June 9, 2011
News for Anime Midwest 2011:
Anime Midwest announces GLaDOS, Goku, Agent Gray and Samurai Dan
St. Charles, IL - June 8, 2011 - Anime Midwest is excited to announce the appearance of Ellen McLain, Sean Schemmel, John Patrick Lowrie, Samurai Dan and Lady Jillian. Anime Midwest will be happening July 15-17, 2011 at the Pheasant Run Resort in St. Charles, IL.
Ellen McLain, the voice of GLaDOS, the artificial intelligence antagonist in Portal (for which she won an AIAS Interactive Achievement Award for Outstanding Achievement in Character Performance) and Portal 2, hails from Nashville, Tennessee. She has worked in theater and opera for over thirty years. Her professional career began on Broadway with Rex Harrison in My Fair Lady and with the legendary Peggy Lee in her show, Peg. Ellen's credits range from Linda Loman in Death of a Salesman to Mimi in La Boheme. McLain provides voices for many characters in several video games from Valve. Among them are the announcer in Team Fortress 2, and the voice of the Combine overwatch for the Half-Life 2 series.
McLain is the only person to have her voice in all the games in the Orange Box. She sang the ending credits song to Portal, "Still Alive" and Portal 2, "Want You Gone", both written by Jonathan Coulton, and sang the Turret Opera by Mike Morasky featured at the end of Portal 2. McLain now lives in Seattle with her husband, fellow voice actor John Patrick Lowrie.
Sean Schemmel gets paid to stand in a sound proof padded room and make wacky voices all day with good reason. He's good at it. Ever since he was discovered doing so at an undisclosed mental institution (read Marionette Theatre) Sean has been gainfully employed as a voice actor for some of the most popular titles in anime history.
He is best known as the voices of Goku, King Kai and Nail in the internationally acclaimed anime series, Dragonball Z Kai, and Dragonball GT. Other notable roles include Amidamaru and Rio in Shaman King, Constable Biggles, Sh'Okanabo, Master Kahn (and many others) in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Onsokumaru in Ninja Nonsense, about 12 different thumbs in Thumb Wrestling Federation and Gonard in Kappa Mikey.
In addition to Dragonball Z Kai, Sean can currently be heard as Paradox in the feature film, Yu-Gi-Oh 5d's Bonds Beyond Time and as Grings Kodai in (Pokemon) Zoroark: Master of Illusions. In the realm of audiobooks, Sean won a 2010 Earphones Award for his work in The Big Splash by Jack D. Ferraiolo and has been nominated for a 2011 Audie Award in the category of humor for his work in S**t My Dad Says, by Justin Halpern.
Sean has also adapted for English and directed the following anime series: Space Pirate Mito, Sadamitsu: The Destroyer, Midori Days, and Ah! My Goddess. Sean currently resides in New Jersey, and in his spare time enjoys playing the French Horn, writing parodies, playing guitar and bass and moving heavy objects with his mind.
John Patrick Lowrie was born in 1952 in Honolulu, Hawaii and raised in Boulder, Colorado. At 16 he left home to make his way as a singer/guitarist/flautist/trombonist in a rock 'n' roll band, sleeping in parks and communes and getting to know several hippies. Surviving the draft, he graduated with highest distinction from the Indiana University School of Music and for a few years managed to make a living as a composer and guitarist in his acoustic fusion duo The Kiethe Lowrie Duet, garnering critical acclaim and opening for people who were much more famous than he was. He then decided to become an actor because the pay was better and the work was steadier.
To this day he remains the only person he knows of who has done this. He met Ellen McLain, his wife of twenty-four years, in Arnhem, Holland on a European tour of a Broadway show and started his acting career in Palermo, Italy telling jokes to an opera house full of Sicilians who didn't speak English. Success continues to dog his heels like an angry Pekinese. John and his wife now reside in Seattle, where they divide their professional time between acting in live theater and voice acting for computer games and radio.
The husband and wife team of Daniel and Jillian Coglan are full-time martial arts instructors, specializing in 16th century Samurai arts. When not teaching at their dojo, the Kojokan, they travel across the country performing and teaching the ancient ways of the most famous warriors in history. With a combined 35 years of experience, their show is a unique blend of history, combative skill, and humor, designed to educate and entertain audiences both large and small.
Beyond their martial arts skills, the dynamic duo collaborated to write, direct, host, and star in a 12 episode TV series entitled "The Way of the Samurai". Daniel is also an author with several martial arts articles published, and he is currently working on his second full-length novel.
Anime Midwest is a Chicago anime convention, featuring events ranging from a Cosplay Masquerade to multiple late night dances. Events include video game tournaments, anime screenings, contests, workshops, panels, discussions, and much more. There will also be discussions and question/answer sessions with the special guests of honor. On Friday evening the convention will include special Formal Dance lessons, followed by a Formal Cosplay Ball.
This Chicago anime convention will be held at the Pheasant Run Resort, one of the largest convention and expo centers in the Chicago area. Pheasant Run Resort can be reached by public transit from downtown Chicago, and rooms start at only $99 per night.
Registration for Anime Midwest starts at $25, through June 20th. The price increases to $30 through July 10th, and is $35 at the door. Registration can be found online at http://www.animemidwest.com/#register
More information about Anime Midwest can be found online at http://www.animemidwest.com/
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