A Great Afternoon
Posted by Grace McQueeny on 2/05/2009
Walking into last Saturday’s MaTEENée of The Seafarer was a truly exhilarating experience. It was my first MaTEENée as a Steppenwolf Young Adult Council member, as I just joined the group this past November. The MaTEENée is geared toward a teen audience, and is meant to be a chance for Chicago students to experience Steppenwolf at the amazing price of $15, in hopes they will come more regularly to live theatre. Everyone entering the theater was greeted by a huge crowd of bustling theatergoers, both adults and teens. After students purchased their tickets, they chatted with each other and members of the Young Adult Council in the Steppenwolf lobby while they waited for the show to begin. When the lights flashed, and everyone began filing into the theater to take their seats for the show, there was definitely an air of excitement.
The theater soon went dark and acoustic guitar began to play. The teens were audibly surprised by John Mahoney’s entrance, and continued to get emotionally involved with the show throughout the performance. When the lights went down for the last time, the teens joined the standing ovation.
After the show, the theater cleared out and we anxiously made their way over to the Garage Theatre for a post-show event. Students were greeted by Steppenwolf for Young Adults’ staff and told to help themselves to drinks and some delicious Italian food (not a bad deal for only $15). Once everyone had filled their plates, we settled in for a discussion with ensemble members Francis Guinan, Tom Irwin, Alan Wilder, and cast member Randall Newsome. The discussion, led by fellow Council member Owais Ahmed and myself, was quite lively and successful. The teens posed a host of intriguing questions to the actors, including one that sticks out it my mind: one participant wanted to know what it was like working with a cast member who wasn’t allowed to make eye contact, given his character is blind. The actors were very talkative and eager to engage with us, and the teens in turn were sincerely interested in what the actors had to say. At the end, Francis Guinan gave a lovely thank-you to all of us for coming that afternoon, and expressed how important it is to the theater for people our age to get involved.
After everyone thanked the actors and said their goodbyes, the teens rose up out of their chairs to play a game led by Young Adult Council members Claire Orzell and Brittany Stokes. The leaders read a statement about the show, and according to their opinion, the teens moved to either the “disagree” or “agree” sides of the room. If a person was unsure, they planted themselves in the middle of the room. Claire and Brittany then randomly called on the participants to explain their position on the spectrum. This game really got everyone’s blood pumping and started some deeper conversations about the themes of the play. There were often outliers (certain people who strongly agreed when the majority of the group disagreed) which made the game all the more interesting. Apparently, no two people saw the play in the same light.
After the game, everyone moved back to their chairs for a more intimate discussion about the play led by Council members Maria Maia and Danielle O’Donoghue. It was a discussion that was meant to be had without the actors, as it was less about the acting process and more about the teens’ reaction to the play. Topics ranged from the role of alcohol in the play, to the lack of women in the script, to Richard’s unavoidable dependence on Sharky. There were some truly great comments from new theater goers, who rarely come to the theatre on their own.
The feeling of satisfaction everyone felt after the event was genuine. It was a great afternoon for teens at Steppenwolf Theatre, and the Young Adult Council has high hopes for the MaTEENées to come.