Putting the adult back into adultery, or "Why THIS?"

Why This?

We’re about to start rehearsal this evening, and I always think it’s good to reconnect with my motivations for choosing the play, and to remind myself of the story we’re trying to connect with before we get distracted by the minutiae of the individual performative moments, the finances of the design and the million individual mechanics of actually mounting a production. Every story wants to be told at a particular time, for a specific reason, and one of the questions we need to ask as a theater is why talk now, and about what?

So, “Why This?” which is actually a question I ask at the start of every rehearsal. (Even if it’s usually less italicized, more like “why this?”)

Putting the adult back in adultery

In This, Jane has been widowed for a year and is still reeling from the premature death of her husband at only 35. Her best friend, Merriil has invited her to the first party Merrill and her husband, Tom are throwing 12 weeks after after the birth of their first child. They’re joined by Alan, a longtime friend, and a new friend of Merrill’s, Jean-Pierre, an expatriate Frenchman who works for Doctors without Borders. Merrill thinks it’s time that Jane came out of her shell and starts dating the charismatic Jean-Pierre. But after a party game misfires, Tom and Jane admit to an attraction that threatens to unravel their entire circle of friends. And it’s all wrapped up in playwright Melissa James Gibson’s astonishing knack for smart, witty and--above all--human dialogue.

This depicts a circle of friends who are all passing through what I like to think of as a “pre-midlife crisis,” which I think is a generational characteristic. I think there’s a whole section of my peers (generation X, I suppose) who managed to elongate our adolescence. We all bopped around throughout our twenties and early thirties and then thought to ourselves, “Hmmm. Maybe it’s time I stepped up and bought a house/had a child/found a career?” “Maybe it’s time I was an adult...” Speaking for myself, I remember thinking (at 33) “Seriously? We’re going to be charge? We’re the responsible ones? I don’t feel responsible at all. I’m not ready; all this is way way too much for me. Shouldn’t some grownups be lurking around to step the fuck up?”

I actually don’t know why this is, but tons of my friends (and not just those in the arts) followed a similar pattern. My daughter’s preschool is filled with Moms in their late thirties/early forties, which is an interesting bump in the demographic curve. I’m not sure that, as a generation, we’ve embraced adulthood with any particular vigor. I think we have been slow to mature, by and large. Life and time have their inexorable effect, and at some point, life has presented us with forks in the road that many of us considered the “last chance” so we had to step up. We are now, surprisingly, the grownups in the room much to our astonishment and faint dismay.

Gibson is a perfect playwright for this moment. Her first big hit, [sic] visited my generation a decade ago to hilarious effect. In This, she turns her considerable knack for comic insight to a play that’s far more than a nominal tale of adultery. This is a story about Generation X-ers acknowledging that responsibility can no longer be passed. And how are we to manage all this: this child, this marriage, this friendship, this career? This life? Jane’s affair and it’s repercussions are all about how the essentially messy reality of life tempers us, and makes us grow. Sometimes, with luck, we grow into ourselves.

An interview with the Red Bastard

The Red Bastard is coming to Theater Wit on February 11th and 12th! Who is the Red Bastard? Honestly, I had no idea when they contacted us, but a bit of examination of Eric’s considerable resume and a ton of information online at http://www.redbastard.com has me remarkably enthused to see the show in two weeks. With permission, I’m reprinting an exchange between Chicago’s own Dean Evans (The Magical Exploding Boy and the ChiTown Clown Revue) and Eric Davis (the Red Bastard himself). Enjoy, and I’ll see you at the theater :)

Dean Evans: I noticed on your website that you have a significant amount of new
material. How do you begin to develop new stuff?

Eric Davis: It seems a mystery to me, now.. Like some parts of it were ideas rumbling
around in my mind or in journals unrealized or even untried for years. Then
slowly they edge their way forward. I began to go into studio with my
co-writer/ director Deanna last January and we just slogged away at it. We
would invite people to open rehearsals and workshop material. It's quite
complicated audience interaction, in a way so it's taken time to develop and
figure out how it works, and we're still listening to it and finding its
form. I try to work things out on my feet. It sounds and looks very
different if I write something on the page versus if I improvise it and then
transcribe it. I remember watching a documentary about Lily Tomlin creating
her Broadways show and still look at that as a model. Working with a
cowriter, improvising and taking the best stuff.

Do you find that audience members who resist are the ones who want to be
pried open the most?

I don't open people with a crowbar. I have a gentle touch. I can be
forceful, but inviting someone is always a more effective way.

Have you ever surprised yourself by how far you've been able to push an
audience? If so, what happened?

