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

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.

Nick Sandys Receives Rave Reviews!

Nick Sandys plays Henry Higgins in in Light Opera's Works' production of My Fair Lady Aug. 15 through Aug. 30 at the Cahn Auditorium in Evanston. Check out the stellar review Nick received from the Chicago Sun Times.

Summer Update from Artistic Associate Nick Sandys

Summer is icumen in! And it has been as exhausting as it has been damp! Nevertheless, life in Summer Shakespeareland continues, and has actually been highly rewarding. It is always a process of compromises, with the weather, with the tight schedule (three weeks is insane!!!), with the facilities, with the experience (or lack thereof) of the company, but it is also a thrilling challenge and so much can be achieved, taught, imagined, striven for, and one should always count the victories and then use the scars as insights for next time.

So this summer was my first time directing Macbeth, at First Folio Theatre in Oak Brook--a play that I know very well, having acted in it five times and choreographed at least another four, published academic papers on and taught. This time I was choreographing and directing--note to self: never do this again on a three week schedule! And I'm pretty pleased with the final product, which manages a few moments of genuine surprise and terror, a few moments of unusual and interpretative staging, a few moments of really true emotion, and a couple of kick-ass fights. I also learnt some new things about the play--always a pleasant bonus--such as how parallel the journeys and the language/imagery of the Macbeths are (they begin the play as the most happily married couple in Shakespeare), how crucial it is to integrate the witches into the play so that they are part of the world, and how important it is to play with the theatricality of terror (making an audience sitting on blankets jump is an art in itself). I also believe I grew and am emboldened as a director of Shakespeare, which is likewise a bonus.

But there is no time to linger on victories--I am now in the thick of rehearsals for Higgins in My Fair Lady for Light Opera Works, which opens Aug 15th, and has been a real challenge in a whole other way. I haven't done a musical for 20 years, and even though my "singing" in this production is a la Harrison (though I do sing quite a bit more than he did), I am finding learning songs like this to be very difficult, a different type of muscle. My admiration goes out to all those who do musical theatre and make it look easy--which is of course the art of all good performance--sprezzatura, to use Castiglione's term--because I am certainly finding it hard work. But that may not be helped by having an exhausted brain. And there is no break in sight!!! AAARgghghH! Happy summer!

Terry Teachout's Wall Street Journal Review of Old Times

Chicago

Time was when Harold Pinter's shorthand dialogue struck most people as impenetrably mysterious -- and times, truth to tell, haven't changed all that much. Yet his best plays continue to make a powerful impression, and "Old Times," first seen on Broadway in 1971, has even become something of a regional-theater staple in recent years, partly because it can be produced so cheaply (three actors, one simple set) and partly because it's so theatrically effective. Pinter never wrote anything more potent than the enigmatic story of Deeley and Kate, an uneasily married couple whose life is disrupted by a visit from Anna, who knew Kate 20 years ago and appears (or maybe not) to have been romantically involved with her. Remy Bumppo Theatre, one of my favorite Chicago companies, is presenting this icy sparring match in an exceptionally satisfying production that has been staged with surgical skill by James Bohnen, the company's artistic director. Nick Sandys, Jenny McKnight and Linda Gillum all give tightly coiled performances that keep the tension rising all the way from curtain to curtain.

Mr. Teachout, the Journal's drama critic, blogs about theater and the other arts at www.terryteachout.com. Write to him at tteachout@wsj.com.

Blog from Pinterland!

Week two, the reviews are coming out and are strong, the audiences, when they come, are having a fascinating time. Spread the word people. What was great on Sunday, after the matinee, was to see 75% of the audience stay for the talkback, not because they were lost , but because they seemed to want some confirmation on what they thought they understood. There were some great insights and some clear thinking and some fun questions—thank you to the gentleman who noticed all the detailed dialect work! We haven’t had that number of people stay since, oh I don’t know, maybe Hapgood, another brain teaser.

And in the midst of this we are also in the thick of Liaisons auditions, exhausting but exciting work, which I am trying not to let influence Deeley’s demeanor. David Darlow, herr Direktor, has got his work cut out because we just saw a great group of wonderful actresses, a lot of my favorite leading ladies from around Chicago theatres whose work I have admired and some beautiful young actresses new to me and to Remy Bumppo, and he has to make a choice for each role. We could probably cast the show three times over at this point. And I get paid to do this all day!—well, actually I don’t, but it’s the thought that…. counts.

Nick

A Note from Nick Sandys...

