Speaking with Robert Schenkkan

Near the end of our production of Lewis and Clark Reach the Euphrates, we were honored to have playwright Robert Schenkkan attend and participate in a post-show discussion.

For me, it is immensely gratifying to see our audience looking like they do in this picture here. Engaged, and dare I say it, large! I know the photo is tiny, but it is worth including. To me it is a snapshot of our mission in action. We are a company devoted to one topic per season. Inherent to our mission is reflection and discussion about that chose topic and the plays we produce to illuminate it. Proof we are succeeding. YES!

Mr. Schenkkan's was gracious and terribly interesting during the post show discussion. I suppose for the purposes of this blog, I should have recorded it and put a little part of it on here, but I have to be honest that I am not built that way. It was a huge honor for me personally that he was there to attend, and it felt rather foolish to try to milk it for more. I just wanted to enjoy the moment. So, I sat in the audience and even posed a question.
For those of you thinking, what a stupid idiot. I want to hear more of what he said. Well, we plan to bring you more post-show discussion next season. I'll never provide transcripts. So I suggest you come on out yourself. And if you do, maybe, just maybe, you'll be as happy as Mr. Schenkkan and director Chris Maher here.

Artists as Administrators

Not long after I started college, I ended up in the Dean of my school's office crying. I complained to him that I was not getting cast in any of the student productions, despite what I thought were great auditions. It was the same people getting cast over and over again. And I was feeling like perhaps I had chosen the wrong field, but I couldn't think of anything else to do, because this was all I wanted to do. He sternly informed me that I was being a baby, that if I really wanted to, I could act in anything I wanted to. But I'd have to be willing to look stupid to do it. If I wanted work, it seemed clear to both him and I that I'd have to create it.

So, I applied for a spot in the student run production line-up saying I was going to direct a show. I got the spot, and then I cast myself. Unheard of, and pretty stupid too. And I'm not going to pretend the show was any good. It wasn't. But I worked consistently, and perhaps too often from that point forward and never had to cast myself again.

I see a parallel here somewhere. Artists get a lot of flak for being unorganized, unmotivated, and basically too emotional and weird to actually be able to run a business. But when I look around Chicago, what I find are a bunch of artists not only willing, but also quite capable of running the administration and art of their companies.

There is a lot of discussion in the blogosphere (what a word) about whether this phenomenon of artists doing administrative work has a positive or negative impact on the theatre community and even more debate about those people who do it all for free and the companies that allow them to. Of course, there is much discussion from my company about this as well. But I confess, after all the arguing, for many it comes down to: "It's worth it to me."

Review-o-rama

Have you read the reviews yet for Lewis and Clark Reach the Euphrates by Robert Schenkkan?

The Chicago Sun Times recommended us.

Time Out Chicago had some nice things to say.

And Gay Chicago Magazine said "Infamous Commonwealth Theatre continues to stir the emotional pot with it's provocative choice of material and exceptional ability to deliver the complicated dramatic goods."

And let us not forget Kelly Kleiman of NPR talking about what a wonderful crazy person Stephen "Ghandi" Dunn is. High praise indeed for a man so utterly sane.

More importantly, have you seen this amazing piece of theatre? I suggest you do. Email us for tickets at info@infamouscommonwealth.org.