CONVERSATIONS David Catlin - Mr. Dickens' Hat - Northlight Theatre

Northlight Theatre’s world premiere of “Mr. Dickens’ Hat — A Play with Music” written and composed by Michael Hollinger is at last coming to the North Shore Center for the Performing Arts. Originally slated for a November 2020 launch and postponed due to the pandemic, the show opens November 26 and is directed by David Catlin, a Lookingglass Theatre co-founder, ensemble member, director and actor with a long and impressive list of creative milestones including “Frankenstein,” “Moby Dick” and “Lookingglass Alice” scheduled to return next spring to the Water Tower Water Works theater.

Hoillinger’s play is set in and around events that occur in a Victorian hat shop in December 1865. In true Dickensian style, the multitude of robust characters in Hollinger’s work span the social spectrum of the day to emulate the contrasting attitudes of wealth and poverty. With original music that functions on multiple levels, Catlin’s bedrock understanding of Dickens’ work and the Victorian period, and a multi-talented cast, “Mr. Dickens’ Hat” is a highly-anticipated holiday season addition for all ages.

At the center of the play is a unique and relatable hero for our time. The story revolves around a girl named Kit, who at twelve is working in the hat shop to pay off her father’s debt in order to free him from debtor’s prison. The shop is home to the famous hat that Dickens used to haul water to victims of a train crash. Early on, Kit discovers devious plans afoot and the imaginative action adventure that unfolds over the ninety minute piece promises to be full of chilling intrigue, uproarious comedy and heartwarming music for the season.

The cast includes: Christine Bunuan (Lady Plume/Witslow), Cordelia Dewdney (Kit), Kasey Foster (Mrs. Prattle, Locksmith, Mother, Piggot), Mark David Kaplan (Mr. Garbleton, Gnat, Old Engineer, Polly), Ruchir Khazanchi (Ned, Countess, Styfflip, Mum), and Nick Sandys (Father, Fleece). Chuck Larkin serves as music director. The creative team includes set designer William Boles, costume designer Sully Ratke, lighting designer Jason Lynch and sound designer André Pluess.

On November 8, during a rehearsal break, we caught up with David Catlin via text to shed more light on the storyline and the development process, how Hollinger’s original lyrics and music are incorporated into the piece and the essential contribution that the cast has made to bringing the creative vision forward in telling Hollinger’s compelling and heartwarming tale.

ET: We know from shows like “Hard Times” at Lookingglass that you are particularly at home in Dickens’ world with his marvelous characters. It sounds like you and Michael Hollinger have taken a mutual fascination one step further, opening a treasure trove of possibilities. Talk about a few of those possibilities.

DC:  Michael has written this beautiful play in the style of Dickens. And the characters and situations feel really very much of the moment. Even more so now than when we intended to do it a year ago. This play is filled with characters who feel isolated. Alone. Who have been crushed a bit by their circumstances and conditions and yet with all this darkness, with all this heaviness, there is this underlying joy. This soaring human spirit. There are all these skillfully wrought Dickensian characters who are at once hilarious and also deliciously nefarious and feeling the heaviness and ache of the world.

We have a bumbling constable who is looking for felons and ne’er-do-wells at every turn. We have an absent-minded father and maker of hats who is continuingly bursting the buttons on his new waistcoat. We have a character named Gnat who is not the brightest bulb in the chandelier but certainly the sweetest. And we have Kit who is twelve years old and working to pay off her father‘s debt to earn his release from prison.

ET: A new Dickensian story just in time for the holidays! How does it feel to be out of a zoom room and back in a theater with a creative team that is dealing with some of the same sensibilities that we’ve all lived through? What have the cast brought to the show from their own experiences?

DC:  In fact, in the opening lyrics of the first song we hear: “Over and over the days go by|Swifter than birds the hours fly|Days that are lost can never be found|The hands on the clock go round and round.”

Time – over the last twenty months – has certainly flown by for us and those days we may never find again.

The song continues: “With weeks that are lost can never be found|Months that are lost can never be found|Years that are lost can never be found.”

We have all endured and lost much in these last twenty months. We have suffered and we have suffered separately, at an appropriate social distance. Isolated in our zoom meetings in our homes. There is this great quote from the Pickwick Papers that Michael puts at the front page of his play: “There are dark shadows on the earth, but its lights are stronger in the contrast.” It does feel to me that the shadows have been darker than ever. Have felt grimmer than ever. More doom full than ever, not unlike perhaps Dickens version of that industrial age and that time. Being back in a space with a bunch of collaborators whose life calling is to bring stories into the world that illuminate the darker contours, that enliven and bring joy, is an extraordinary event that I am so grateful to be included in.

