Fox Valley Repertory At Pheasant Run Resort

This review is for any moms/​dads considering the Summer Theater Camp for kids offered through the Fox Valley Repertory. Don’t waste your money and possibly your child’s confidence. This class should be a confidence builder and instead it’s the opposite. The teacher (if you can call her that) was a snotty college girl (Megan) who had absolutely no control over her classroom and consistently talked to them (4 & 5 year olds) in a cold and condescending tone. She sounded as if she were talking to a bunch of teenagers! Thought maybe it was just her and not the theater company as a whole but the Education Manager (Tracy) was present once and didn’t correct her behavior at all and went right along with it. And as far as them learning anything? Forget it! They audition for their part on Monday, given their role on Tuesday and have to memorize their lines and songs for the play by Friday. These lines are literally written for an adult, not for a child (taken straight from the movie). Out of about 15 kids, 3 knew their lines. Also, they don’t practice these lines or any of the movements in class as they are to learn them at home. I asked my daughter what she did in class one day and she said she colored a picture. What? You have three days to put on a play and you colored a picture? The teacher berated these little kids for not knowing their lines while they were on stage in front of the audience! Are you kidding me? I understand it’s the parents responsibility to help teach their kids the lines but c’mon these are 4 & 5 yr. olds! By doing that she killed any confidence those kids had in delivering any lines they did know. Luckily it didn’t affect my daughter’s ego but I bet some of those kids will be afraid to ever go on a stage again. Just awful.

The Andrews Sisters kicked butt. Amazing voices, perfect harmony, hilarious acting by the young male actor. Honestly, perfect!

I came to see Nunnsense on Thursday afternoon with my mom. I’ve been to Pheasant Run a few times already, but this was my first theater experience. We ordered our tickets on Living Social and were very surprised with how easy the whole process was. After the tickets were ordered, we had to call the box office to have our seats assigned. When we called the box office, they were very nice and told us to make sure that we bring the actual vouchers instead of just printing the email. That’s obviously been a problem in the past, so I’m glad they verified that with us.
The theater is pretty small, so there isn’t such a thing as a bad seat in this venue. We were near the back, but were still closer than most theaters we’ve been to. There isn’t a snack bar, but you can pick up snacks in the gift shop or smuggle them in from home. They don’t check your bags.
The biggest downfall for me was that the show was almost an hour delayed. It took them about 25 minutes before they came out and informed us there was a problem and they were vague about it saying that the priest got trapped in confession. Yeah, I get it. It’s a play about nuns — but it wasn’t funny because I was getting impatient. Once the play started, I did enjoy it. I wouldn’t say it was one of the best plays of my life, nor was it life-​changing, but it was humorous and thankfully pretty damn clean. My mom has a stick up her butt and is one of those perpetually offended, so the fact that there were only 5 – 10 swear words was a big plus for me.
Overall, I would come back here for another play. Cheaper by the Dozen will be the next play arriving at the end of March and I’d really like to make it back for a show of that. I just hope that the technical difficulties aren’t a reoccurring thing because that was the only complaint I had.

We saw, «Making God Laugh», and it was a good production in an intimate theatre. It did not seem to us like there were any bad seats. The acting was good and we enjoyed the staging, which was relatively simple but enough. The pricing is very reasonable — $ 32.00 for a seat plus some ticketing fees. It’s really nice to have good theatre in the Fox Valley, and having it be inside a resort is even nicer. There are restaurants on site, a game room, and more than enough parking spaces within a short walk.

I didn’t know what a repertory was until I went to the Fox Valley Repertory. Well, that’s not true; I still don’t know exactly what a repertory is, but I would imagine it means it’s some type of theater.
I was recently at the Fox Valley Repertory for an American English performance, and they really rocked the house. This was my first time at the theater, and I thought it was nice. It’s a small, intimate setting, only seating about 300 people. Like some of the other reviewers said, there really are no bad seats in the house. We sat in the fourth row off to the left and had a great view. All the tickets for the show were the same price, so cost wasn’t a factor.
The sound quality was pretty good. When the show first started though, the speakers in the front weren’t turned on so people in the first couple rows couldn’t hear the vocals. The crowd, which was mostly made up of Baby Boomers, started yelling and motioning to the band to turn up the volume. After maybe two or three songs, someone flipped a switch and from then on it sounded great. I don’t know what happened really; something must have been turned off.
They had a cash bar in the entryway to the theater, and you could bring your drinks inside for the show. The washrooms were in good shape. I will mention that the stairs in the theater are a little unusual. They’re at a weird height, and I saw a couple people almost wipe out on them. Also, there’s only one entrance/​exit to the theater, so at the end of the show, it took a while to leave.
Overall, it was a good experience and I would see a show there again.

Thought I’d check this theater company out, as I heard it recently changed its name from Noble Fool to Fox Valley Rep. Didn’t realize it was inside the Pheasant Run Resort, which actually was a nice surprise.
The theater itself is a good size, think it seats about 300 or so. Seats were very comfortable, and we got drinks before the show just steps away from the theater (thank you Pheasant Run restaurant!).
Saw a show called «Leaving Iowa», a comedy about family road trips. Very good show with laughs but also heartwarming moments. Brings back memories of my own family’s road trips.
Noticed they were doing Patsy Cline and A Wonderful Life later this year. Looks like fun and will definitely go back.
I can’t compare Fox Valley Rep to Noble Fool since I never saw a Noble Fool show, but I will say that we were very impressed with how talented the cast was, the comfort of the theater, and the ability to roam around the resort after the show. Check it out!