Steppenwolf Theatre Company Blog – Chicago Theater, World-Class Ensemble

Putting on a play can often feel like raising a child. The playwright gives birth to something completely new, entrusts it to the director to raise as kind of adoptive parent, and by the time the audience shows up – the play is essentially a polished adult. But what the audience isn’t privy to is the play’s turbulent adolescence: the changes endured through script rewrites, the actors still struggling with lines, the often too-small rehearsal room that acts as a stage until the set is finished. Most refined adults would prefer to hide their awkward teenage years from the world – but not First Look. In the most nascent stages of rehearsal, First Look actors and directors opened up their rehearsal room doors - and shared their teenage angst with about thirty First Look 101 observers.

Fair Use was the first play to partake in First Look 101’s “open rehearsal” series, during which patrons who purchased the First Look 101 package can observe the last two hours of a Saturday rehearsal. The idea is for the company to carry on business as usual; the 101ers effectively become flies on the wall during a Steppenwolf rehearsal process – in hopes of seeing what actually goes into raising a successful piece of theatre.

As it turns out, we arrived during a preliminary blocking rehearsal for a somewhat tricky scene that uses four of the play’s five actors. Director Meredith McDonough really let the actors play in the space (a makeshift law office with a desk in the middle) – making adjustments as the actors found themselves stuck in a corner or crossing without motivation. Afterward, many 101ers commented on Meredith’s open directing style – she wasn’t at all opposed to blocking suggestions from her cast - and seemed to encourage dialogue about what moves “felt right” and what crosses “seemed awkward.”

“Well, if we come back to it next week and it feels wrong, we’ll change it,” Meredith said after about an hour. Although the scene ran smoothly during the final run, she didn’t seem married to anything she’d accomplished during the hour. “All that work and she’s not sure about keeping any of it?” remarked one of the First Look 101 observed. It’s the nature of process, I ventured to explain: rehearsing a play is simply not linear like most other processes. A wrong turn isn’t considered a failure, in fact – it’s usually considered time well-spent, kind of like those awkward teenage years that somehow build character.

The following Saturday, it was Pursued by Happiness’s turn to expose its formative years to the First Look 101 audience. Given we were now a week further into the rehearsal process, the scene we observed was already blocked – and it was time for director Tim Hopper to delve into an early acting rehearsal. In stark contrast to Meredith, who jumped in frequently as her cast rehearsed, Tim was more of an observer himself – allowing the actors to play out the scene in its entirety before making comments. Instead of taking long breaks for character discussion, Tim threw out quick adjustments and then observed the ripple effect. It was a great chance for the 101ers to see two very different directorial styles at work in the same festival.

At one point during the rehearsal, as actress Barbara Robertson was handing out mugs of “coffee” to her fellow actors – she suddenly stopped: “Wouldn’t my character use teacups and saucers instead of mugs?” she asked. Tim considered the proposal – did the given circumstances of the scene lend itself more to mugs or teacups? These are the kind of details that make a play intricately real and consistent. Though they may seem trivial, subconsciously (or consciously) every detail contributes directly to the play’s authenticity. Ultimately, stage manger Jonathan Templeton took down a note to change the glassware.

But of course, the audience will only see the teacups. The 101ers however, will always know about that change – and all the other little changes, from blocking to acting adjustments, that went on during the last two Saturdays. And somehow, I think the 101ers will appreciate the finished product that much more, knowing a few of the growing pains the company faced along the way.

This entry was posted by Whitney Dibo on Thursday, July 10th, 2008 at 9:05 am and is filed under First Look Rep (08). You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.