charity

I woke up at 5am this morning for a BIG press day with Billy. We had to do 5 radio shows, a live tv show & a PSA all in 5 hours when he literally just stepped off a plane from France, Hungary, and Austria 12 hours prior. When he initially told me about how much press he wanted to do BEFORE he was live on Windy City Live- I thought it was absurd, but in all the time I have known him, I can say he pushes himself to work beyond what most people think is feasible. The main purpose behind all this press was to talk about two events that are the very important to him to support art & theatre in Chicago & raise scholarships for kids - The Madhatter's Ball & The Piven Theatre Gala.

10 years ago my buddies David Schwimmer & Joey Slotnick were looking for new ways to raise money and awareness for their non profit theatre group Lookingglass to build their first home in the Historic Water Tower Pumping Station on Michigan Avenue. I strongly felt their was an active, art/theatre loving, socially conscious & supportive younger demographic in Chicago that would love to get behind it so I founded the Lookingglass Theatre's Junior Board and kicked it all off with a giant 1000 person event called the Madhatter's Ball that David, Joey & I hosted that was a huge success!

This video of Jeremy Piven & I on set of HBO's "Entourage" is not only funny, but explains what kind of work we have been doing to raise money for children's art & theatre scholarships for about 10 years now- check it out (its from last season, so event info for this year is updated below!). Actors out of Chicago like John & Joan Cusack, Kate Walsh, Aidan Quinn… Have all benefited from the same classes (I'm giving away a classes below!) and have hosted the same events with us over the years (giving away some afterparty tix below!) and I look forward to seeing who will make it big out of there next!

Hey there! It's Morgan Waller from the Marketing Department here at Rockit Ranch Productions - so I’m taking a leap and writing for AChicagoThing.com for my first time ever - Nice to “meet” all of...

The Make A Wish Foundation of Illinois is celebrating their 25th Anniversary of their Gala the "Wish Ball" this Saturday May 21st by honoring 25 people and organizations that they have deemed "Leaders In...

Hey everyone! This is Feeny Fernandez from Billy's office! This week is just a ton of amazing stuff going on in Chicago! Thursday we've got President Obama's event going on at Navy Pier (still some...

April is the month of red! Chicago’s First Annual Red Dress Party is a national event that draws over 800 to create awareness and visibility for dedicated research and care of HIV patients. The Chicago Red is honored to have the AIDS Foundation of Chicago and Equality Project as the official beneficiaries-BUT! There is one requirement- ALL MUST WEAR RED! Everyone is encouraged to attend wearing a red dress- men are invited to join in the fun!

Just this past December, Laura launched Atia's Project Ladybug Fund at Comer Children's Hospital at the University of Chicago. Project ladybug is a nonprofit organization dedicated to giving financial and emotional support to families to help ease the struggle of childhood cancer that was founded by Dina Manzo, a former star on Bravo's The Real Housewives of New Jersey.

Hi aChicagoThing readers! Lesley De Leon, from Billy Dec's office here. I'd like to take this opportunity to share a very cool event : How cool is it that The Bulls are currently in first place? And...

Good morning readers! Amanda Weir from Billy's office here today - March Madness is finally here and what would this month be without a party at Rockit to celebrate and give thanks to Big Brothers Big...