Myths on Stage: Unwanted Truths

"What is a myth? The oblique image of an unwanted truth, reverberating through time. And yet, the first, the Greek meaning of myth, is simply what is delivered by word of mouth, a myth is speech, public speech."
~ Timberlake Wertenbaker, The Love of the Nightingale

Red Tape Theatre held our Myths on Stage panel on May 16, 2010. Chicago artists who'd recently directed, dramaturged or adapted fresh adaptations of Greek myths shared their experience.

Gender politics were a common theme. Marti Lyons, dramaturge for The Love of the Nightingale, asked the audience to consider why some stories stay in our culture while others fade. Sociologists have suggested that destructive women like Medea, Electra and Phaedra are given more stage time today than victims of injustice like Iphigenia or Philomele. Timberlake Wertenbaker's script for Nightingale brings the sexual politics of the Philomele myth to the forefront as she and the women’s chorus repeatedly reject the men’s attempts to turn them into objects.

In a contrasting case Tim Speicher, Artistic Director of The State Theatre, combined the well remembered story of the martyr Antigone with the lesser known story of the fallen warrior Ajax. The stories were linked with the theme of burying the dead and what one does with the bodies of the disgraced. Dramaturge Sarah Sapperstein played the role of the Chorus in AjaxAntigone (pictured) as a single entity. In a time when Greek women were silent the Chorus was given the power to debate and challenge the political figures on stage.

The motive for retelling the myth was different for each panelist. For Thomas Murray's production of Living Quarters: After Hippolytus the myth was a gateway into a personal story of recovery from grief. For Cory Tamler the story of Iphigenia offered a lens onto a "What If" scenario" for contemporary US politics. For Tim Speicher there were universal truths to explore: "When audiences see characters who try to accomplish something they attach to them."

"But we cannot rephrase it for you. If we could, why would we trouble to show you the myth?"
~ Timberlake Wertenbaker, The Love of the Nightingale

The Love of the Nightingale is Jeff Recommended and runs through May 29.
Get your tickets through our website!

Myths on Stage: Time and Place

Red Tape Theatre held our "Myths on Stage" panel on May 16, 2010. Chicago artists who'd recently directed, dramaturged or adapted fresh adaptations of Greek myths shared their stories.

Jeremy Menekseoglu, Artistic Director of Dream Theatre, was relieved by the lack of "columns and togas" in the featured productions. Dream's Electra (running through June 6), the centerpiece of their Agon Trilogy, aims to break audience barriers the instant the door opens. A death-day party kicks off for the late king Agamemnon, with the king's head as a centerpeace. Jeremy added that audiences come to Greek tragedy's "knowing how it will end." Dream's adaptations find the surprises before the endings and examine the characters psychology through a modern lens.

Time and Place was universal for The State Theatre's mash-up of AjaxAntigone. They were very specific for Cory Tamler's Effie which set Iphigenia in a post-apocolyptic U.S.A. and for Thomas Murray's production of Bryan Friel's Living Quarters: after Hippolytus set in modern Ireland.

The State Theatre's dramaturge, Sarah Sapperstein, stated that Greek myths offer us countless ways to retell them for our own use and relevance. Tamler's Effie shifted the focus of Iphigenia from the father to the daughter. Friel's Living Quarters uses the Hippolytus myth as an entry point, focusing on the families attempts to heal in the aftermath. The same story can be told through a new perspective, whether to focus on politics, gender, family or passion.

Electra runs at Dream Theatre through June 6.

Red Tape's The Love of the Nightingale is Jeff Recommended.

We run through May 29.

Get your tickets through our website.

Myths on Stage: Meet Panelist Marti Lyons

Myths on Stage
Sunday, May 16
following the 3:00pm matinee of The Love of the Nightingale.

Paul G. Miller hosts a panel of Chicago artists who discuss the process of adapting Greek myths to the modern stage.

Panelists include:

Jeremy Menekseoglu - Artistic Director, Dream Theatre Company.

Thomas Murray - Director, Strangeloop Theatre.

Sarah Sapperstein - Dramaturge.

Tim Speicher - Artistic Director, the State Theatre.

Cory Tamler - Playwright.

and:

Marti Lyons – Dramaturge, The Love of the Nightingale.

Marti is currently serving as Literary Apprentice at Steppenwolf Theatre and just finished directing Prayers as part of the Ripped festival for American Blues Theater and Piven Theatre. Recently, Marti assistant directed directed Underground for Rhino Fest at the Prop Thtr, assistant directed The Pillowman with Kimberly Senior, dramaturged City Lights Receding at Red Tape as part of the Fresh Eyes Project, directed a staged reading of Lima Beans for Teatro Luna and directed The Conduct of Life with Tooth and Nail Ensemble. This past year Marti assistant directed Oedipus with Sean Graney and also spent time assisting in the casting office at Chicago Shakespeare Theater. Next, Marti will direct Laura Eason's contribution to The Silver Project at American Theatre Company, attend the Lincoln Center Director's Lab and direct a reading of A Lover's Dismantling for Urban Theater Company as part of the Latino Theater Festival at The Goodman. Marti is a graduate of Illinois Wesleyan University.

