Stage Left Theatre Blog
In early September, when Zev Valancy called to offer me the Stage Left fall residency, I’d written only two scenes of Witches Vanish. I had serious intentions of writing the rest, but I had no idea what the rest would be.
The next thing I knew, I had a director, Scott Bishop. A director of an as-yet unwritten play. And he was auditioning actors. For an as-yet unwritten play. And we were planning a weekend of rehearsals. So I started writing like crazy.
I live in Tennessee, so being resident playwright at a theater in Chicago may sound tricky, but so far it’s been perfect. My first trip to Stage Left was October 13, a rainy night when I met the three men whose voices I’d known from the phone—Zev, Scott, and Vance Smith—as well as my super-talented cast—Cat Dean, Ashlee Edgemon, Kimberly Logan, and Julie Starbird. We started with a table reading of the forty-something pages I had written. One of the scenes was brand new, and it sounded surprisingly awful. I rewrote it. Another scene didn’t quite work. I revised it. And I figured out how to reshape another. All in the course of three days. Three days of readings, discussions, and experiments. Three days of watching my characters become people, of trying to explain (i.e., figure out) my intentions, and of taking notes like crazy.
The best day was the third—a Saturday morning that seemed to start just hours after we’d last met, so how much could change? We had two extra actors that morning, Ronan and Amanda, and it was fun to watch them pick up random pieces of the script and dive right in, and even more fun to listen to the original witches answer their questions. Then we started staging scenes, and what I’d feared might be impossible somehow suddenly looked easy. Witches Vanish had seemed technically daunting on the page, but it became surprisingly simple on the stage: Four L-shaped blocks became the witches’ cauldron; two L-shaped blocks became a puppet stage; and Julie became an entire crowd—a creepy human puppet with Cat’s head bouncing on her shoulder like a bobble-head doll.
Since then I’ve written another scene and have another hatching. The first was inspired by something Scott said, and the second by Ashlee. I’m grateful for the ideas of the entire team, but I’ve noticed something even more important: There’s a kind of freedom in working with this group. They’re so supportive that I feel like I can try anything—that, in fact, I have to try new things.
And so … last weekend I wrote something horrible—horrible in terms of subject matter and style and language. It may work, or it may not. I haven’t heard it yet, and I have mixed feelings about it. What I know for sure is that prior to meeting Scott and company, I would never have written this scene. So I’m already becoming a different playwright. Which is kind of exciting.
-Claudia Barnett, playwright of the Witches Vanish, which is currently being developed in residency at Stage Left.
Written on October 29, 2011 at 2:14 pm, by vsmith
Categories: Blog, News
The process of choosing and rehearsing Farragut North has crystallized for me the importance of the ensemble in the world of theatre. Without the Stage Left ensemble this amazing play and mind-blowing character would have slipped right by me. The process of selecting this script for our season was truly a group effort and result of many hours of discussion, disagreement, conjecture, and compromise. From the very first reading, I knew this was a role I needed to play. Stephen is a role that young actors dream of playing. In hours of discussion over the messages and themes in the play, the core of each of the characters, and the story that we would want to tell with a full production, we all realized there were deeper challenges in telling this story than the slick language of the piece could solve on it’s own. We discovered that Stephen and Molly have to be likable, both as individuals and as a new found pseudo couple. It was that discovery that launched this process for me as an actor, and ultimately guided me through what was important in Stephen’s journey.
As we went forward in pre-production and crew and cast found their places, I was incredibly excited to find myself charged with this beast of a role, but more so to be working with so many faces from my Stage Left family. Having worked with Vance on the Leapfest version of Mother Bear, I felt comfortable that we spoke a similar theatrical language, and that I could interpret his Vance-isms. Top notch ensemble designers Adam Smith and Elizabeth Flauto added to the sense of confidence that I was feeling heading into rehearsals. I have never heard or seen work from them that didn’t impress me. Then rehearsals started and it hit me. The Actor’s enemy- FEAR – PANIC – DOUBT! How was I going to get through this and try to tell this story (well). As I started to fall into an unproductive loop of self -reproach, the day came when we were going to get the Molly/Stephen scenes on their feet, and after a few plodding stops and starts in the rehearsal room we were given the green light to run the scenes. A strange thing happened. Melanie Derleth and I started to have fun. We had developed a working chemistry during our stints as ensemble members, and in Season 29′s An Enemy of the People, so strong that moving from giddy flirtation to twisted admonishment was effortless… and fun. Actor’s just meeting each other a few days before hand may have been slightly more uncomfortable and self conscious in changing gears as quickly as we had to in this process. We had to trust in each other completely as we navigated from half naked bedroom scenes to violent emotional outbursts. Our scenes always feel effortless because of the rapport we have developed as company members.
