100 & Counting…
Posted by Phillip James Brannon on 5/04/2010
(Phillip plays Oshoosi Size, Egungun and Terrell in The Brother/Sister Plays)
A few nights ago when I got to the theatre, for the first performance of the week of The Brothers Size and Marcus; Or the Secret of Sweet, I was signing in at the callboard, and saw there was a notice posted, saying:
“Happy #100!!!
Yes, it’s true -
Our 100th Performance”
Wow. I could only look at this notice for a moment, for fear of drowning in the surreality, and certain reality, of the fact that were on our 100th PERFORMANCE of The Brother/Sister Plays!!! OMG. And I can remember, almost a year ago, like it was yesterday, sitting in a hotel room in Linz, Austria, getting ready to open a different show, staring at the email in my Gmailbox telling me I was cast in this amazing trilogy. We started rehearsals December 8th of ‘09, opened January 31st, and here we are in May of 2010, running on. This is now the longest run of a show I have ever worked on. I have also never done anything in repertory, and this is my first production at Steppenwolf - many firsts for me here. And what a glorious gift and time it has been, and is…
At this point in the process, questions will come up like “how do you keep it fresh?” The audiences keep it fresh. Just as we have had over 100 performances now, we have had over 100 different audiences. With every audience, is a new chance to share the plays, to live them; and every audience will be different, so it will be a different experience. Also, when you have a cast full of gems like Alana Arenas, Tamberla Perry, Jacqueline Williams, Ora Jones, Jeff Parker, Roderick Covington, Kiplan Dooley, K. Todd Freeman, and the former-but-not-forgotten Glenn Davis, there is such a breadth of love and commitment that steps out on that stage, and commences to shine, every night. And also, it is our job. The blessing and gift here is that we have an ensemble that is deeply in love with the work, and in being so, celebrates it, nurtures it, and is loyal to it.
But that does not mean you don’t get tired. So what I discovered is how to keep up my stamina on this show: I watch what I eat, which may not always be the right thing, but I watch it. I work out, and mainly just try and keep some semblance of my own life while exploring Oshoosi, Egungun, and Terrell’s onstage. I try to keep inspired. I listen to music, constantly. And I started reading Toni Morrison’s Beloved a couple of weeks ago (now one of my favorite novels), and it immediately began to heighten all my senses and emotions and feed my imagination; a golden nugget of a gift on a long and demanding run such as this. But I am still drawn to the power of these plays and the language. When I get to watch or listen to a scene I’m not in, I see and hear people discovering and rediscovering, I still laugh hard at things and become quite moved, even after all these months. And that is testament to these plays and the entire company. And somehow, it feels like Tarell and Tina (playwright and director, respectively) are always kind of there, “Like the Moon during the day, there, but not saying anything” (line of Legba’s from In the Red and Brown Water). Tina Landau is a rock, and remains in the foundation of the production every night. And our dear Tarell, well, we get to see a beautifully enlarged picture of him before we walk backstage every night, and hear him do the unwrap-your-candy-now-turn-off-your-cellphone voiceover that’s played right before curtain. So he begins every show with us as well.