A Sea-Change

Moving right along...

Christmas with our family. Libby and I lead a BU Theatre excursion course to London over J-term (a two and a half week long January Interim). We introduce students to the world of professional theatre in London and Stratford, see 10 shows, eat some amazing Neapolitan pizza, and we come back. We return and (three days later!) I collaborate with the Interactive Media Department to emcee and coach my students to perform in Rock Show--an interactive rock and roll show wherein 18 of my students play iconic rock stars from Stephen Tyler to Pink to Tina Turner. More than 1200 students attended the event. It was an enormous hit!

Check out some great footage the IM folks created:
http://www.bradley.edu/inthespotlight/story/?id=121618
I'm the one with the Russell Brand-ish dialect and the heroin-addict-like eye make-up (Libby's design).

From there, it's right into rehearsals for Moliere's THE LEARNED LADIES. It just doesn't stop. I am aching for time with my family. The production is extremely strong, some of the best work yet from many students. I miss my family...

My lottery ticket pays off! Sort of. I get an e-mail from Brenda DeVita saying that she sees possible opportunity for me as an assistant director. She wants to know if I'm interested and if she should go fishing to see if one of the directors is interested in having an assistant. But, because APT focuses on maximum impact for the artistic process and product by using its budget very responsibly, there won't be a budget line item for assistant directors because there has never been one. There is not budget room to create a new paid position. I would be volunteering for six weeks.

If I threw in for this, I would be putting my money where my mouth is when I teach my career prep students that sometimes you work to learn, not to be paid.

Further, since AD is an unpaid position, I would have to pay for my own housing... That's housing for my family. There's no way I'm going for six weeks without them.

Is this a test? Am I a fool? I have bills to pay! Mouths to feed! Libby reminds me of the enormity of the opportunity and I say YES! I am married to an amazing woman. We agree that we will figure it out somehow. God has always taken care of us.

OK. The ante has been upped. How will I afford this? We'll cross that bridge when we come to it. It's possible that there won't even be any desire for assistants. We'll wait and see.

In the meantime, our department enters into an exciting partnership with the Theatre departments of Loyola University of Chicago and Western Illinois University to create a three-university Shakespeare festival in spring 2012. Each school will create a production that will tour to the other institutions. The whole fest tours from Loyola to Bradley to Western over three weekends in February and March 2012. Bradley Theatre will create a production of THE TEMPEST. Love that play. Further discussions reveal that what was said months before as a passing comment from George Brown, my department chair, is going to happen: I will be working alongside my students by playing Prospero for our production. George and I spoke about making sure that the arrangement was the best one for our program, that I was not taking a role away from a student, but that we were creating an opportunity for the students to work alongside me and learn as actors have for hundreds of years--in the apprentice method. We searched our hearts and agreed that the idea was a good one. Prospero it is.

A few weeks later, I get a call while I'm in Chicago with some students--Brenda DeVita wants to talk with me about being involved with a production in the second half of the summer! We catch each other by e-mail and I am asked to submit a description of my movement training and experience. This could be amazing! A truly great company is interested in me joining their community! I send in my e-mail and wait to hear.

The answer comes...no movement work, BUT...

I am offered the opportunity to serve as assistant director to James Bohnen, founding artistic director of Chicago's excellent and award-winning Remy Bumppo Theatre Company, member of SSDC (now SDC--the director and choreographer union), and 15 year veteran director at APT! Will I take it? Let me see...Yes. YES! YES!!!!!

It gets better.

The production on which I will assist Mr. Bohnen: THE TEMPEST. Yes, THE TEMPEST.

I know. I still can't believe it.

We are going to Spring Green, Wisconsin for six weeks. How will we pay for it? You'll have to read my next post to learn that, dear reader.

As for me, I'll be spending a year in the storm.

The DeVita's Deliver the Straight Goods

OK, summer 2010 is over and it's back to business. No more time for daydreaming about quaint village life in bucolic west-central Wisconsin. I've got classes to teach! Productions to direct! Life moves on...

One of the courses I teach each fall is a career preparation course--a "business of the business" course that is designed to help students learn the ropes of the world of professional theatre before entering the workforce. For the record, this kind of course did not exist back in my undergraduate days. So glad most institutions offer this now.

When planning this class, I set up several skype interviews with working professionals in Chicago, NYC, LA, and other cities. I decided to include a skype interview with Brenda and Jim DeVita of American Players Theatre this year. Brenda is Associate Artistic Director and Jim is a Core Company Actor. I'd done interviews with working couples before and the students always enjoyed and learned from them. Many of our students are beginning to grapple with the challenge of growing a healthy relationship while attempting to maintain a professional theatre career, so it makes sense to talk with a couple who seem to have struck that balance. Further, I wanted to take steps in growing a professional relationship with these people who were living the dream I'd experienced last summer on our visit.

