Variety show adds new life to old theater

As a teenager at Prospect High School, Lindsay Diakoumis remembers going to the old Des Plaines Theater for a few Battle of the Bands shows.

"I saw Fall Out Boy play in there before they were anything," says Diakoumis, who lives in Mount Prospect.

Now the 25-year-old Northern Illinois University theater graduate is going a lot further back in history to return live entertainment to that classic theater at 1476 Miner St. in downtown Des Plaines.

Opened in 1925 as the flagship venue for the Chicago Polka Brothers circuit, the theater housed Vaudeville acts from performers such as the Marx Brothers and Gene Autry to animal acts.

"It's unbelievable backstage. They had elephants that came in through these huge doors back there," Diakoumis says.

She hasn't imported any pachyderms, yet, but her Vaudeville Variety Show is packing in crowds that otherwise wouldn't be at the theater.

"We're finding out as we keep going that more and more people find out about it, and more and more people come to the next show," says Diakoumis, whose parents, Nick and Lorraine Diakoumis, and 22-year-old brother Alex Diakoumis help with everything from taking tickets to cleaning up the place.

For $14 (a $2 off coupon can be found at the www.deltahouseproductions.com Web site), a ticketholder for this past Saturday night show saw acts including comic juggler Andy Head, who has appeared on "The Late Show With David Letterman," Bill Bailey's Banjos, a cowboy comedy singing quartet called The Spittunes and 85-year-old sound effects legend Wes Harrison, who made all those sounds on old "Tom & Jerry" cartoons.

"You can't have a variety show without variety," Diakoumis says. "I did variety shows in high school, and it was a blast because if you didn't like an act, you got another one coming up in three minutes."

For about the same amount of money they could have spent watching a mediocre movie on some megamall screen, Chris and Hilary Sopata saw last weekend's show, and the four other Vaudeville Shows that ran between August and now. They plan to attend the 7 p.m. Nov. 7 show as well.

"It's very entertaining," says Hilary Sopata, a 36-year-old interior designer. While the theater needs some repair and has a full liquor license, the Vaudeville acts are family-friendly offerings, the kind that used to be on "Bozo's Circus."

Before and after the show, the Diakoumis family shakes hands with the customers and thanks them for coming.

Sopata and her biochemist husband, Chris, liked the first show so much, they came back next time.

"They (the Diakoumis family) noticed when we came back the second week, so we decided to come back the third week," Hilary Sopata says. "And all of a sudden, we've become Vaudeville groupies."

Vaudeville's appeal makes sense to Donna Dickinson of Arlington Heights, who has been operating the nation's only Vaudeville school for kids, Dickinson's Little Vaudeville, for 16 years. She trained some of the performers who have appeared in Diakoumis' shows.

"The people who are up there are giving out their hearts. All of their emotion is up there on stage," says Dickinson. "Lindsay has developed a following because there is a big 'We're rooting for you' mentality."

The theater, which recently has carved out a niche showing Bollywood films, rents cheaper than newer, better theater venues, but Diakoumis says she still hasn't made enough money to offer the performers anything more than publicity and a chance to hawk their merchandise.

"They know what we're doing and are as passionate as we are," Diakoumis says. She finds and auditions acts by visiting "open mike night" at suburban venues, scouring Facebook and YouTube for talent, and from performers who see the show on the theater marquee and apply through an e-mail to deltahouseproductions@yahoo.com or by phone at (847) 593-8363.

"I just like Vaudeville and I'm supportive of it," says Head, (www.andyhead.com) whose 10-minute comedy juggling brings some audience members on stage.

"We learned quickly after the first show that people didn't know what Vaudeville was," says Diakoumis, who has thought up an easy-to-remember, two-word description. "It's fun."