A conversation with Chesapeake director Shawn Douglass

The Contributor, Remy Bumppo’s donor newsletter, recently spoke with Artistic Associate Shawn Douglass about his preparations to direct our upcoming production of Chesapeake, the unique challenges of rehearsing a one-man show, and the opportunity to work with long-time associate Greg Matthew Anderson.

The Contributor: What challenges do you feel a one man show will present?

Shawn Douglass: Well, I have directed one other one-man show before, working with Usman Ally to create his one-person show Public Enemy for Remy Bumppo’s thinkTank. Based on that experience and thinking forward about the rehearsal process for Chesapeake, there are a couple of challenges that I anticipate.

The first is simply being sensitive to the physical, vocal and mental stamina that a show like this demands of the actor. It is asking a lot of an actor to work 5 or 6 hours a day, when he is talking the whole time and is also trying to figure out and inhabit the emotional journey of a character. It doesn’t always look like hard work from the outside, but it really is. It demands incredible mental focus. So I have to keep the process rigorous enough that we accomplish our work, but free enough that Greg has time to release his focus for periods of time.

Also, because Greg’s character, Kerr, is addressing the audience directly, we need to find a way to support him in that during the rehearsal process. I anticipate that we will be inviting a few folks in along the way so that he will have new faces to communicate with whose responses haven’t been dulled by having seen the play a number of times. Since we have a relatively short preview process, getting the him comfortable with the audience’s presence early on will be important, I think.

TC: What have you done to prepare for working on a one man show? Specifically working with only one actor/working without any scene partners.

SD: I got this job rather late in the game, and Greg had more experience with the text than I had. We met a couple of weeks ago for a couple of hours of talk. We worked together to try to define some broad parameters for why the character, Kerr, is sharing this fabulous yarn with the audience. We talked about our understanding of place and about the time period in which the play was written. Greg was able to say “Hey, these are my ideas,” and I think I was able to put him at ease by reassuring him that I was open to his suggestions. He is after all the one who has to commit to every word of the play.

We also had an early rehearsal in which Greg read the play to the production team, which was followed by a lively discussion with the designers, Greg, and myself. The designers don’t always have that chance to hear the play that early. And they rarely get to talk one on one with the actor that early in the process. We had some really clarifying conversations.

TC: How do you feel your past experience working with Greg as cast members and as actor-director will help you in this production?

SD: The first way it will help is that I like Greg a lot. I’m looking forward to being in the rehearsal room with him. He’s a talented artist and a generous person, he’s smarter than me, and he’s a charming guy. He does his homework and then comes to rehearsal ready to play and experiment. So he is an actor that needs direction in the best sense. He needs an eye to tell him what is working and what is not, but he doesn’t need to be spoon-fed choices about what his character is thinking or doing. Give him a direction to go toward and he will try it. It makes my job easier!

The second way it will help is that based on working together on Night and Day and The Importance of Being Earnest, we have a sense of trust and camaraderie with one another. He knows that he has a voice in the process, and that even if I ask him to try something “out there” during a rehearsal, I think he trusts me to reign it in or dump it if it doesn’t yield effective results. And I trust him to do the same.

I remember one night when we were both on stage in Night and Day, I was listening and watching Greg do his thing. I started thinking to myself, “Man, this guy is really good!” Of course, the moment I did that, my focus was lost and I promptly missed my next line. It was the last time I spent any time admiring him while I was acting. So I think I’ll stick to directing him!

TC: What excites you about working in an intimate rehearsal process?

SD: I think our process is going to be a cool experiment. I expect it to be intimate early on in the sense that it will be just me and Greg working together as actor/director. But we will also have very intelligent stage managers and an assistant director in the room daily. Not to mention designers who will be joining us throughout the process. I am the sort of director who likes to ask everyone questions about what is happening. “What is confusing to you?” “Why did you laugh there?” “Does that moment seem a bit much to you?’

So I hope that the work with Greg feels more than just a one-on-one experience. We’ll be a community of people working on this.

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

My Love Affair With Newspapers: an interview with Tom Stoppard

This article uses excerpts of a taped interview with Tom Stoppard conducted by BJR editor Bill Hagerty. British Journalism Review Vol. 16, No. 4, 2005, pages 19-29; http://www.bjr.org.uk/data/2005/no4_stoppard.

