Columbia College Chicago Theatre Department alum Tyler Anthony Smith ’17, a graduate of the Theatre Department’s BA Program in Acting, stars in his one-person show I Know You Need My Verve, running Saturdays at 10:30 PM from June 3 through July 1 at the Facility Theatre, 1138 N. California, Chicago.

The show is presented as part of the 2023 Rhinoceros Theatre Festival, an annual showcase of fringe performance by Chicago artists. For tickets, click here.

Written and performed by Smith, the show is directed by directed by Columbia College alum and faculty member Stephanie Shaw ’92 (Theatre), MFA ’09 (Creative Writing).

For as long as this planet has been flat, humans with verve have been milling and seething amongst us. But what even is verve? Well, verve is verve. Those with verve are typically magnetizing, which unearths a whole new question: How does a person possess so much vigor and spirit that it becomes intoxicating, rendering the everyday plebeian totally susceptible to Human-With-Verve’s charms? I Know You Need My Verve is a raw, focused, challenging, questionable, bold, fresh, dated, futile, dazzling, timely, grim, obscure, pretentious, snappy, wicked, tremendous, fishy, exhausting, and exciting piece of theatre.