So, first weekend after opening the show and already this adventure is proving tricky, entertaining and frustrating--just like the play itself. The noise from next door's Eclipse show has been less of a distraction than we thought, mainly because their big scream scene times out perfectly for our intermission. Now if only the patrons in the lobby would keep it down. And speaking of patrons, it has already become a massive test of focus in the first five minutes, with shufflers and late-seaters and simply nervousness, all of which is hugely amplified by Pinter's silences and the stillness of the performance. Even more than usual, one wants to turn round and say, "you do know we can see and hear you too" (the apocryphal story of Richardson in the NYC production of "No Man's Land" seems to ring true). Anyway....the show itself has received generally good reviews thus far, which is always lovely. And I have to say the audiences, once they tune in, have been all ears, especially in the last silent two minutes when the veritable pin can be heard tumbling deafeningly to the floorboards. What is tricky, however, is that each audience has been completely different. Just when we thought we had a handle on the pacing and the tone, in comes another group who either laugh far more, or who don't respond at all, and those pauses and silences suddenly start expanding and contracting as we try to work out how to ride the wave. When you have no dialogue to maintain a speed with, it becomes very difficult judging how time is actually passing. Only in Pinterland.....

Nick

What is Nick/Deeley Thinking?

Here are Nick's thoughts:

Actual line: “My mother would have a fit!”
Possible line: “ I can see right through to the other side, wow!” Thinking: “Right, then, all right, then, right, well, there you go, that is it, enough is enough, if you ask my opinion…. I know it is something to do with sex.”

Actual line: “I have my eye on a number of pulses, pulses all round the globe, deprivations and insults…”

Possible line: “ I hate these bloody loafers! Have you seen these revolting things? But at least I have two! And they’re mine!”
Thinking: “ Enough of this British reticence and subtlety. Time to do some good ol’ Chicago shouting! Maybe that’ll help.”

Actual line: “Long Silence”
Possible line: “You can hear the sea sometimes, if you listen very carefully.”
Thinking: “Come on, woman, blink, blink! All right, I suppose you aren’t even going to do that for me.”

Actual line: “Silence”
Possible line: “If I try the Vulcan mind-meld on myself, maybe I’ll be smart enough to understand this play—or at least understand this woman!”
Thinking: “Phew, we have reached the final tableau, the cage of infinity, I am a teary, nose-drippy mess, my character’s life is in tatters, his emotions are flayed, his psyche shredded—aah, it’s just one more night in the theatre… I believe I’ve earned this drink.”

Nick tells us about Tech Rehearsal!

Well, we managed to tech the show pretty much like we blocked the show—IN ONE DAY! Wow, luxuries—and unheard of! But this gives us lots of time to keep tuning the show, keep shifting the balance of threat and playfulness, of mask and revelation, of history and present. It is really proving to be one of the toughest assignments I have faced, not because of the physical demand, merely the mental. The play demands absolute focus, absolute concentration, no mental relaxation for a second, because the emotional stakes are so high. The strain on listening is immense—and this means that any noise, and I mean ANY, feels like a slap in the face. And it means I am not feeling emotionally comfortable—and I have to face up to being uncomfortable for the next six weeks. This play feeds on some of our darkest emotions, but not by putting the characters through extremis. Instead, these people are just going through mid-life crises, sieved by Pinter into an existential 70 minutes of doubt.

The set looks great—very simple and elegant, and yet floating in a void—and JR’s lighting, as always, really enhances the atmospherics, playing up the ghostly woods and the distant horizon, and, as James has commented, creating little Cornell boxes, “cages of infinity” (in Michael Billington’s phrase). The last moment is excitingly theatrical and haunting—I will say no more at this juncture. You’ll have to come and see me tortured from the inside for yourselves.

Nick

Nick Sandys continues...

Now that we have got through the script a couple of times, have blocked it in one and a half days (unheard of for a Bohnen-meister production!), and tried to work it through, there comes the dreaded memorisation moment, and oh is this going to be fun--Not! Pinter's precision is so poetic, so rhythmic, that any word out of place, or the wrong word, just makes you hiccough in the line anyway. And what with the repetitions and the non-linear leaps, the next few days will feel like an inner circle of hell! Other than that elephant in the room, things are going well, I feel. If only I could actually have a night off to work on the lines and get some sleep, I would be smiling "fit to bust"! We are currently working on bringing the lightness to the menace, finding the places when a character feels in control enough to back off, to ease off the pointed digs and competition because he/she feels like they know something "dead." And of course, they are then undermined within a couple of pages. But this lightness seems really necessary for the play's humor to surface--and will counterpoint with the savage humor when people behave badly. And it is also time for us to dig deeper, to find the sub-basement to use James' words, so that the heavy emotions are accessible and rise up to haunt us. Always uncomfortable but exciting work.

We also are blessed by having a very smart young assistant director in the room, Sean, who not only gives James someone to tell stories to, but who also has a keen eye and has made several great suggestions already. He also gave me an essay on "sats," a Norwegian term for the potential energy that precedes kinetic action, a vital part of the threat bubbling under the surface of any Pinter play. The essay connects the writings of many theatre theorists and practitioners, who all agree on the necessity of this power to generate meaning for the audience and transmit intentions even when nothing is actually acted out--like watching a cat focus before it chases: you know what it is going to do, what it wants to chase and destroy. Now that is Pinter--none of that "weasel under the sideboard" rubbish!

Nick Sandys on Pinter's Old Times

Saturday April 4th--first week of rehearsal!