"Until I was 16 or 17 I had no idea what I wanted to do. Then, when the idea of journalism came up, I thought: 'That's it!' It was instant and final."

Tom Stoppard’s journalism career began when he was just finishing his A-Levels. He took a job as a junior reporter in Bristol and in 1954 took a position at the Western Daily Press covering the local government and city council. "I was in heaven — I loved everything about it."

After writing for the Western Daily Press, Stoppard moved to the Bristol Evening World. But his stay in full time journalism was short lived when he "got turned on by what was happening in the theatre." After six years at the Western Daily Press, Stoppard gave his notice and began writing plays. Continuing to freelance as a journalist to supplement his theatrical income, Stoppard contributed to an Arts page, something he claims turned out to be a "crash-course in culture, because I was writing pieces about things I knew nothing about on Tuesday, but knew enough about by Friday to do 800 magisterial words."

When the Bristol Evening World closed its doors, Stoppard was interviewed by London’s Scene magazine and offered the job as a theatre critic. Using his own name and the pen name William Boot (when there were multiple articles in the magazine), Stoppard continued critiquing theatre while simultaneously writing for stage, screen and radio. During the 1960s and 1970s, Stoppard wrote successes like Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead (1964/1967), Albert’s Bridge (1967), Enter a Free Man (1968), The Real Inspector Hound (1968), Jumpers (1972), and Travesties (1974). His passion for theatre escalated, and his journalism contributions gradually ceased, but his love of newspapers and news did not.

"In the 70s and 80s, when I was involved in dissident stories in Russia and Czechoslovakia, my refrain was that a free press made all the other freedoms possible, and by that I didn't just mean an uncensored press. I meant an untrammeled press.

This is what got me into writing a play about journalism in 1978. I knew I'd have to write one one day. There's a line in Night and Day that people are always quoting or misquoting – 'I'm with you on the free press, it's the newspapers I can't stand,' and because it's the only line people remember, they assume it's my entire view of newspapers. But, as I said, the good stuff is still good. I admire huge amounts of it, mostly people who go out there and file a story. From the very beginning I've admired foreign and war correspondents, all the way back to Sefton Delmer and Noel Barber, all the way forward to Robert Fisk. I don't give a damn about Fisk's so-called bias, I'm a thinking animal, I can deal with it, I can read round him – the point is it takes courage to be out there and get the story."

Today Stoppard reads many newspapers. "I take only three morning papers now, but I'm thinking of going back to four. [...] On Sundays it's The Observer, Times, Telegraph and Independent. I also take the Times Literary Supplement, London Review of Books, New York Review, Spectator, New Statesman, The Week... sometimes I think I'll cancel the whole damned lot. My papers are on my doormat, five floors up, before seven o'clock."

In the end, Stoppard says that "in all the newsprint I've read there isn't a sentence I'd rather have written."

Welcome Chelsea Keenan!

Chelsea Keenan joins Remy Bumppo as the new Director of Marketing and Audience Development after seven seasons with Evanston's Next Theatre Company where she served as the Marketing Director and Artistic Administrator. During her tenure, Next marked six straight seasons of growth, more than doubling attendance for the theater's progressive programming.

She came to Chicago after having completed the two-year Actor Training program at the Pacific Conservatory for the Performing Arts and the BFA degree in Theatre at the University of California Santa Barbara. While in Santa Barbara, she worked as the Box Office Manager for Center Stage Theater, a busy community rental space, and as the Assistant Director for Speaking of Stories, a literary arts organization with theatrical and educational arms. She is a founding member of and serves on the Board of Directors for Sandbox Theatre Project, and is a Company Member with The Building Stage. In addition to her roles in arts administration, Chelsea also contributes to Chicago-area theater as a performer.

Make sure to introduce yourself to Chelsea and welcome her when you speak to her on the phone or see her at the theater this fall! Reach her anytime at ckeenan@remybumppo.org.

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 Jenny/Kate Thinking?

From Jenny McKnight:

Those damn kids better get out of my yard...

It's nice here in the desert. Nice and hot. Lots of sandys...

There he goes, talking about his work again. Orson Welles, Schmorson Schwelles...

What is Linda/Anna Thinking?

From Linda Gillum:

"Alright, I'll play your game"

"I know I can make her happy"