Removing the Pretention and Finding the Truth In "Cyrano"

Somewhere in the midst of an incoherent ramble, I stopped talking. I had nothing left to say and everything left to say. I was tongue-tied and tired, and four weeks into rehearsing Cyrano for BoHo Theatre, the largest show I had ever directed.

My ramble came courtesy of a question that was asked of me by BoHo Marketing Director Charles Riffenburg during an interview that was (supposed) to be used for marketing purposes. (Look for it on the DVD extras!) Chuck’s question dealt with the amount of theatre being produced in Chicago and wondered, with all the choices that the Chicago theatergoing public had, why someone should come and see Cyrano.

I immediately dug into a word salad full of themes and platitudes about the importance of Chicago Theatre, it’s aesthetic and how this adaptation of Cyrano seemed to be tailor-made for Chicago (9 actors, playing 20 roles over the span of 15 years). I had just finished reading Richard Christiansen’s fantastic book on the history of Chicago Theatre, A Theatre Of Our Own: A History and Memoir of 1001 Nights In Chicago and I was all hopped up on the idea of Chicago Theatre and what that idea represented: honesty, passion, scrappiness, innovation, intelligence. Cyrano has all these traits, so why not make Cyrano a direct reflection of what it means to make theatre in this city! I was going to honor BoHo and Chicago and all those that came before me. With this production of Cyrano, I was going to honor my idea of Chicago Theatre!

Director Stephen Schellhardt Ponders "The Odyssey Years"

A few years back, the New York Times published an article about a new life phase for our generation - the decade of exploration that occurs after college and well into our late 20's and early 30's. The writer called it the "Odyssey Years," and it was this phrase that caught my attention.

I left college with an overwhelming feeling of accomplishment. I thought I could conquer the world and that life would simply fall into place for me. However, I quickly learned that life doesn't work that way. It comes at you quickly, it often makes no sense, and it demands a focus and determination that is often exhausting. Slowly my priorities began to change. I've lived alone, I've lived at home, and I've lived with others. I've had lots of money, and I've had no money at all. I have had no job and too many jobs. I have mourned relationships lost and celebrated relationships gained. My opinions have been challenged on a daily basis. The world I thought I knew when I graduated is not the world I live in now. These years have been a time of exploration, of opportunity, of loss and of love. The have truly been an odyssey.

I know I am not alone in these experiences. BoHo's upcoming cabaret The Odyssey Years on July 25th will explore and illustrate that while also highlighting the enormous talents of our BoHo family. I hope to see you there.

Stephen Schellhardt is BoHo's Artistic Associate, and most recently won acclaim for directing BoHo's production of Urinetown. He is the director for The Odyssey Years cabaret.

Finding Unsuspecting Influences in "Three Days of Rain"

Director Derek Van Barham, on what inspired him about Three Days of Rain.

What first struck me about Three Days of Rain was the richness of the script. We were able to hit the ground running with stellar material, and could spend the whole process really investigating the text. We had time to take risks, try things, fail, and fine tune. Greenberg did us a great service by giving us this deserted apartment in Act One. We are given a sort of blank canvas on which to paint these complex relationships. By contrast, Act Two is a fully realized portrait that we get to deconstruct. We draw something, and then rip it apart.

Each time that I watch our production, I notice different themes and patterns, recurrences in dialogue and gesture. The dynamic between our respective trios is so mercurial. I am still not sure I could say who the protagonist of our story is (though I think I know which character is the key to each act). What a treat to see three talented Chicago actors try to understand their parents only to then (literally) become them. Another Greenberg gift.

The word 'moment' is used throughout the script, and it is a word that has stayed with me. Moments are created and can easily be altered by time and space. For example, my memory of an intimate conversation can be vastly different than that of the other person. The distance between Act One and Act Two is like spilling water on a photo, or exposing a newspaper clipping to sunlight.

Three Days of Rain is about how the most unsuspecting present can have the biggest impact on the future, how the things we barely notice can shape who we are. It’s about the butterfly effect, the ripples of every decision we make.

One of our design inspirations was the Hiroshima Shadow, the negative space outlines created by the World War II nuclear attack. Outlines of bicycles, ladders, and even people were left on surfaces. Even though the objects and people were gone, their impressions were burned onto the walls. In our show, the room is a character, covered in shadows.

Three Days of Rain tells a story of people who were here and all of the moments they created together. It’s about connecting to the past, if for no other reason than the uncertainty of the future. It resonates in a time where we create our own families, and are constantly taking stock of how we will spend each moment. It is about how we will be remembered. And being remembered, however inaccurately, doesn’t sound so bad to me.

Derek Van Barham,
Director of BoHo's Three Days of Rain

Why Is Urinetown The Perfect Play For Now?