The play takes place over the course of a single night, December 21, 1865, the longest night of the year. It is the onset of a long and cold winter. Our hero, a young kid, finds herself in great peril trying to make it through the night on the icy tracks of a train trestle with her fate rumbling down the icy tracks in front of her while Mr. Fleece, our delicious villain, looms closer and closer. Will she survive? Will she be the hero of her own story?

ET:  Six actors playing many characters in ninety minutes. It sounds like this cast needs many talents. Acrobatics? Magic? Sleight of hand?

DC: Each cast member is multi-talented. In addition to writing a brilliant play, Michael has composed a beautiful score & lyrics including holiday carols.   Each actor sings in addition to taking on many characters, as well as playing instruments and animating William Boles set which is part 19th century Industrial structure and part playground.

Each cast member is also an inventive collaborator. Most of the intricate choreography and staging has been devised by members of the cast.

ET: How is the music integrated in the play? Is it used to move the story forward, set the scene or a hybrid?

DC: The music functions on all levels.  There are blissful carols that capture the spirit of winter holidays, but also intone|articulate the moment.  “Tar Black River” dredges up the muck from the bottom of the Thames: “What will you find at the bottom of the Thames? | Is the riverbed covered in jewels and gems? | No, the bottom is nothing but broken dreams|daft ambitions and desperate schemes|The runoff of a million wishful streams is the bottom of the tar black river.” This delivers Kit to her father in Queen’s Prison where he faces a long winter before spring will come. “Night Sleigh” has a driving pace that also underscores Kit’s initial escape through the London night before she is caught by her nemesis Fleece on the frozen train trestle. “Psalm” follows the crescendo of the play’s thrilling climax with the ethereally sung lyrics: “Calm, calm, night is calm…”

ET: I was about to say that after our last conversation about ‘Moby Dick’ that it was great to have you back on terra firma. But it sounds like the water flowing in the Thames still plays a big role in telling your stories.

DC: Definitely.  I grew up in Pittsburgh – far from big bodies of water like the sea or our beloved Lake Michigan. But the Allegheny River held its own sway over me, whether jumping off train trestle bridges, canoe-camping along it’s many islands, or watching it flow by my town’s Riverside Park, it is an important part of who I am.

ET: It’s always a pleasure to chat with you. “Mr. Dickens Hat” is a highly anticipated show for the holiday season and this new collaboration with Northlight Theatre looks like a great opportunity to expand the unique style of storytelling that you’re known for. Thank you for all the insight into this fascinating new project.

DC: Thanks, Ed.  Always grateful to chat with you!

REHEARSAL PHOTOS | Caleb Woodring, Colleen Schuldeis, and Mara Mihlfried

Northlight Theatre
presents the
World Premiere of
Mr. Dickens’ Hat
A Play with Music
Written and Composed by Michael Hollinger
Directed by David Catlin
Music Direction by Chuck Larkin

November 26, 2021 – January 2, 2022 

9501 Skokie Blvd, Skokie, IL
(847) 673-6300

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PicksInSix Q & A - Cassie Beck: What The Constitution Means To Me-Broadway Playhouse

Heidi Schreck’s “What the Constitution Means to Me,” a smart, provocative work presented in a wide-ranging narrative that alternates from heartbreaking to hilarious and all points in between, will return to Chicago on October 26 for a two-week run at the Broadway Playhouse starring Cassie Beck, the multi-talented stage and television actor whose credits include the Tony Award-winning “The Humans” and the just-released Amazon Prime series “I Know What You Did Last Summer.”

One of the many startling and insightful revelations in Schreck’s play occurs quite matter-of-factly early on, as she reflects on her 15-year-old-self travelling the country and participating in constitutional debates in American Legion halls. It has to do with the theatrical set, conjured up from her memory, that includes a massive wall with portraits of men, peering back impassively at the 40ish woman, and serving as an imposing metaphor for the multi-layered discussion of inequity and inequality that is to come.

It is then that Schreck readily admits not being able to conjure up one important detail: she could not envision a door out of the room.

