St. Viator hosts variety of artists to open speaker series
Jim Jarvis, executive director of the Metropolis Performing Arts Centre in Arlington Heights, has appeared on Oprah and with Tina Fey and Amy Poehler in Second City doing sketch comedy and improv.
Yet, he began his career in sports administration.
At the first of St. Viator’s 50th anniversary Speaker Series last week, Jarvis told the crowd that it was an introductory improv class at Second City that opened up a whole new world for him.
“My life changed at 30,” Jarvis said. “Learning to improv gave me my foundation in acting. It taught me to listen, to take risks, to think on my feet and to just tell stories.”
His revelation mirrored the theme for the evening, which was “Awakening the Artist in Our Young Men and Women.”
The next in the speaker series will examine awakening the innovator in students, and takes place at 7 p.m. May 3 at St. Viator. Kevin Willer, head of the Chicago office of Google, Inc., headlines a panel of entrepreneurs and business leaders.
Jarvis, meanwhile, shared a panel with an improv actor, a composer and a portrait artist, who all described how the arts had enhanced their lives.
Corey Rittmaster, a member of Second City’s traveling troupe who also teaches improv at Laugh Out Loud in Schaumburg, auditioned six times before making it into Second City.
“It’s a dream come true, but I don’t think I’m a success,” Rittmaster said. “Let’s just say, I’m a work in progress.”
They were joined by composer and music director Scott Arkenberg, a 1972 St. Viator alum and former pre-med major at the University of Illinois, who left Champaign to pursue a life in music, much to his parents’ dismay.
“If you follow your passion, then you’re happy,” Arkenberg said. “You have a positive attitude that draws people to you. The work just comes because of that.”
Nationally acclaimed portrait artist William Chambers of Arlington Heights began his career as an illustrator, but once he saw the work of American portrait painter John Singer Sargent, he threw caution to the wind and pursued his love of painting.
Now established in the world of portraiture, having painted the official portraits of Illinois governors Jim Thompson and Jim Edgar, Chambers says he still feels like a student.
“If you’re serious, you’re always a student,” Chambers said. “You’re a lifelong learner.”
Kate Costello, theater teacher at St. Viator, moderated their discussion, inserting her own experience as a former actor and director into the mix, while members of the St. Viator jazz band opened the evening.
Hearing their testimonials and work in the arts prompted longtime St. Viator social studies teacher Tom Nall to reflect that his students may be leading lives with too much structure.
“The kids I see in my classroom need to be more creative,” Nall said. “The future of our country needs people who can design and create — and they learn that from the arts.”
Questioned by parents on how to instill a love of the arts in their children, Jarvis encouraged them to expose their children to as many different art forms as possible, while Arkenberg said to nurture a love of the arts in their home. Chambers concurred, adding that if children see their parents interested in the arts, then their pursuit would follow.
Costello, the mother of four boys, encouraged parents to pry children away from passive activities, like too much television, video games and time on the computer, to leave open time for exposure to the arts.
The Rev. Robert M. Egan, C.S.V., president of St. Viator, said the speaker series reflects the school’s founding mission, back in 1961.
“It was our desire then, and it is our desire now,” Egan said, “to educate the whole person and the whole student.”