Again, this implies a sort of violent forceful quality, I think. However
some amazing things have happened. People have crossed amazing boundaries,
shared intimate truths, acted in courageous ways to change their life. In a
way I would rather not name the things, because it gives people a sense of
what they are supposed to do. I want the audience to find their way when
they come to the show. Not before hand.

Does Red Bastard's lumpiness free up Eric's inner madness? Do you find that
the body distortion helps to provoke a response from the audience as well?

It is a way for me to release my shadow self! The space between myself and
Red Bastard is the space in which I get to play. It's a gift to myself and
the audience.

Who or what makes Eric Davis laugh, clown or otherwise?

I laugh at shows when other people are not laughing a lot. Not at the
intended joke, but at the real human moments when I see performers on stage.
Butt Kapinski makes me laugh. She is my director and also a clown. Chris
Rozzi as William Shakespeare. People you probably don't know yet :) And
David Cross.

Word is your moving to LA to create and perform in Cirque Du Soliel's
Hollywood show. Will Red Bastard go to sleep for a while, or will we be
seeing bits of him under the big top?

Well, I suppose that there will be something of him in the show, because
It's me... but It will be a different character, and It will be a very
different performance space. So different tactics must be used. But As I
near the creation of the Cirque show, I feel my Red Bastard show getting
stronger...evolving. I want to know where it is going...

Lecoq said "while we make fun of the clown, the bouffon makes fun of us."
Are you going to laugh and point at us?

Me? Of course not... Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha! (fades into the abyss).

Casting THIS: A bunch of new faces, and one returning favorite.

OK, rehearsals are about to start for Melissa James’ Gibson’s stunning unromantic comedy This, and our casting is finally complete. I’m really really excited to get started on the play, and a chief part of that is due to the cast. Check them out!

Rebecca Spence (Jane) recently portrayed the role of Merteuil in Remy Bummpo’s Les Liaisons Dangereuses (Jeff Nomination, Supporting Role) and Catherine Donohue in Rivendell Theatre Ensemble’s These Shining Lives (Jeff Nomination, Lead Role). Film: Contagion, The Dilemma, Audrey the Trainwreck, Earthling, Public Enemies, Grace is Gone and The Break-Up. Television: Detroit 1-8-7, The Chicago Code, The Beast and Prison Break. This is her first collaboration with Theater Wit. If you haven’t seen Rebecca act (I saw her for the first time in Les Liaisons Dangereuses), you’re in for a treat.

Lily Mojekwu (Marrell) will be making her Theater Wit debut, but she blew me away in The Overwhelming at Next Theatre. Chicago theatre credits include: Romeo and Juliet (Chicago Shakespeare Theatre). The Brother/Sister Plays (u/s), The Elephant Man, Intimate Apparel (u/s) (Steppenwolf Theatre). Well (Next Theatre). Greensboro A Requiem (Non-Equity Jeff Nomination: Best Supporting Actress) and In Arabia We’d All Be Kings (Non-Equity Jeff Award: Best Ensemble) (Steep Theatre).

John Byrnes (Tom) is thrilled to make his Theater Wit debut with This. He is a proud member of The Hypocrites, with whom he has performed in The Hairy Ape, Our Town, 4.48 Psychosis and many others. Recently, John has appeared in Port with Griffin, Thieves Like Us with the House, All My Sons at Timeline and The Overwhelming at Next Theatre. I’ve seen John perform in nearly a dozen plays over the last fifteen years, and I really look forward to him bringing his characteristic heart and passion to the role of Tom.

Mitchell J Fain (Alan) is a favorite of of our audiences, as he’s portrayed the Elf in The Santaland Diaries for us the last four years. I first worked with Mitchell on my very first professional production at 1229 W Belmont (back in it’s days as Bailiwick Repertory) in 1992, so we’ve known each other a looooong time. I’ve directed Mitchell as a prostitute, as Henry VI and a bitter bitter part-time Christmas worker. I’m looking forward to spending some time with him as Alan, a performer with eidetic memory and a sharper wit.

Steve Hadnagy (Jean-Pierre) will be working at Theater Wit for the first time. Steve was most recently seen in last year's production of Bertolt Brecht 's Baal at TUTA and in the title role in Macbeth at City Lit Theatre. Other area appearences include Capulet in Romeo and Juliet, also at TUTA.

I swear to God, this is going to be one hell of an evening. Casting This was very challenging; it took us nearly six weeks and we contacted about 190 performers to have them read. The script requires both genuine comic timing and technique alongside some very real and heartfelt human behavior. When done right, This is a lovely, funny and heartbreaking evening. And after all this casting work, I’m happy to say we’ve found the group who can carry us through this experience.

We start rehearsal in seven days, and I’m counting down. If you are even a tenth as excited as I am, you should seriously consider ordering some tickets today, because until February 1st, tickets are only $18. Go Go GO!