A Perfect Reading
Posted by Whitney Dibo on 6/05/2008After a break for Memorial Day, First Look 101 returned with gusto, this time with a table reading of Jason Wells’ Perfect Mendacity. Jason is no stranger to First Look - his play Men of Tortuga was developed during the first season of First Look back in 2005.
At that time, Jason’s script was plucked like needle from a haystack from the ever-towering pile of “Sunshine” scripts - the somewhat ironic name given to unsolicited 10-page samples submitted to Steppenwolf by, well, anyone in the world. Steppenwolf has an open submission policy detailed online, but basically the gist is: send in ten pages of your play, and we’ll see what happens.
Instead of shoving these scripts in some unmarked drawer, Director of New Play Development Ed Sobel uses them as a teaching tool for erstwhile apprentices – like me and former Literary Apprentice Justin Sherin. Justin and I poured over these Sunshine scripts throughout year, meeting once a week with Ed and Literary Assistant Joy Meads to determine the merits of each sample – all the while keeping in mind that the next Waiting for Godot might be lurking in the pile. “You don’t want to be the person who passes on The Seagull,” Ed warned. But no pressure. Using specific tools and an ever-expanding (and always-changing) rubric of criteria, the four of us would ultimately decide whether to pass on each sample, or bring in the full script for further consideration.
And every so often, this delicate process bears true theatrical fruit. Jason Wells’ script emerged from such a meeting four years ago, and thus Men of Tortuga was produced (to great success) during Steppenwolf’s premier First Look Rep. The accolades that production received earned Jason a commission from the Manhattan Theatre Club, through which he developed Perfect Mendacity. So in a kind of full circle journey, Jason returns to Steppenwolf – this time, not plucked from pile but from New York. So to all hopeful playwrights out there, it does happen. Steppenwolf’s stage door is open to anyone – so send in your well-crafted and struggling scripts, your huddled masses of paper yearning to breathe free! We will consider them!
Ok, that’s over the top. But there is something truly inspiring, and inherently organic, about Jason’s ascent to production. It’s a real testament to Steppenwolf’s commitment to new play development – the process at the heart of First Look 101.
Perfect Mendacity is the second in a series of three First Look table readings, during which patrons who’ve purchased the First Look 101 pass can hear the play as it is read aloud for the first time. Gathered in Yondorf Rehearsal Hall, about 40 “First Look 101ers” showed up promptly at 7pm, and settled in for an hour and forty minutes of high-tension drama. The play centers on Walter – a man accused of an unsavory crime who would ideally like to beat a lie detector and be done with it. The play inspects Walter’s moral growth, even as his lying skills get stronger. The play’s language is muscular and tightly woven, and the questions (racial, political and otherwise) Jason is grappling with throughout his script are both complex and timely. Without giving too much away – it’s definitely a play for election season.
The reading had everyone visibly on the edge of their chairs. Audible gasps punctuated the room, and many people were left shaking their heads with that slight “wow, that was something” smile when the actors finished. Though Jason acknowledged there was still work to be done, it was clear that the shape of a successful play had taken form in the room. Jason, who is privy to the process ahead of him, sounded genuinely excited about putting his play through the First Look ringer in the upcoming weeks, as it was an obviously beneficial process for Men of Tortuga.
This time, when Ed opened up the room to post-reading questions, the First Look 101ers commented and asked questions about the development process (Most of them had been at the first table reading, when Ed explained that the purpose of First Look 101 was not to critique the plays, but rather for patrons to get a transparent look at “what Steppenwolf actually does.”). Given the audience was so receptive to these particular actors, many questions focused on the Perfect Mendacity’s casting. There was a collective “bummer” sound when Ed revealed that most of Monday night’s readers were actually unavailable for the production.
As the night wound down, it seemed the second First Look event went off without a hitch. A few First Look 101ers came up to me afterward to RSVP to next week’s reading, which is always a good sign. Maybe it was the addition of coffee, water and soda to the event (suggested by yours truly) that kept them coming back. But more likely, it was the excitement surrounding Perfect Mendacity, and maybe more obviously Jason Wells - a playwright who braved the Ellis Island of scripts and found his way to Steppenwolf, the Manhattan Theatre Club, and back again.