Beginning, Middle, End
Posted by David New on 4/28/2006
This past Tuesday evening after work, I had the pleasure of meeting Graeme Maley, Artistic Director of the Liverpool New Writer’s Theatre. Graeme was seeing our production of Love Song and I met him for a drink beforehand. Graeme’s theatre shares Steppenwolf’s commitment to supporting the work of playwrights and the development of new work. Graeme was visiting Chicago on his way to Appleton, Wisconsin to do research for a play he is developing with playwright Ronan O’Donnell about the life and art of Harry Houdini. The play will be performed in Liverpool in 2008, the year that Liverpool has been chosen to be the European Capital of Culture.
After a lively discussion with Graeme, I went to meet novelist Cormac McCarthy at the corner of Halsted and North Avenue to escort him to the first rehearsal of his play, The Sunset Limited. We entered the rehearsal hall and met the actors, Austin Pendleton and Freeman Coffey, the director Sheldon Patinkin, the stage manager and understudies. After general introductions and a welcome to the theatre, I left them to the business of the first table reading of the play.
I crossed the street from the rehearsal hall to the theatre and proceeded to the Upstairs Theatre where the production of Don Delillo’s play, Love-Lies-Bleeding was in technical rehearsals. Onstage were the actors - Martha Lavey, John Heard, Penelope Walker, Louis Cancelmi, and Larry Kucharik. The creative team was working on the transitions between scenes and finessing the timing of lights and sound with the movement of the actors. I watched for about 45 minutes as director Amy Morton and the designers worked with tremendous sensitivity to get the cues just right. I slipped out of the dark theatre and down the elevator to the Downstairs Theatre lobby. When the elevator doors opened the lobby was abuzz with pre-show activity as the audience moved into the theatre to watch the performance of Love Song.
As I stepped out into the spring evening, I was struck by the fact that I had just visited three productions of plays at three stages of development – beginning, middle, and end. The creative process was churning throughout the buildings of Steppenwolf. I recalled my conversation with Graeme and realized that the first step with all three of these new plays, was the commitment to new play development.
Best of luck, Graeme!
April 28th, 2006 at 8:51 pm
I’m sure you already know, but I thought I should tell you in case you had forgotten, you have the coolest job ever! Haha.
I’m a sophomore in high school right now, and I’m going to major in theatre performance in college, but I was wondering what you would minor in to have a chance at a job like your’s? Thanks!
May 1st, 2006 at 8:28 am
Hey Aislinn,
Thanks for posting and yeah - I feel very fortunate to have my job. In terms of your preparing for a career in the theatre, I would suggest engaging as much as you can in as many different types of theatre experiences as possible. If you are in Chicago, you could look into getting involved with our cross-town ensemble. When you go to college, internships and apprenticeships are a great way of learning about all the different departments in an arts organization. There are also a lot of good Arts Management programs out there if you are looking to get involved specifically in administrative work. Good luck to you!
May 14th, 2006 at 9:36 am
Thanks David for all the tickets, books and hospitality (the vino et al) on my visit to your great theatre. I look forward to reading any new plays you want to fire off in our direction and we should talk soon about any new writing collaborations between Chicago and Liverpool. I’ll be posting you a copy of Red by Chris Fittock (as soon as its back from the publisher), our latest gig which opens on 20th May in Liverpool, before touring to Glasgow and London. Best wishes and hope to hear from you soon.