We just closed our production of Sonia Flew and we thought it might be fun to share with you the photo above which shows ensemble member Alan Wilder before and after he has put on his make-up for the first act. Congratulations to everyone involved with the play.
Recently, someone who came to see the show shared with one of the cast members a family secret. A traumatic event that his mother had experienced, but vowed to never share with her own children. It sounded as though she had wanted to keep them safe from this knowledge. That Sonia does not share the trauma of her leaving Cuba with her family resonated quite strongly with this person. It’s all left me thinking about how ones’ family history can shape us even if we don’t know that history. And how those secrets never go away…
Producing Sonia Flew is proving to be a unique experience. Because Sonia Flew borrows from the historical record–a history near enough to touch on the experience of contemporary lives–we have had the privilege of presenting the play to some of the folks who are a part of the history. In post show conversations, we have had participants to the conversation who were, themselves, Pedro Pan children. The insight that they are able to bring to the experience of the play and to the ensuing conversation is singular.
What my own participation in those conversations produces in me is a profound recognition of the responsibility and the privilege we have in making theater. Occupying a platform, the agenda for which is providing a reflective space for how we live our lives, is the privilege. The responsibility is to make the portrait of those specific lives authentic–to get the particulars right. The responsibility, artistically, is to make the expression of those authentic lives eloquent–to craft their expression in a way that is meaningful, in a way that transcends the particulars to universal resonance. It is that transcendence of the particulars, in the eloquence, that empathy is possible. On our stages, we offer up lives and experiences and ask our audiences to recognize a commonality in our shared humanity. (more…)
Some nights I stay after and listen to the post-show discussion. It is always so interesting to hear the audience reactions to what they have just seen–regardless of what that reaction may be. If the purpose of art is to make us think and feel, which is what I believe, then the discussion sparked by a play, or any other piece of work, is the second half of the experience. Staying after to participate or simply observe the talkback is a little glimpse into others’ experiences which an actor doesn’t usually get. It’s been terrific to get to do that so regularly during this run.
On Saturday I meet with my students again. I can’t wait. They are special people, and I’ve missed them terribly over the Holiday Break. My “students” are teachers. Every season we invite a group of fifteen or so from the Chicago Public Schools to participate in our Teacher Theater Immersion Course offered through Steppenwolf for Young Adults.
This group spends many months with us, learning new theatre-based techniques to take back to their English, Social Studies, History, and sometime even, Science and Math classrooms. They study and attend our plays and bring their students, as well. (more…)