MONROE - The Monroe High School Performing Arts Center on Dec. 18 will host veteran stage, screen, and television actor John Pinero in the one-man play, "Vince: The Life and Times of Vince Lombardi."
The show starts at 7:30. Tickets are $25 and $20, and can be purchased by calling the Monroe Arts Center at (608) 325-5700; or in-person at the box office, 1315 11th Street.
Pinero's portrayal of Lombardi is legendary. He first tackled the role in a play called Coaches, which told the stories of Lombardi, Bear Bryant, and Knute Rockne.
Pinero then decided to break his character out into a one-man play. So he wrote an 80-page script about Lombardi and brought it to his friend, Richard Clayman, a director and playwright. Clayman added structure and humor to the script, and the result is a guided tour of Lombardi's life, with stops along the way to meet a bevy of characters: his father, mother, priest, brother, son, wife, Bart Starr, Paul Hornung, Max McGee, and others - all played by Pinero.
"To get up there as Vince Lombardi,"Clayman said, "is the single most courageous thing I've ever seen an actor do."
Not only does Pinero faithfully re-create Lombardi's memorable speeches and pep talks, he even re-creates the day Marie Lombardi's husband became Green Bay's coach and the family's drive in 1959 from New York to Wisconsin, with the kids crying and the coach trying to tell his wife that it wouldn't be so bad.
"It's a quiet ride to Green Bay,"Lombardi says in a car after accepting a job in a place his wife, Marie, first thinks is "the end of the Earth." Lombardi tries to explain away the weather with, "It's cold, but it's a dry cold."
Pinero keeps a file of Lombardi-isms, gathered from his travels and conversations with fellow Lombardi devotees. "I read every book by any player who ever played for Lombardi," Pinero said. "I read books about people he admired. If I see a picture of him in a book, I buy the book."
The play premiered Dec. 6, 1996, at the Two Roads Theatre in Studio City, Calif. The play later debuted in several Wisconsin cities and across the nation.
His portrayal of Vince Lombardi has earned him keynote speaking engagements, testimonials, and admiration from the Pro Football Hall of Fame, The Green Bay Packer Hall of Fame, former Lombardi players, Bart Starr, Willie Davis, Fuzzy Thurston, and Jerry Kramer, and ABC Television featured him in the 2006 Pre-Game Super Bowl promos.
Pierno is a veteran actor that has appeared in film, (Fifty Grand, Pump Up The Volume, Voices, King Of The Gypsies); television, (Hunter, L.A. Law, Reasonable Doubts, Days Of Our Lives); many commercials, and over 100 stage productions across the nation.
Additional information regarding this performance and other MAC events can be found online at www.monroeartscenter.com.
This event has been underwritten by Corporate Underwriter Colony Brands, Inc., and Media Underwriters Monroe Publishing, LLC, and Big Radio.
Additional underwriting has been provided by Jeff and Barb Ingebritsen.
The show starts at 7:30. Tickets are $25 and $20, and can be purchased by calling the Monroe Arts Center at (608) 325-5700; or in-person at the box office, 1315 11th Street.
Pinero's portrayal of Lombardi is legendary. He first tackled the role in a play called Coaches, which told the stories of Lombardi, Bear Bryant, and Knute Rockne.
Pinero then decided to break his character out into a one-man play. So he wrote an 80-page script about Lombardi and brought it to his friend, Richard Clayman, a director and playwright. Clayman added structure and humor to the script, and the result is a guided tour of Lombardi's life, with stops along the way to meet a bevy of characters: his father, mother, priest, brother, son, wife, Bart Starr, Paul Hornung, Max McGee, and others - all played by Pinero.
"To get up there as Vince Lombardi,"Clayman said, "is the single most courageous thing I've ever seen an actor do."
Not only does Pinero faithfully re-create Lombardi's memorable speeches and pep talks, he even re-creates the day Marie Lombardi's husband became Green Bay's coach and the family's drive in 1959 from New York to Wisconsin, with the kids crying and the coach trying to tell his wife that it wouldn't be so bad.
"It's a quiet ride to Green Bay,"Lombardi says in a car after accepting a job in a place his wife, Marie, first thinks is "the end of the Earth." Lombardi tries to explain away the weather with, "It's cold, but it's a dry cold."
Pinero keeps a file of Lombardi-isms, gathered from his travels and conversations with fellow Lombardi devotees. "I read every book by any player who ever played for Lombardi," Pinero said. "I read books about people he admired. If I see a picture of him in a book, I buy the book."
The play premiered Dec. 6, 1996, at the Two Roads Theatre in Studio City, Calif. The play later debuted in several Wisconsin cities and across the nation.
His portrayal of Vince Lombardi has earned him keynote speaking engagements, testimonials, and admiration from the Pro Football Hall of Fame, The Green Bay Packer Hall of Fame, former Lombardi players, Bart Starr, Willie Davis, Fuzzy Thurston, and Jerry Kramer, and ABC Television featured him in the 2006 Pre-Game Super Bowl promos.
Pierno is a veteran actor that has appeared in film, (Fifty Grand, Pump Up The Volume, Voices, King Of The Gypsies); television, (Hunter, L.A. Law, Reasonable Doubts, Days Of Our Lives); many commercials, and over 100 stage productions across the nation.
Additional information regarding this performance and other MAC events can be found online at www.monroeartscenter.com.
This event has been underwritten by Corporate Underwriter Colony Brands, Inc., and Media Underwriters Monroe Publishing, LLC, and Big Radio.
Additional underwriting has been provided by Jeff and Barb Ingebritsen.