The framers could not begin to list the rights for all either and chose to amend the document so that future interpretations could be made. Navigating the constitutional territory of a way out and framing the discussion of the text, purpose and future of the document—specifically focusing on Articles 9 and 14—is the meaty middle of Shreck’s superb 2019 Tony® Award-nominated show.

Now back on tour, and in advance of the Broadway in Chicago run which was stalled by COVID-19, we posed questions to Beck about tapping into her own experiences to create the role and how the show has been impacted by the current state of politics and women’s rights.

Ed Tracy: What is it about "What The Constitution Means To Me" that first got you interested?

Cassie Beck: When I saw Heidi perform the piece in New York, I loved it. I was really flattered and honored when the tour offer came to me. She’s a friend and a colleague. I’ve collaborated and performed in some of her other plays prior to CONSTITUTION and cherished those times of working together. She’s an inventive, honest and uncompromising writer who really values actor input. I will always get in a creative room with her anytime I’m invited. For this particular production, I have the unique perspective of having been an audience member, so I know what it’s like to receive this play from a theatre seat. I found it so revelatory, raw and exciting, not to mention enraging at times. It’s a full spectrum kind of piece that covers a lot of emotional ground while also being relatable and laugh out loud funny. Plus, for an actor, navigating such a hefty bulk of material is a theatre nerd challenge I couldn’t refuse.

ET: Talk a bit about how the staging and rehearsal process for the tour evolved as we started to emerge from the pandemic. Is there an example where a section of the show has been adjusted or expanded?

CB: Firstly, rehearsal protocols were strictly and smartly enforced for physical safety by our Covid Safety Manager who attended every rehearsal and is also with us on tour. Everyone is vaccinated and frequently tested. We wear KN95 masks at all times, with the exception of actors on stage. There was also the addition of HEPA filters and area fans. The most informative and reassuring was our team’s one-on-one meeting with Dr. Adamson, the Broadway Covid Advisor. She was incredibly helpful with regard to where the science is now around testing, transmission, contagion and viral load. We got a full 30 minutes with her before she had to Zoom with The White House, so, nbd. We all played it very cool. Tip: Keep those fans circulating, blast that overhead air vent straight into your lap while on planes, and wear your masks, everyone! As for the show, while we are not ignoring the fact that there’s been a pandemic since the show last played, for example, I greet the audience in a way that acknowledges how good it is to be back in the theatre.  Mike Iveson interacts with some audience members and puts on his mask to do so–the word Covid-19 has not made it directly into the text. I do think the pandemic deeply permeates the questions raised in the show, especially as they relate to accessibility to healthcare in this country, an individual’s right to life, and, of course, current events from today’s headlines are always changing in the live debate portion of the piece.

ET: The original production had the added benefit of Heidi Schreck’s own experiences, many, if not most, of which universally resonate with women in the audience. Is there one particular moment in the piece that strongly tapped into your personal experience? How did you approach that in your own preparation?

CB: Heidi’s examination of her mother, grandmother, great, great grandmother and herself in the play not only resonated with me but invited me to do the same. I lost my mother in 2019, and because there is a kind of universality for American women in the piece, I bring my own mother and grandmother and great-great grandmother’s ghosts on stage with me as well. The play has a deep spiritual, ritualistic, séance (dare I say witchy) quality as the character of Heidi evokes spirits from history into the theatre space. She’s calling them up, remembering them, discussing them and interacting with them through time and space. I find it so comforting and moving that I get to do the same with my ancestors while simultaneously calling to action the younger generations in the audience to understand, learn, and question the past so we can move forward. It’s funny, I can hear the audible gasps from the audience after the line, “birth control became legal for single people in this country in 1972.” I remember that being a shocking realization for me as well. The facts surrounding birth control legality was revelatory for me and sharply pointed to how I took the right to contraceptives for granted.

ET: The show is a conversation starter and provides an open, unique and often hilarious opportunity for women of two generations to address wide-ranging issues.  What do you see as the most important concepts for women to share with the next generation and as a lens to Heidi’s view of her mother and grandmother’s experiences?

CB: That we are complex beings with both strengths and weaknesses, that deserve to live, love and achieve. To not lose hope, that we are progressing! We must know our worth so we can continue to fight for equality, which is our birthright.

