Artistic Director change at Remy Bumppo

A message from Board President, Karen Randolph

Thank you for your involvement with Remy Bumppo over this past year of transition – which continues to unfold. On Tuesday, November 29, Artistic Director Timothy Douglas tendered his resignation, effective January 31, 2012.

It was with regret and surprise that we received Timothy’s news. Over the course of several meetings we hoped to find a solution for keeping Timothy successfully and confidently engaged, but his resignation was ultimately accepted.

In a letter addressed to Remy Bumppo's Board of Directors, Timothy expressed, “As a result of my brief but ample tenure I came to understand that in spite of our genuine excitement for one another, I’m ultimately not a good match for the organization.” He concluded, “I remain grateful to all at Remy Bumppo, as well as the greater Chicago theater community, whose enthusiastic inclusion of me into its vibrant world will feed me for the rest of my creative days.”

Our Board of Directors was very pleased to receive candidates for Timothy’s successor from Remy Bumppo’s core company of artists, the Artistic Associates. We convened throughout the month of December and on January 10 appointed a new artistic director from the internal candidates. We are pleased to announce that Nick Sandys will assume the position of Artistic Director effective February 1.

You are familiar with Nick Sandys from his 10-year tenure as an Artistic Associate with Remy Bumppo. Nick is an award-winning actor, director, and fight choreographer as well as an educator. He has appeared in 14 of our productions, garnering him three Joseph Jefferson Award Nominations, including his extraordinary turn in last season’s The Goat or, Who is Sylvia? He has contributed to over 200 productions nation-wide, and brings a wealth of experience and intellect to bear on this leadership role.

We are excited that one of our Associates is stepping up and we look forward to continuing to present the thought-provoking theater that you have come to count on from Remy Bumppo.

“Timothy's tenure was inspiring, brief but valuable,” said Nick Sandys. “Season planning with the Artistic Associates is well under way for our 2012/2013 Season and I am thrilled to continue and expand the language-driven, emotionally rich work of Remy Bumppo in that coming season. I have called this theatre home for 10 years and bring with me my deep understanding of all that Remy Bumppo has been and a tremendous excitement for what more we can become.”

Our final show of the season, Chesapeake by Lee Blessing, was slated to be directed by Timothy. Artistic Associate Shawn Douglass will now helm that one-person show which stars fellow Associate Greg Matthew Anderson.

We encourage you to share any thoughts, questions, or well-wishes you may have. You can still reach Timothy at the office or via his Remy Bumppo email, tdouglas@remybumppo.org, until January 28. You may contact Nick Sandys directly at nsandys@remybumppo.org. You can reach Executive Director Kristin Larsen at 773-244-8119 x 301 or klarsen@remybumppo.org. More information about Nick can be found on our website, www.remybumppo.org.

Your continued support is greatly appreciated, all the more during this critical juncture. Again thank you for your loyalty and trust in our work and mission – to delight and engage audiences with the emotional and ethical complexities of society through the provocative power of great theatrical language.

See you at the theater,

Karen Randolph
Board President

What We Learn from Love

"It was a love that just... happened... to me. And now it is a love that has ...ceased to happen. It came to me. And now it is going away in exactly the same way." - Silvia

Unexpected love transforms the characters in Marivaux's Changes of Heart. To begin rehearsal, director Timothy Douglas had each actor, designer and staff member introduce themselves with their name and an answer to this question:

What did you learn when you met your great, true love?

Inside the Rehearsal Room with Vincent Scott

As recipient of the Stage Director's and Choreographer Foundation Observership Award , I sit and watch the magic each day as director Timothy Douglas and cast and crew rehearse the next play of the Remy Bumppo season, Changes of Heart. Through the rehearsal period, I will blog my personal inside impressions of this creative process.

The Stage Directors and Choreographers Foundation Observership is a program designed to give an emerging artist a chance to work with a master director. The emerging artist gets first-hand knowledge of their master director's process and compares it to their own. There are usually 25 of these scholarships given throughout the year, offered at regional theaters across the country as well as Broadway.

I, myself reside in New York and have experience directing plays there, as well as Los Angeles and London. I recently directed a new play written by Peter Welch called Two Alone Too Together at the 2011 New York International Fringe Festival. I am thrilled to be observing and working with Timothy Douglas and Remy Bumppo on their production of Changes of Heart. I have been here for about a week and I can't wait to blog about the inside scope of my first week’s rehearsal experiences.

Join the conversation about 'Mourning Becomes Electra'

Have you experienced our production of Mourning Becomes Electra?

We want to hear from you about this theater experience. Here on the blog, we invite you to share what your heart is thinking and what your mind is feeling after witnessing the play.

Talk-backs at 'The Goat or, Who Is Sylvia?"

I wanted to share a little about talk-backs on this show. It has always been a deep part of our commitment to our audiences that we choose plays that engender a lot of discussion. The Goat has had amazing talk-backs. We almost never have the same questions, except perhaps, "Do you think the family can stay together and move forward?" We really leave that for you all, where your imagination takes that.

Our groups have been larger than ever and the sessions have been longer and incredibly interesting. Last night careened off into a great discussion on the nature of sin and specifically religion in the play (Albee having been raised Catholic and religious allusions always popping up). The group seemed to be filled with scholars and teachers, not the least of whom is our own Nick Sandys, who took off giving us all the entomology of the word "sin" , it's Greek origin and that it basically means "fatal flaw", as in what brings our hero down in tragedy.

We have become so enamored with getting to have these discussions, that we now are offering to meet anyone who wants to talk about the show at Aquitaine. It's our favorite after show place to go because one can get a lovely glass of wine, great food, and HEAR each other. That is a new experience on this part of Lincoln Ave.

Anyway, this is really just a rant to say "thank you" to all who have stayed for these great discussions. Please know how much we treasure them.

-Annabel Armour
Artistic Associate

Annabel is appearing at Stevie in The Goat or, Who Is Sylvia?
Talk-backs are offered again on Sunday May 1 and Thursday May 5.

Join the conversation about 'The Goat or, Who Is Sylvia?'

Have you experienced our production of Albee's The Goat or, Who Is Sylvia?

We want to hear from you about this theater experience. Here on the blog, we invite you to share what your heart is thinking and what your mind is feeling after witnessing the play. Throughout the run, our artists will respond to the things that are coming up for our audiences.

POST A COMMENT now and return to hear from other Chicagoans about their night with the play.

Vanity Fair: A Novel without a Hero

Up next in our Translations and Adaptations Play Reading Series is Vanity Fair, adapted by Adam Pasen. Join us for this local playwright's take on William Makepeace Thackeray's 19th century satire of British society.

Vanity Fair
presented as part of Translations and Adaptations Play Reading Series
Sunday, May 20, 2011
6:30PM
Greenhouse Theater Center
rsvp@remybumppo.org

Directed by Nick Sandys

Featuring:
Lydia Berger
Luke Daigle
David Darlow
Diane Dorsey
Joel Huff
Ron Keaton
Saren Nofs-Snyder
Katherine Romond
Nick Sandys


"...the Jos, the fat gourmand drank up the whole contents of the bowl; and the consequence of his drinking up the whole content of the bowl was, a liveliness which at first was astonishing, and then became almost painful..."

See Thackeray's original illustrations for his serial, initially published over the course of 20 months between 1847 and 1848.

From thevictorianweb.com Image scanned by Gerald Ajam and captions by Tiaw Kay Siang and Sabrina Lim.