is a Blue Man, part of the "The Blue Man Group," currently completing its 10th year at the Briar Street Theatre in Chicago.

Heck didn't always want to be a Blue Man.

"I first saw "The Blue Man Group" when I was in high school (at Libertyville High School)," Heck says. "I liked it, but I had no idea I would do that."

Instead, at Libertyville High School Heck focused on more traditional creative outlets. He acted in school plays and until his sophomore year played on the soccer team. He also began taking dance classes, starting with tap, and then broadening his studies to include jazz and modern dance.

After graduation, Heck moved on to Hope College in Holland, Mich., where he combined theater and dance. He appeared in shows. He did Shakespeare, playing Edgar in "King Lear."

And he kept up his dancing. "I wanted to find the right mix of theater and dance," Heck says.

After graduation, Heck worked in dance companies in Detroit and Chicago. "I did a summer with the Giordano Dance Company," he says. But he kept up his connection to the theater world.

In 2006 he heard the folks at "The Blue Man Group" were looking for more Blue Men. Keeping a ready team of Blue Men is a challenge for a show that is currently running in Chicago, Boston, New York, Las Vegas, Orlando, Tokyo, Berlin and Basel, Switzerland.

"They were going on a hiring blitz at the time," Heck says. "I auditioned and they invited me to join their workshop."

Anyone who wants to appear in the show must survive the rigorous workshop process.

"It is eight weeks of intensely learning the show," Heck says. "You learn the three Blue Man roles."

It turns out the three Blue Men in the show do not have names, they are indicated by their place on the show's poster: Left, Right and Center.

"After every week of the workshop they have a meeting," Heck says, "where they let you know if you are going to continue or not."

"Then, at a certain point, they put you into the show," Heck says. "They want to see how you look and how you respond to the audience. There is an enormous amount to deal with when you are on stage - the props, the music, dealing with having paint splashed in your face. The first time on stage I had never eaten the props before."

Eaten the props?

"Over the course of the show I eat marshmallows, Captain Crunch, bananas," Heck says. "And paint balls."

Paint balls?

Well, if you have seen this intensely visual show, you know what Heck is referring to. (In one bit, the Blue Men catch paint balls in their mouths and them spit them out on a canvas to create art.)

"There is a lot of clowning in the show," Heck says. "But it is a lot less broad than what people think of with clowning."

The show draws on Heck's skills as a singer, dancer and comic actor.

"I am very fortunate," Heck says, "to be in a show that uses dance and theater. There is a very physical element to 'The Blue Man Group,' which I like. But you still have to act. There is a relentless honesty we have to have on stage. We have to be open to the audience at all times. And to interact with them. The interaction with the audience is what makes each show different."

• "The Blue Man Group" appears at The Briar Street Theater, 3133 N. Halsted, Chicago. For tickets and showtimes, call (773) 348-4000 or visit theblueman.com.