ET: One fascinating aspect of the play is the embodiment of women at various ages and through the eyes of their experiences with men, as portrayed by Mike Iveson who played the role in the Broadway production and is on tour. Can you talk about the interaction between the essence of the everyman (on stage) and how you associate that relationship with the men in the audience?

CB: Yes, as we were rehearsing the play, I asked for an afternoon dedicated to dissecting Heidi’s onstage relationship with the Legionnaire. What I learned is that Mike is truly there to catch and respond to anything that I happen to throw at him over the course of the performance. I see so many of the men Heidi describes in the play embodied in him. Once the show’s spell is cast, Heidi calls him into the space like a ghost of the real Legionnaire she knew. He makes this long entrance from the back of house to the stage, which I like to imagine is the conjuring of this real man’s spirit to enter our playing space. Over the course of the show, he morphs into many other men, such as the college guy that gives her a ride home, her castmate “Jean” from Miss Julie, her father, even Abraham Lincoln and Ulysses S. Grant! Not to mention the men in the audience, from young to old. He really is a surrogate for any male energy that is accessed in the play. Most importantly, at his core, he’s the wonderfully supportive and talented Mike Iveson himself. He’s always got my back, whether I’m loving or berating him. His breakout speech is always perfection.

ET: There are among the historical references humorous anecdotes that are contextualized with recordings of Supreme Court proceedings that align with Heidi’s personal experiences. And yet, all these years later, our society continues to face obstacles that both directly and indirectly inhibit equality. It seems, to use the metaphor early on in the show, that there is no one door to open, but a series of doors for this and future generations. Talk about the two most important takeaway’s that will provide both inspiration and a call to action for our time.

CB: The show has taught me how difficult and lengthy the legislative process really is and how unequal the playing field continues to be because of that glacial pace. The fact that the mechanism to change the Constitution is written into the document itself and we haven’t passed the ERA yet is enraging - and yet, we are not mad enough. As a culture, inequality MUST matter more. We can change it, but we have to run for office ourselves, demand change and rectify the Constitution to protect us all. I would like the takeaway to be that our relationship to democracy and the Constitution should function like any relationship you care deeply about: it requires work, dedication, and evolution.

PHOTO|Joan Marcus

BROADWAY IN CHICAGO
Presents
WHAT THE CONSTITUTION MEANS TO ME

October 26-November 7, 2021

Broadway Playhouse
Water Tower Place

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TOUR WEBSITE

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RENT - LYNDIE MOE MAKING THE MOST OF EVERY MOMENT

Jonathan Larson’s groundbreaking musical RENT returns to Broadway in Chicago’s CIBC Theatre for eight performances October 5 through 10 for the 25th Anniversary “Farewell Season of Love” Tour. The 2021 touring cast includes a few familiar faces from the pandemic abbreviated tour that was put on ice by COVID-19.

Returning to the role of Maureen that she played in the 2018-19 tour will be Lyndie Moe, an actor who has a personal backstory as fascinating and inspiring as the complex character she portrays. Growing up on a farm in Emporia, Kansas, Moe attended a year at Rider University and then landed a role in RENT in 2017 at her first open call audition. The two-year tour experience that followed was both a series of formative and life-changing events for the actor.

I spoke with Moe during a rehearsal break in New York recently. Early on in our phone conversation, I asked how she has been preparing for the relaunch during lockdown since receiving the casting call.

Lyndie Moe: I've been drinking a ton of water and spending time with my family, because I'm not going to be seeing them once I hit the road. Throughout COVID, I wasn't really thinking at all that I was going to be returning to the tour. I received a call from the casting director last December and she asked how I would feel about getting back on the road with RENT. I was ecstatic.

Ed Tracy: A 50-city tour that runs through mid-2022 is a big commitment. What preparation led up to rehearsals beginning September 1?

LM: We had one zoom meeting with our hair and makeup and our wardrobe supervisor. It was the whole cast. That was actually the first time we saw everyone who was going to be on the road.

ET: And you're returning to this cast with three other cast members who were in the previous tour.

LM: Jayvon King (Angel), Cody Jenkins(Mark) and James Shoppe (Ensemble/Steve) all return. It's nice to be in the same room with all of them, to remember what we went through and also being able to do the tour with this new lens that we all have. It's interesting to see how everyone's character has progressed.