Okay, okay, okay, here we are, deep in the Pinterlands and I had forgotten how mind-bending it can be. I feel pretty confident nowadays about delving into a script and finding through-lines and clues to the characters inner-life, and analyzing a character's specific use of language. But then here comes Mr. Pinter and makes you realise how pathetic your toolbox really is. It is like returning to Acting 101 and finding yourself without mooring, floating along in the profoundly disturbing cesspool of his characters' inner monologues--and the waters never clear. In fact, though I usually love tablework, I found that, on this one, I was massively relieved to get up on my feet--or, in this case, slump in an armchair in the corner of the stage and watch like a hawk. Suddenly, what had appeared to be an Escher-like maelstrom of dark emotions disappearing into primeval depths became more playable, more playful, and the opportunity to drive along the surface of his brilliantly bare language provided a wonderfully simple map--once you tune in. There are still multiple hidden turnings to negotiate, but it was not as frightening, or as mentally tiring, as digging into the text and debating the multivalency of his simplest images and relationships. I begin to see sunlight through the clouds--or is that the horizon through the trees--and can appreciate the amazing skill of the writing. Now I just have to brave enough to hurl myself on board this speedboat and set course for this particular Scylla and Charybdis. But hey, I get to act opposite two gorgeous women--I need to stop complaining and smell the coffee. Ahhhh, nothing like bad rehearsal coffee to get the juices flowing!

NS

Nick Sandys: On Tech Rehearsal

The past weekend was full, full, full, as we added all the other elements of the production to the rehearsal text and went through a lengthy technical process. Not surprisingly, the sound score to the show is another character—which we are rehearsing in just two days, basically. Nick Keenan has a great feeling for the rhythms of the show, and thanks to places like Youtube, soundbites are now available for so many different historical and cultural moments—eg. from 2005 Amman bombings, to Elmer Fudd’s chuckle, to “Kimora: Life in the Fab Lane”—all of which appear at some point in the show. The performers were terrific at quickly adapting and welcoming their new scene partner, sometimes seamlessly. They seemed a little less used to adapting to finding their light, since that plot element is equally detailed to create the different looks and movement for all 21 pieces in the show. It is going to be a lot of fun, over the next few days, watching them get comfortable again.

And all Samantha’s costumes are very relaxed and unobtrusive, but characterful. I was torn over Kelly’s silver ankle sneakers but they would prove to be a little too Vegas for this particular version of the show, I think.

The hardest decisions have been about the set, where Tim Morrison is coming up with some amazing stencil images for the walls, but each one leads to an important debate about the connotations of the images, and why they are present or not. Once you use a media image but change its context, especially by putting into a show about racial issues, the echoes of meaning start to become deafening. Even the placement on the walls becomes thematic, about who is in and who is left out of the frame. This whole rehearsal process, and working with these three thinking artists, has been a wonderful debate about the issues we are staging—much of it essentially stemming from the central paradoxical problem of mixing hip-hop and classical theatre aesthetics. Hip-hop culture is all about specificity and individuality, speaking only for the different self and personal experience—but all conventional theatre is built around the idea of representation, that everything on the stage is a symbol or represents something in the real world, therefore always speaking for others, erasing difference. It is a conundrum that I hope will yield some very interesting talkbacks.

Emotions...

What's up RB family? 10 days until opening night, and I'm SO excited. I'm really proud of the work that we're doing and seeing the possibilities, the borders and boundaries of the work and how to collaboratively and collectively lift text and performance from these humble pages in the 3-dimensional space of the theater. Something that Nick told us in rehearsal last week really resonates with me -- He mentioned how in the UK -- actors are trained to explore what emotion the character is going through and then hide it, since that's what most people do in real life. For me, as a spoken word artist, this totally flies in the face of what I think we usually do as spoken word artists.

Nick and I were talking how poetry (and particularly spoken word) is more often like music -- The performance is written into the musicality of the work -- you become the instrument through which the emotion is played as opposed to the ways that text and performance and emotion play out in theater. It's been a good exploration for me through the poetry and monologue work and rudimentary character development. I'm looking forward to fleshing out more and more the layers of what we've written into the work. Making all those discoveries that we maybe did not even know ourselves about race, gender, and media in America today...

Kelly

Director's Take- HipHopHopeLand

Today the show started to really take shape and find its direction--which is good for me, as director! As we began to put sections together and see how they fit, I realised that the initial sections that we had created early on were not quite making sense--which makes sense! As our three intrepid writers are still writing, and have responded to their recent experiences and feelings (Usman's return to his Pakistani homeland, Kelly's response to current hiphop music), the shows pieces begin to change tone and to crossfade/mix with each other in different combinations. Now a section on television can be divided into two, one half on role models and creation myths, a second on news and its censorship of experience. This devlopment then changes the section before, and changes where the comedy and lightness needs to be. So this process, so alive and so exciting, just took another step into scary territory, since I am far more comfortable, or expereinced at least, in carving up Shakespeare's text, than I am in analyzing Idris', Kelly's, and Usman's soft rhymes, riffs, ragings--but I love their passion, their opinions, and their words. This is a wild ride into hiphophopeland, and today the show just grew another super power!

Nick