I first saw Urinetown in 2001, shortly after it opened on Broadway and not too long after September 11th. I was in New York City for a weekend with some college friends and I had been told that if there was one show to see on Broadway at that time, it was Urinetown. The title seemed strange but it intrigued me. On the surface, it came across as extremely comical and absurd – hey, we all needed that right after 9/11, right? We yearned for laughter and a little irreverence. Yet underneath that, the musical was dark, grim and poignant. It made a bold statement about our political system – which was on everyone’s mind then, even if we all were tired of talking and hearing about it. Sound familiar?

It succeeded in making me laugh until my belly hurt and yet its underlying message stayed with me for weeks afterward. While it posed some serious questions about society and the future of our world, it also managed to hilariously pay homage to the American musical comedy and to musical theatre form and structure altogether. The book was stellar and the production numbers were energetic, gigantic and fun. It was everything you wanted a musical to be, and more, and at the time it was like no other show I had ever seen before. It became one of my favorite musicals, and yet I never dreamed that I would be lucky enough to direct a production of it almost 16 years later.

When BoHo was searching for a musical for its 2017 season, Urinetown came up as a possible option and I jumped at the chance to be a part of it. I was reluctant at first to direct the show because I knew how difficult it was going to be to pull off this enormous musical-- and pull it off well. But I knew that, just like in 2001, now is the perfect moment for this story to be told. And there is no other company that I would rather tell it with than BoHo.

Urinetown resonates with what is happening with the state of our country and our world at this very moment, just like it did sixteen years ago. Not only because it touches on hefty themes like political corruption, corporate greed, environmental and economic catastrophe, the battle over basic human rights, mistrust and fear of law enforcement, class warfare and over-population-- but also because at the heart of the show lies a revolution. The concept of unexpected, unlikely voices finding strength and rising-up is central to this story. That is what excited me about telling it and why it is so important for it to be told at this exact point in time. It asks one of the bravest and most important moral questions imaginable: Are you willing to do what is right, even if your accomplishments never add up to anything tangible? In a postmodern, cynical world, it’s a question that demands to be asked and considered.

Stephen Schellhardt,
Director of BoHo's Urinetown

Why Produce Sarah Ruhl's Eurydice?

It takes a playwright of uncommon bravery to write the kinds of cryptic stage directions that Sarah Ruhl uses in EURYDICE. Directions like "He picks her up and throws her into the sky" or "He creates a room of string. It takes time to build a room out of string" or simply "Time passes." Many playwrites would be tempted to spell out in detail what should happen in these scenes and these moments, but Ruhl leaves all of this up to the imaginations of the play's creative team. She invites us to be creative partners and to invent a truly unique experience.

This is part of what inspired me to direct this play: the opportunity to gather a team of talented artists and create this play together, as an ensemble, in a way that is personal and meaningful to us. This invitation to be playful and explore the play from new perspectives is what led us to tear apart the Heartland Studio to create a whole new audience configuration, to match the poetry of the words with stylized movement and original music, and to cast a young woman in the male role of Orpheus. We can confidently proclaim that this is a production of EURDICE like none you have seen before.

For me, all of this artistry is aimed at a very personal message: At the heart of this weird little play is danger and tragedy of not being able to let go of the people we love when their time with us is over. We will all deal with loss and change in our lives. Maybe you have already. It is part of being human. Everything in life, including this production, will eventually be over and gone. But we cannot spend so much time looking back that we never look ahead. And in this play, and in the courage and love and creativity that our artists pour into each performance, I am reminded of this lesson.

Charles Riffenburg
Eurydice Director

Fugitive Songs Director Asks "Why Do We Run?"

"I’m over my head and under the gun with so many reasons to run,” completes the opening verse in Fugitive Songs.

Working with our extraordinary cast on this song cycle has shown me that the word “fugitive” can have so many definitions. On the surface, this show appears to be a series of vignettes with unique characters singing killer music. But what this material truly captures is a perfect example of life. It is not just about successes and failures, it is about the transitions between those events. That is what really defines us as extraordinary individuals.

Many of us have thought at one time or another: what would it be like to 'start over', to abandon our personal problems and start over from scratch with the goal of a new perspective or purpose? What we are really seeking is a renewed sense of hope. Every day we face the barrage of our social, political, and economic climate in the news. But what about the emotional, mental, and physical challenges we are facing as a society? It starts with each individual. How can we expect to change the world if we can’t face ourselves first?

I feel strongly that Fugitive Songs is not about what we leave behind, it is about the unknown that lies ahead. Remarkably, it is what we all experience within the human condition. My hope for our audiences is that they will be able to acknowledge their own reasons to run, and at the same time, accept their reasons to stay.

Zachary L. Gray
Director of Fugitive Songs

BoHo Theatre's Fugitive Songs runs through March 13th, 2016, at the Heartland Studio in Rogers Park. Tickets and more information...