In the final stages of dress rehearsals and previews the rest of the ensemble became invaluable offering their insight and counterpoint as well as reassurance and emotional support to those of us immersed in the process. It was a group effort at the beginning, and as we opened it was once again a collective group effort, everyone working towards the same goal, telling this story and making it crackle. The chemistry of the ensemble combined with the talents and teamwork of our guest artists have made this show something unique. Farragut North will no doubt hold a special place in my heart and mind for years to come, not just because of the acting challenge it presents, but more importantly because of the sense of solidarity and passion present in the entire cast, crew and Stage Left as a whole. The amazing feeling, of a team of people converging on a common goal, using a common vocabulary, and having faith that someone has your back and everything will some how balance out, is what it means to me to be a member of an artistic ensemble.
-Brian Plocharczyk, Stage Left ensemble actor
Written on September 21, 2011 at 4:53 pm, by vsmith
Categories: Blog
Once again, Stage Left Theatre, those purveyors of thought-provoking theatrical entertainments, present a gala evening of revelry positively unparalleled in recent history!
Open bar, appetizers, carnival games, magic, fortune tellers, belly dancers and more!
Exciting items in our silent auction include:
-A catered private sailing party for up to 6 people.
-a Joffrey Ballet Gift package w/ 4 tickets to The Nutcracker.
-6 tickets to Cubs versus Brewers
-custom made hats
-private lessons in archery, karate, ballet & horseback riding.
One night only! The evening of Friday, August 26th, 2011 from 7:30-11pm
at the stunning and beautiful
Palette and Chisel Academy of Fine Art
1012 N Dearborn Avenue
Chicago, IL (map here)
$60 in advance and $65 at the door.
Click below to purchase online now!
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Ensemble Member Cat Dean dwarfs the guests at
Carnivale 2010
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The Blue Cat Tribe performs
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Michi Trota at last years
Carnivale
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From Andrew Hinderaker, writer of Kingsville:
I’m currently in graduate school at the University of Texas at Austin. On Tuesday morning, as I was walking out the door to catch my bus to class, I received the following text:
armed subject reported last seen at PERRY CASTENEDA LIBRARY on 09282010. details to follow.
I put my phone back in my pocket and continued out the door. I had subconsciously glossed right over the word, “armed,” and assumed the message was your run of the mill, suspicious person alert.
And then I received another text.
armed subject reported last seen at PERRY CASTENEDA LIBRARY SHELTER IN PLACE STAY WHERE YOU ARE
Suddenly, the reality of the situation struck me. There was quite possibly a school shooter on campus.
My phone buzzed again — this time a call from my friend and classmate, Daria. She was on her way to class when she’d received the same texts and wondered if she should keep going to campus. I suggested she come over to my house until we figured out what the hell was going on.
So the two of us sat in my dining room, listening and watching in disbelief as the news reports rolled in: an armed student, dressed in black, and wearing a ski mask, had walked down one of the main streets of campus, randomly firing an AK-47. He’d opened the door to the Catholic center, fired additional bullets, then entered the Casteneda Library and ended his own life with a bullet to his head. Miraculously, no other students were injured, though the police were still tracking reports of a possible second shooter. We continued to watch the surreal images of a SWAT tank and helicopter circling the campus we’d just begun to call home.
After a little while, my roommate, Gabriel, emerged from his room. Apparently he’d woken up, heard the sound of our voices and known immediately that something was wrong. As Gabriel sat down at the table and joined us, Daria’s IM alert went off with a message from our classmate, Noah. He’d reached campus right before the alerts went out and was in the basement of theater building, on lockdown until the police could sweep the campus to eliminate the possibility of a second shooter. Noah himself was in a room with a few of our classmates and they were keeping each other’s spirits up, making the best of a tragic and frightening situation. And that’s how the morning went, with all of us together, grateful that the news kept confirming no additional casualties, and grateful that we were not spending this time alone.
Later that day, after the police had given the all clear, I decided to go to campus. UT had cancelled classes, but I needed to know what the climate was like.
It was a ghost town. This is a school with 50,000 students and no one was out. The streets were empty — the parking lots, normally packed with cars, were desolate. And the theater building, which bustles at all hours of the day, was dark and quiet.
It was the most alone I’d felt since moving to Texas.
And to think, just a few hours earlier, I’d experienced such a profound moment of community and connection. And both were a result of a shooting on campus.
Kingsville explores the phenomenon of rampage school shootings, and at some point in the play, all of the characters experience abandonment and isolation. All of them feel deeply alone. Yet all of them also experience a profound moment of human connection, a realization that they are worthy of someone else’s consideration and compassion. This is the hope of the play, the simple belief that we can save each other’s lives, and that what we need most in the wake of tragedy is each other.
This week’s tragedy in Austin has, for me, only reaffirmed these beliefs.
Written on October 4, 2010 at 3:54 am, by vsmith
Categories: Blog, News
