We have moved from our own “church home,” the rehearsal space at the Glencoe Union Church, to the theatre at 325 Tudor Court and the tech process has begun.  Jack Magaw’s brilliant set is structurally complete and new details are being added each day; it already feels like the home of Elizabeth Borny in 1943.  Ron is working with our lighting designer Heather Gilbert and Josh Schmidt, the sound designer, to create the sense of time, place and focus in the story.  Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughn and Duke Ellington play as light pours in from the window that overlooks the Harlem street.  The actors are doing final fittings and rehearsing quick changes of Nan Cibula-Jenkins’ marvelous costumes.  Life is really starting to buzz in the world we are creating.

Even in the tech process, Ron takes time with the actors, continuing to finely craft their relationships.  He and the ladies spoke about the dynamics of an older sibling versus a younger sibling.  “The younger child is the jewel of the family, no matter how old they get,” Cheryl Lynn pointed out.  And John Henry Redwood includes these details in the relationship between Elizabeth and Quilly; though they are both in their fifties, there are moments in which we can see the girls they once were.  Moreover, we see the protection and support the elder gives the younger and the way the younger “still thinks they can get away with everything,” as Wandachristine has put it.

There is no place more potent for these sister relationships than in the kitchen.  There is an intimacy about this room in any house or apartment.  It is a communal place where meals are made and eaten in love and in strife.  On Jack’s set, the kitchen is Elizabeth’s “heart” and Ron is taking advantage of this intimacy, staging some lovely moments in this “woman’s space.”  In many ways, this kitchen is just as much a creation of Cheryl Lynn as it is of Ron and Jack.  She has helped imagine which items Elizabeth would have used in this space during the time period.  Our prop designer, Sarah Ross, has acquired cans of evaporated milk, containers of Alaga syrup and other items to which the actresses have attached personal significance for Quilly and Elizabeth.  It is rare that Husband goes into this charged space, and when he does, you can be sure that it’s electric.

More next week!

Jack
Assistant Director

We’ve completed our second week of rehearsal.  Each day, someone brings in something delectable to eat to share with our little family: clementines or caramel corn or cake.  And we continue to flesh out this intensely personal play, even as tragedy strikes in Haiti and Ron and the actors have a moment of silence for the passing of their friend and colleague, the actor Paul Butler.

John Henry Redwood had a PhD in religion, and religion figures prominently in his plays.  As Ron has pointed out, “the church is an important character in The Old Settler.”  The moment we meet the sisters, they have come from a funeral at their church.  Ron states, “it’s a typical Black church, with big hearts, lots of love and worship…. and of course, cliques, gossip and rumors.”  Quilly and Elizabeth speak about Sister Laidlaw, Sister Wallace, Deacon Slater and other characters whom we never meet but who form the fabric of the church community to which they belong.  Cheryl Lynn and Wandachristine mused that one of the first things their own families do after moving from one house to another is “find a church home.”

Cheryl Lynn reflected, “my favorite part of church is the devotional: usually the older folks arriving before the official service and taking part in thanking the lord, singing and calling, each in turn, responding to one another with their eyes closed.”  This music lingers, to be sure: each time we rehearse “Satan, We’re Gonna Tear Your Kingdom Down,” a deliciously palpable energy remains in the rehearsal room.

Redwood also held a degree in history and he vividly paints 1943 Harlem in The Old Settler.  The audience sees this historic New York through the eyes of Husband, who has come from the sea islands of South Carolina.  The sisters (and the City itself) teach the young man about some of the particulars of the time: “pimp steaks,” “swamp seeds” and “Kitchen Mechanics’ Night.”  The characters speak in their own particular, historic vernacular.  “Redwood is a Wilsonite,” Ron explained.  He definitely drew from what August Wilson was doing, both in terms of poetic language as well as historical significance.

The play also explores the conditions in pre-civil rights New York.  Even though they are in the North, Elizabeth warns, the situation is not necessarily better for African-Americans, “in many ways it’s worse.”  1943 is a tumultuous year and, as Ron pointed out, “even though the play is not about that specifically, the effects of these conditions are brought into the apartment by the characters.”  For instance, Redwood touches on the propaganda created by whites using the fear of venereal disease and crime occurring at the Savoy Ballroom to try to get it closed down, presumably because white men were upset about white women dancing with black men.  This is the world into which Husband is plunged when he finally finds his Lou Bessie.

Ron describes the process of crafting a play in terms of human development: “we’re embryos right now and we’re growing,” he has said.  He continues to draw life experience from the actors.  He has also invited them to include their own old photographs among the numerous frames Elizabeth keeps in her home.  Even images of Ron and his grandfather are going to make an appearance on the set.