ET: Talk a minute about that lens. Your initial run began in 2017. You are an actor of a different generation than this show and it has its own set of challenges. The word “virus” now pops out of this musical with even more meaning and you're coming back into it with a whole new experience of your own with that term. From a life standpoint, you perhaps haven't, to this point, had to deal with the finality of losing a friend, but this pandemic has affected all of us. How has this experience changed what you're bringing to the role now?

LM: When I first went on tour, I was fresh out of high school, went to one year of college and then auditioned and got the role. So I hadn't had much life experience. I was sort of in my own bubble, as some say, growing up in my hometown with no idea what was about to happen. Then I did two years on tour and it was sort of like my own college experience. I feel like I learned a lot about how to stay healthy, how to keep my voice ready for eight shows a week and the things that I would have learned in college, I was able to learn on the road. I'm thankful for that.

After COVID hit, I lost my grandma, which was the first heavy loss that I've ever had. And that sort of shook up how I looked at everything in the world. I am able to view RENT as more than this amazing musical that means so much to so many people . I look at it more as an outlet for artistic expression and all of us being in a community together. Feeling these intense emotions. It's easier to go through with people and not alone. I'm very thankful that I get to do this again with this new perspective.

ET: It is a show that speaks to a time of loss, love and friendship and made a mark in the theatrical community. Tony Award. Pulitzer Prize for Drama and the Jonathan Larson story. Can you talk a little about what makes this production unique?

LM: Our creative team and the people helping us put this show together and ready for the public includes almost everyone who was working with Jonathan Larson, were great friends or knew him or talked to him so that they constantly share stories about him or show us videos of him which is really beautiful. We do feel like we have a very close connection with his story. And I know his dad has come to see the tour a few times, and it's always very emotional when he comes. He always mentions that he would give it all back if he could see his son again, which is a crucial aspect of the show as well. You never know when your last year or your last month will be. So it's important to make the most of every moment for sure. His legacy follows the show. We can feel it whenever we sing his songs, like “Seasons of Love. We feel the energy in the cast and throughout the crew. There is also a sign in our backstage that says: “Thank you, Jonathan Larson.” We see it whenever we are in a theater.

ET: “Seasons of Love” comes at an interesting point at the top of Act 2 and is one of the most identifiable songs from the show. How does that particular moment feel to you following the first act where you've built momentum and created a series of interconnecting relationships between each other and then everyone breaks out in this jubilant anthem?

LM: I love that number. You really see everybody (in the audience) and you see that RENT is a cultural touchstone for a lot of people because they're all singing the words. Some people are crying. Some people are laughing. It means a lot to everyone. And being able to see people's reactions is one of the only times in the show that we're able to do that. It just makes the whole theater feel more like a family that is in it together which is really important for the show.

ET: Everyone on stage talks about Maureen for 20 minutes before you enter so we're really looking forward to seeing her for the first time. Talk about the protest appearance and “Over the Moon”.

LM: There's no other song out there in musical theater that I would rather be doing. It's just so wacky, but it's also so real. It's like this one woman show that Maureen has been planning over and over again. A giant metaphor to sort of protest what the character Benny has been doing. I love it every night. It just feels very real and I can't wait to be doing that again.

ET: Jonathan Larson had a marvelous mind. I'm not the first person to say without RENT, there is no HAMILTON. It was a groundbreaking deliverance of a sung-through rock musical of a time and topic with all these characters from different backgrounds. Maureen has a very interesting development throughout this story.

LM: She definitely starts out very confident in whatever state that she's in. She's confident about who she is, what she wants as the show progresses. However, she does learn to be a little bit selfless, which is necessary. At Angel's funeral she gives a eulogy. You can see that she cares deeply about other people. And she is able to take that spotlight away from herself, which I don't think she would have been able to do in the beginning.

And Maureen and Joanne are off and on, off and on. There's definitely a relationship that is like a ping pong game. You never really know what's going to happen. I wouldn't say she evolves into really anything besides just being her herself unapologetically. She is always herself. She is so confident. I really admire that about her.

ET: What is a favorite moment for you?

LM: “Seasons of Love” or the finale when we're all at the table and we're all together and we're singing and the lights are coming up in the audience a little and you can see people are starting to get emotional. It just feels very whole. I feel very complete with all of these people around me singing this beautiful music.

ET: I wish you well for the upcoming run. It's a massive undertaking. The 50-city tour of RENT starts September 30th and arrives in Chicago at the CIBC Theater on October 5th for eight performances through October 10. I hope you find Chicago as enjoyable as you did the first time around.

