June/July Newsletter 2025

Leslie Nesbit
Jul 5
4 min read

A Look Back at the World of Stewpendous Trivia in June:

PRIDE LASTS ALL YEAR!

Just like Rodgers & Hammerstein's CAROUSEL said it would, June really did bust out all over! The sixth month of 2025 gave us so many opportunities to deliver quizzical joy all over Chicagoland. We celebrated you for being exactly who you were born to be, and hopefully, you learned some fun and interesting facts to dazzle your friends! We also had awesome opportunities to put the FUN into FUNdraisers for important causes like the John Howard Association.

With Dane in rehearsals, I had the opportunity to step in and host trivia at Double Clutch for a couple of weeks, and I loved getting to know more of the amazing Clutch Community in Evanston. If you have never been, do yourself a favor and take a trip down there (preferably on a Monday Night at 7). We closed out June celebrating Loaves & Witches, who achieved the milestone of one year in business! We love our last Fridays of the month getting cozy and drinking coffee with you!

Also, a giant shoutout to my nephews, who are my amazing Pokémon advisors. They helped put our Pokémon show together at Sidetrack. And of course, a huge thanks to the fans who packed the place to celebrate the beloved franchise! Another memorable Wednesday in June was our fandom trivia night for Gossip Girl at HQ. True fans showed up and impressed us all with your show smarts. Be sure to keep an eye out for the themes we have coming up in July!

FUN FACT OF THE MONTH!

Approximately 92% of watermelon is water. Delicious!

Upcoming Stewpendous Chicago Trivia in July!

After a quick holiday break celebrating America’s 249th birthday, we are firing up the Stewpendous Fun Bus for an epic month of quizzical Ballyhoo. We are so excited to return to the Streeterville Social at Lowe’s Hotel for their We Drink Pink Wednesday Happy Hours! We'll be there every Wednesday in July and August at 6:30. Each week will be a different pop culture theme celebrating the concept of the color we absolutely love: PINK.

July will be filled with not just fun, but plenty of Love! I'm excited to help a pair of Love Birds celebrate their wedding by putting this booming microphone voice to good use as the reception emcee. Another big event we'd love for you to join is on July 27th for "Genre Jam: A Summer Time Fundraiser" with the Cinema/Chicago’s Associate Board. We are putting FUN into their FUNdrasier, celebrating all the genres of films we love. Click here for more information!

July is bringing me epic life adventures! The play I co-wrote with my good friend Kelly Dee will be performed at the Providence, Rhode Island, Fringe Festival. I’ve loved this return to the theatre world again, and if you know anyone in Rhode Island, please spread the word and tell them to get a ticket!

Check out all of our upcoming shows here:

VIEW THE CALENDAR

Sparkle Squad Spotlights!

The sparkle squad is out there hustlin' in truly epic and inspiring ways!

Jackie Smook did a live stage show of Dilly’s world, and I was lucky enough to be in the audience and was floored by the entire production. Keep an eye out for this show because it’s truly something special.

Rachel is working on exciting projects with her theatre company, A Short Leap, with The Subtle Sublime Transformation of Benny V. that opens July 11th.

Dane is in Hairspray starting at the end of July at the Uptown Music Theatre of Highland Park.

Cameron and his Comedy Troupe - Heya Toots! has Wingding: 2Ding2Furious: A Comedy Variety Show from July 10th till August 28th at Cornservatory Theatre on Lincoln Ave.

Jenny and Matt just finished a production of King Lear and are already right into their next projects! Stay tuned for what they are cooking up next.

Click those links for more information on the Sparkle Squad Projects, newsletter editor Leslie worked very hard to get you those links...so check them out!

Trivia Time!

We all know July 4th is a big American celebration. What European holiday is celebrated on July 14th?

Want to know the answer? Keep Scrolling down!

Our Stewpendous Recipe!

Stewpendous Productions firmly believes that trivia is always better when snacks are involved. We want to take the opportunity to celebrate our love of Pop Culture with wacky concepts on snacks and cocktails. Nostalgia is a key pillar of our quizzical philosophy! Every month, we’ll give you a fun, nostalgic recipe that will awaken your memories!

There are so many movies celebrating major milestone anniversaries this year. We're highlighting some of our favorites in the months ahead. If you have a favorite movie celebrating a milestone anniversary, let us know, and we will feature it in our next newsletter!

It’s no secret I love the 90s! It’s my decade!

Clueless is celebrating its 30th anniversary this summer, and it is a big deal! Clueless was bigger than just a movie; it created fashion trends, introduced us to a new vernacular that everyone added to their conversations, and is still frequently quoted decades later. So we recommend taking the time in July to go back to 1995 and revisit Cher and her friends at Bronson Alcott High School. Ugh! As If.

Before you start the movie, prepare yourself the Cher Horowitz meal that she so eloquently talks about while at lunch with her friends:

"two bowls of Special K, three pieces of turkey bacon, a handful of popcorn, five Peanut M&Ms, and like three pieces of licorice."

We encourage you to mix the popcorn and M&Ms and eat a couple of extra handfuls (don’t worry, our lips are sealed)

Want to earn 5 pts for your next night of Stewpendous Trivia?

Deliver this quote from Cher in Clueless to your Trivia Host:

"Oh, my God! l love Josh. l am majorly, totally, butt crazy in love with Josh!"

Stewpendous Productions is here for all your event needs! Check the website for more information and share this newsletter with a friend!

Trivia Answer: Bastille Day in France