Fast forward to our skype interview later last fall. We begin with Jim and Brenda telling their respective stories pre and since joining the APT team. My students throw some great questions at them. Jim and Brenda respond with in-depth, meaningful answers. My students feel empowered, challenged, and encouraged. As Brenda talks about the atmosphere at APT--one of integrity and excellence--and Jim talks about the kind of acting the company strives for--the best of quality text work coupled with the most truthful moment-to-moment behavior--the students get a glimpse of real professionalism; I was once again knocked over with the desire to be part of this community.

We wrap our conversation. The students applaud wildly. We hang up the skype call and proceed to talk for several minutes after class is done about how much the students appreciated hearing the straight goods about life--and family life--in the theatre from Brenda and Jim. I walk home and call Libby to tell her (no surprise to her) " I gotta work with these people!!!".

Life demands assert themselves as I direct our department's very successful production of SUBURBIA. Our students just hit it out of the park night after night. As the semester draws to a close and my life settles down for a moment, I stay up quite late drafting an e-mail to Brenda DeVita: a shameless request for consideration to be part of the APT community in whatever way I can. I hit send. There. I did it. It's "out there".

You can't win the lottery if you don't buy a ticket.

In my next post: a surprising sea-change.

Yes, but it's professional theatre in RURAL Wisconsin!

Two young lovers on a stolen romantic interlude made their way through the rambling country roads of west central Wisconsin. Their Audi caressed the rising and falling asphalt that undulated with the land...at least that's what I felt like when my wife and I cruised our Caravan into the environs of American Players Theatre while our kids were happliy installed with Nana and Papa a few towns away. It was our anniversary and Libby was taking me to the theatre she'd always known as she grew up in Wisconsin. American Players Theatre in Spring Green, Wisconsin.

"American Players Theatre" this, "APT" that, "oh, you'd just love this production!", "We always meet our friends there and eat before the show..." If I heard one more tale about how great this place was, how beautiful the area was, how much I would love it, I don't think I could have been more predisposed to NOT like anything! Don't get me wrong, I love theatre. I especially love good theatre. I teach acting at a university. I try to train people to make good theatre. My in-laws and my wife are smart. My wife has good taste. I know this. Still, I had my doubts. How good can it be? It's rural Wisconsin. BUT I was delighted to be on a getaway with my beloved so it really only mattered so much. And so we went.

We settled ourselves into the Miner's Cottage in Mineral Point--about 20 minutes from Spring Green. This would be our digs for the night. Have a look:

http://www.brewerycreek.com/roomsandrates_details.php?propid=12

No TV. No internet. Rich historical environment and just us hanging out. Perfect. We headed into the center of town and found the Brewery Creek Brewpub. Libby and I love to enjoy good food and the occasional really good handcrafted beer together. Both were had at this lunch!

http://www.brewerycreek.com/brewpub.php

After some further exploration of Mineral Point, daydreaming aloud about what it would be like to live there, and relaxing in the cool of the cottage on this very hot July day, it was time to make for Spring Green.

OK, fine, I'll admit that I got excited the moment we got out of the car and headed toward the box office. I'll admit that the pre-show picnic dinners we ordered were truly delicious. I'll admit that, as I saw the hillside picnic tables (many equipped with mini grills) flooded with clearly delighted playgoers, I began to sense that this was a special place to these people. I'll admit that every person we dealt with from box office to ticket takers on the edge of the outdoor theatre were the perfect combination of professional precision and Midwestern friendliness. But, still, how good can this production be? It's AS YOU LIKE IT!

Yeah, it turns out that the acting was extraordinarily clear and deeply moving. Imaginative. Playful. Jaques' ages of man speech was the best I've EVER seen or heard it done--not to mention everything else he did. Orlando and Rosalind...really went for it. They were really doing the work here. We stuck around for the talkback after the show. So did many others. Some decent audience questions and honest, meaningful responses from the actors. They did great work. There was a rich sense of professional pride and heartfelt community. I had one of the best nights in the theatre of my life even though it was HOT--but we were all sweating together! How had this place escaped my attention all these years? That was it. I knew it. I had to work here someday! Not just because I'm also an actor and when you're an actor you always want to work where the work is good, but because there was something truly special about this community of people.

And it wasn't just me. Libby had a great time too. We talked about the show, the community, the place, the organization for much of the rest of the night. Alright APT, you've got a hook in me now. Maybe there's some more Wisconsin time in our future.

But I will NEVER be a Packer fan.

In my next post: the community draw increases.