LM: I really appreciate that. I've had a wonderful time talking with you. I am very excited for Chicago.

ET: What's the first thing you're going to do?

LM: Oh my gosh. Probably just walk. Just walk and see where my feet take me.

This transcript has been lightly edited for length and clarity.

PRODUCTION PHOTOS:
Lyndie Moe-Carol Rosegg
Cody Jenkins-Amy Boyle

BROADWAY IN CHICAGO
Presents
RENT
The 25th Anniversary
“Farewell Season of Love” Tour

October 5-10, 2021

CIBC Theatre
18 West Monroe

TICKETS

RENT - TOUR WEBSITE

PODCASTS available on Apple Podcasts, Audacy and Libsyn
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A New Immersive "Recipe" Ahead for Director David H. Bell

A New Immersive "Recipe" Ahead for Director David H. Bell

When we last spoke on the Conversations podcast in 2016, David H. Bell and a spirited group of co-creators were at the time huddled around the game plan for a musical version of the Knute Rockne story. In the years that have followed for the director and educator whose extensive body of work has received over 45 Joseph Jefferson Award nominations and has received the award a dozen times to date, he has directed the critically acclaimed Windy City Playhouse production of Southern Gothic, an immersive theatrical experience that took Chicago audiences by storm.

The success of Southern Gothic has now given birth to a new project with restaurant impresario Rick Bayless and the Windy City Playhouse—a fascinating concept entitled A Recipe for Disaster that will debut this fall in the club space below the iconic Chicago theatre district restaurant Petterino’s, which, it was announced in July, will be opening soon under new and separate ownership.

David Bell joined the Conversation recently to discuss the development of the new show scheduled to open on October 6th, how the pandemic impacted his Northwestern students and his professional career, and what might be ahead for the future Southern Gothic.

Ed Tracy (ET): We have been through this monumental shutdown. Nobody expected it would last as long as it did. It's almost an equally monumental start up with a lot of different players at every single professional level in America. Storefront theatres. Non-profits. Professional theatres. Everyone is in this major shift. This pivot. When you found yourself in the middle of this, what gave you hope to go forward? Did you have a series of projects that kept you busy? I know you were teaching, but how did you put all of that together?

David Bell (DB): In many ways I was lucky. As things slowed down—I lost nine jobs essentially that either got postponed or canceled altogether as a director and in my professional career, but I, fortunately, had an abundance of time, therefore, to really put an effort into my teaching, figuring out how to teach via Zoom and continually pivoting as the restrictions that surrounded the COVID change. I ended up in one of the most exciting teaching gears I've ever had. The students were extraordinary. And a hundred percent of the time when I found myself a little at sea—which happened more often than I care to admit—it was the students who not only came up with the solution, but actually turned the experience of teaching into a real positive. They were focused. They were dedicated. And, most of all, they were really inventive about how they needed to get educated and they often provided me solutions to the problems that the COVID pandemic had created. It turned out to be a wonderfully positive time in the life of my teaching. Coupled with this clearly national sense of isolation and for months thinking that things would change, some of the projects that I am working on I'm involved as a creator, so I was able to focus as a writer in three or four projects. I have a new version of Christmas Carol opening up at the Alliance Theater in Atlanta. So I did several rewrites of that. I'm working on the new project with Windy City Playhouse and although I'm only the director on A Recipe For Disaster, I got involved in moving that forward. The wonderful composer Ira Antelis and I have been working on a musical about aging that I'm also very excited about. So those things started moving to the fore and I spent a lot of time on the writing side of my creative projects rather than the directing projects.

Strangely, we had a very, very long and slow and slightly exhausting first six months of this pandemic where we continually discovered that we are able to do less and less. And that ended up into a kind of numbing, sick additional six months where everything seemed pretty much shut down. But as soon as things started coming back, the fall seemed like the place to reopen and vaccinations started happening, all of a sudden everything hit at once. I'm currently involved in about seven different projects, all that are going to be opening up during the course of this calendar year. I'm feeling overwhelmed, but I'm very grateful to be at a point in my life and my career where I am involved in enough different projects that I generally can keep myself busy. Now it seems that things are coming back very, very strongly. And of course, three of the projects that I'm working on are connected to Windy City Playhouse.