Until next week!

Jack
Assistant Director

We’ve finished our first week of rehearsal and already it has been an amazing experience.  Working with Ron O.J Parson and the cast, I am learning so much.  Since the play centers around the relationship between two sisters, Ron has encouraged the cast to share their own familial experiences in the rehearsal hall, especially as they relate to the events of the play.  It’s thrilling, the details that come to the surface.

Since the play takes place in 1943 in Harlem during the war, we’ve broached the topic of conservation.  Cheryl Lynn has revealed that, because of her mother’s influence, she finds herself conserving paper towels at home, rinsing them and hanging them to dry in the kitchen—a detail that Ron has decided to include in the production.  Don’t be surprised if you see used paper towels hanging in the kitchen on the set!

At moments in the play, Elizabeth sings a couple of snippets of gospel tunes. On a break, Cheryl Lynn started singing “Satan, we’re gonna tear your kingdom down” and accidentally started snapping her fingers. She stopped herself abruptly and informed me that this was not allowed.  With all of the singing, clapping and swaying that happens in Southern Baptist churches, apparently it is not appropriate to snap your fingers to “church music!”  “And no whistling either,” she added.  Who knew…  Wandachristine chimed in to include that “oh yeah, on Sundays we were very restricted about what we were allowed to do: no playing cards for example… that’s Jesus’ day.”  The sense of religion is so important in the play and the actors already have a strong personal connection to it.  It’s this “love for the king” and reliving of going to a country church that is part of the initial connection between Husband and Elizabeth.

The character of “Husband” has come to Harlem from Frogmore, South Carolina in search of his long lost love. So, we’ve been chatting about the “geechee” people and their culture. “Geechee,” a derivation of the Ogeechee River, is another name for the Gullah people of South Carolina who, because of cultural and geographical isolation, have maintained much of their African culture. This is an area that Cheryl Lynn knows well and she has brought in both literature and personal experience which she’s shared with us. At one point in the play, Quilly says that Husband must have Elizabeth “fixed,” meaning that he must have put some kind of spell on her. The “geechee” area is still known for its medicine men, often known as “Doctor Buzzard,” and their use of roots and concoctions to protect people from “hags” and evil spirits. Here’s a link to some information compiled by Joseph A Opala of Yale that covers some of the Gullah customs and traditions more thoroughly:

http://www.yale.edu/glc/gullah/05.htm

It’s really no wonder that the good people of Writers’ Theatre wanted Ron to direct for them.  He is definitely an “actor’s director.”  As he and the actors work, he reminds them that they are not “blocking” the play, because “blocking blocks creativity.”  Ron prefers to think of the work as “crafting.”  And as he shares ideas with the cast, he will often speak of “feeding two birds with one seed” instead of the more popular “killing two birds with one stone.”  His openness, experience and gentle hand with the actors has inspired a tremendously personal process that is certain to grow into quite the amazing production!

That’s all for this week!

Jack
Assistant Director

In just two short weeks, The Old Settler, the third show of our 2009/10 season, will begin rehearsals here in Glencoe.  We are pleased to introduce four remarkable actors who have never before performed at Writers’ Theatre.

Stepping into the role of Elizabeth, the elder sister, is Cheryl Lynn Bruce.  Cheryl has worked throughout Chicago at many theatres, including the Goodman, Steppenwolf, Victory Gardens, Court Theatre, and Northlight.  You may have also seen her with a supporting role in the film Stranger Than Fiction.

Wandachristine will appear as Elizabeth’s sister Quilly.  She has performed across the country at acclaimed theatres, including Hartford Stage, the Cleveland Play House, Dallas Theatre Center, Portland Center Stage, and the Mark Taper Forum.  Locally, she has been seen at the Goodman, Steppenwolf, Victory Gardens and Court Theatre.

Kelvin Roston, Jr. will be playing Husband, the young man whose arrival in New York disrupts life for the two sisters.  Kelvin has worked extensively with The Black Rep in St. Louis, Missouri.  Since coming to Chicago, he has worked with ETA Creative Arts Foundation, Congo Square Theatre Company and Court Theatre.

In the role of Lou Bessie—the woman Husband has followed to New York—will be Alexis Rogers.  Alexis is an Ensemble Member with Congo Square Theatre Company, and has also performed at theatres as diverse as the Goodman Theatre in Chicago to Alabama Shakespeare Theater and the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C.

The Old Settler by John Henry Redwood will be directed by Ron OJ Parson.  Performances begin February 2, 2010 at 325 Tudor Court in Glencoe.