ET:  It's an understatement to say that you, David Bell, do not have a lot of moss growing under your feet. You have had an extraordinary career. It's hard not to look back at that career and ask: “How did he find all that time to do these things? And all of these projects are coming at a time when the University is coming back in a new and different way from this past year. Turning to Northwestern for just a moment, what are some of the changes looking like in the performing arts as the pandemic moves into the fall?

DB: We are still being very, very cautious. Northwestern has wisely decided to move very slowly and cautiously and follow the cutting edge of CDC recommendations, rather than proceed them or come up parenterally about how to move forward. So, I think in the fall, they're going to be very cautious. But by winter, we're planning to be back and presenting shows. Winter and spring will feel very much like it has always felt. Our highest priority is the safety of the students. And you know, the new Delta variant has thrown everybody a curve ball. The number of people who are reluctant to getting vaccinated has made this a far-from-done deal. It is not going away as thoroughly as it seemed about a month ago.

ET: There are a lot of projections in the last six months or so about January openings, you mentioned that things moved up to the fall and now we're kind of in that start, don't start, how fast process. You see larger theatres, and others that have received funding, have been able to sustain themselves. What is the outlook for the smaller theatres who are operating in a small space, which is really a breeding ground?

DB: I'm always of two minds. I always understand and fully appreciate the challenges at the moment, and they are considerable at this moment. But at the same time, I also believe that every challenge is an opportunity and there is real opportunity in smaller spaces. I think the thing that makes live theatre so exciting is its ability to create an environment that is individually sensorily impactful on an audience. And there is something about the very smallness of a storefront theatre here in Chicago that creates real immediacy that brings the action of the show right to you. And I think there's going to be an uptick in the need to be surrounded in a community of people having a shared experience. It's not going to be a giant shared experience. One of the remnants of the pandemic might be that there is an embrace of smaller, more unique, more immersive kinds of experiences. I think that is a real possibility. The big arena shows—the big multi-million dollar musicals, the high-tech musicals—there will always be a market for those, but I think the theatre—the idea of a community gathering to share a single dramatic event—is going to happen everywhere. And I think it's going to be a great boon to the smaller theatres that have been able to survive the last 18 months. 

ET: To that shared experience you talk about: I know that you have a fondness for military history, you have an extensive history library and you're an avid reader. World War II was a shared experience for the veterans. Many historians agree that the success of the World War II generation was that they had this ‘like’ experience. Is this pandemic going to affect people in the arts and everywhere else in the same way?

DB: I don't know. My hope is yes, but there was a lack of cohesion in the sense of national identity being tied up with combating this virus. And so we're at a very polarized time. And I think there is politicalization of how people have responded to the pandemic that, in fact, instead of joining us in the single effort that we felt in World War II, has really done just the opposite. And, you know, that there are those people who don't believe that there was ever a pandemic. There are people who feel that it was created. There are people who feel that somehow vaccinations are a government plot. And so somehow this national crisis has widened the gaps between us as opposed to World War II which bridged the gaps that were between us.

ET: There is a role for the performing arts and others to help speak to that. I thought early on the first two or three months that we would have a lot of artists holding up, creating new art and that out of that art would come other really substantive pieces. And it seems to me that, A Recipe For Disaster, which was in the cooking pot for a long, long time before, is a unique, innovative new piece that is going to be perfectly centered Chicago's theater district downtown and the kind of fully scripted, immersive event that you have very successfully already created in Southern Gothic.

So, let's turn to A Recipe For Disaster. Tell me about the development process from your perspective, how it came to be and how you got involved.

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DB:  I love the Windy City Playhouse. I am an associate artist with the institution. I love Amy (Rubenstein) and Carl (Menniger) who are the artistic director and associate artistic director. They are extraordinary human beings. Evelyn Jacoby, who got me there in the first place, is the managing director, an former student of mine and I have always admired her and her work. I have done three shows there. This is the third. The first was Explorer's Club. The second was this very innovative and challenging and exciting process developing Southern Gothic. Because of the success of that experience, we were very excited to do something else, Amy, as all of us, but Amy in particular, has always been a fan of Rick Bayless. He is remarkable. Everything he touches is magnificent and turns to gold. He and his wife Deann have an extraordinary sense of the theatre. Amy and Rick started talking about developing a show almost two years ago. And because of the coronavirus they were able to meet every week. I was in some of the very early meetings. When I really got more involved, the script was almost done so I have been giving suggestions about how to adjust plot lines. We did a zoom reading about five months ago and they took on a lot of rewrites based on that. We just had a workshop of it last week and again we had a great meeting afterwards. They are astounding collaborators and they are finding a way to tell a very funny, driven by action, farce in a big event in a restaurant and using the vocabulary that you see as audiences or patrons at the restaurant. We are building a theatrical immersive experience. So it will involve some food, the preparation of food and how it's delivered, but it really is about the people who operate a restaurant and all of the kind of farcical situations that no one would know better than Rick and his lifetime involved in the service industry. Those kinds of crises that can happen in the preparation of food and serving an audience. It is really a fertile and exciting world that we've been exploring. The process thus far has been a dream. We are just finishing up the casting process and preparing to go into rehearsal early in September.

ET: And this show will be opening October 6th in the club space below Petterino’s restaurant 150 North Dearborn adjoins the Goodman Theatre in the center of the theater district. I have to think that having that space become available, which has a separate entrance on the Randolph side, must have been an amazing coup for everyone.

DB: It was astounding! Amy Rubenstein is one of the visionaries of Chicago theatre. She saw what was happening with restaurant real estate in downtown Chicago. We were looking for a home for this and we couldn't find the right one. We spent several meetings contemplating spaces that are not known necessarily as theatre spaces but have a kind of downtown restaurant world vibe to them. When Petterino’s came up, my mind was blown. Petterino’s is the functional equivalent of Sardi's here in Chicago. It is an institution. And to be at the heart of the theatre district in downtown Chicago with a new immersive theatre piece is very exciting.

ET: Is the plan to have one show per night? How do you think the run is going to look?

DB: We will have matinee days which will be later afternoon and later evenings. The idea is a fairly regular performance week. Eight shows a week.

ET: Will guests be able to order off a menu?

DB: It is actually a theatre experience, not a dining experience. The show is based on a kind of  influencer's night tasting where a chef introduces a few bite-sized versions of the dishes they do to get influencers interested and wanting to come back. So that's what the evening is constructed around, but it is not primarily a dining experience, although there is both food and drink that will be served in the course of the evening.

ET:  How are the rehearsals going to be developing? Are they all being worked out through the Windy City Playhouse? Are you building a set somewhere else?

DB: We will probably build the set on location. And when we start rehearsal in early September we will be rehearsing on the set in the downstairs space at Petterino’s. It is already being designed by an amazing designer, William Boles who won the Jeff award last year for his equally amazing set for Boys In The Band at the Playhouse. It's an extraordinary world that he has created. I can't wait to start playing on it. It's going to be an exciting and very vivid process as Southern Gothic was.

ET: And Southern Gothic, for those who may not now, opened to terrific reviews and then evolved into a more complex version of itself. Talk about that for a second.

DB: It opened very well and ran almost two years, moved to another space in the south loop so the initial Windy City space could keep on presenting their theatrical season. We are now and have been talking to various cities. We're very close to getting it produced in Washington, DC. We're now talking to people in Nashville about taking our homegrown product and moving it, transplanting it to another city. So it's a very exciting period of growth for immersive theatre. It is immersive to the point where we had about thirty audience members every night and you were right in this kind of Southern Atlanta living room while the action unfolded all around you. It was extraordinary. And again, with Amy and Carl and faulted the writing process with Leslie Liautaud creating that world, um, and it was such a successful model that that's what kind of led us to look to create A Recipe For Disaster and find another way to approach immersive theatre that will hopefully surprise and delight our audience.

ET: David Bell. You are a man with a kitbag that looks more like a steamer trunk. I cannot believe the things that you were involved in education, developing superb talent. People know you far and wide as one of the top professionals in your field. I wish you well on this new one.

DB: Thank you so much, Ed. I really appreciate it.

ET: The show is A Recipe For Disaster, a fully-scripted, immersive theatrical event with food opening October 6th in the club space below Petterino’s at Randolph and Dearborn in the heart of Chicago’s theatre district.

PHOTO: Rick Bayless|Galdones Photography

This transcript has been lightly edited for length and clarity.

A RECIPE FOR DISASTER

Petterino’s
Club Level
150 Dearborn Street
Chicago

October 6, 2021—OPEN RUN

Cast and Production Updates: Windy City Playhouse

2016 CONVERSATION with David H. Bell LINK

PODCASTS available on Apple Podcasts, Audacy and Libsyn
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