The Love of the Nightingale is Jeff Recommended!

We run May 3-29.

Get your tickets through our website.

Myths on Stage: Meet Panelist Tim Speicher

Myths on Stage

Sunday, May 16

following the 3:00pm matinee of The Love of the Nightingale.

Paul G. Miller hosts a panel of Chicago artists who discuss the process of adapting Greek myths to the modern stage.

Panelists include:

Marti Lyons - Dramaturge, The Love of the Nightingale at Red Tape

Jeremy Menekseoglu - Artistic Director, Dream Theatre Company.

Thomas Murray - Director, Strangeloop Theatre.

Sarah Sapperstein - Dramaturge.

Cory Tamler - Playwright.

and:

Tim Speicher - Artistic Director, The State Theatre. Tim holds a B.A. in Theatre and Drama from Indiana University. He has directed A Midsummer Night's Dream, The Island (Indiana University) Immigrant Stories (Chicago Children's Theatre at Jane Addams Hull House), Moby Dick... Rehearsed and AjaxAntigone (The State Theatre), was Company Manager and appeared as Alonso in The African Tempest Project (Hexagon Theatre, Kwazula Natal, South Africa) and Assistant Directed The Red Kite Project (Chicago Children's Theatre). He has written Southern Hopitality, Crowbar, Thirty-Eight, Heat in the Kitchen and now AjaxAntigone. Tim had internships with Indiana Repertory Theatre and Goodman Theatre, a fellowship with American Theatre Company, and is currently employed as the Marketing Associtate for Chicago Children's Theatre.

The Love of the Nightingale is Jeff Recommended!

We run May 3-29.
Get your tickets through our website.

Myths on Stage: Meet Panelist Sarah Sapperstein

Myths on Stage
Sunday, May 16,

following the 3:00pm matinee of The Love of the Nightingale.

Paul G. Miller hosts a panel of Chicago directors and playwrights who discuss the process of adapting Greek myths to the modern stage.

Panelists include:
Marti Lyons - Dramaturge, The Love of the Nightingale at Red Tape

Jeremy Menekseoglu - Artistic Director, Dream Theatre Company

Thomas Murray - Director, Strangeloop Theatre

Tim Speicher – Artistic Director, State Theatre

Cory Tamler - Playwright

and:

Sarah Sapperstein, Dramaturge. Sarah holds a dual degree in musical theatre and Classicaland Near Eastern language, literature, and archaeology from the Univ.of Redlands, in southern California. Her academic focuses includecosmogony, archaeological representations of literary figures, comparative text analysis and translation bias, and contemporary retellings of Classical drama and epic. Since 2005, Sarah has been apart of over 30 theatre and musical theatre projects and premieresthroughout Chicagoland, and performed in Univ. of Detroit's productionof The Bacchae on their 2009 summer tour of Greece. In hernon-existent free time, Sarah enjoys road trips, culinary adventure,and healthcare advocacy.

Sarah will be discussing her work with AjaxAntigone at The State Theatre.

The Love of the Nightingale is Jeff Recommended!

It runs May 3-29.

Get your tickets through our website.

Myths on Stage: Meet Panelist Cory Tamler

Myths on Stage
Sunday, May 16


following the 3:00pm matinee of The Love of the Nightingale.





Paul G. Miller hosts a panel of Chicago directors and playwrights who discuss the process of adapting Greek myths to the modern stage.


Panelists include:
Marti Lyons - Dramaturge, The Love of the Nightingale at Red Tape

Jeremy Menekseoglu - Artistic Director, Dream Theatre Company


Thomas Murray - Director, Strangeloop Theatre

Sarah Sapperstein - Dramaturge

Tim Speicher – Artistic Director, State Theatre

and:
Cory Tamler. Cory Tamler has been Chicago-based since November 2009, where her playwriting projects include Eighty-Four in Collaboraction's Sketchbook X (coming in June!), Effie (a new ensemble-created adaptation of Iphigenia) with The Neapolitans, and the 2010 Fresh Eyes Project with Red Tape Theatre. She hails from Pittsburgh, where her produced work includes The Funeral, a one-act based on Euripides' The Trojan Women, with the Pittsburgh New Works Festival. Cory will be spending the summer in Maine working as the resident playwright on a collaboration between Open Waters Theatre Arts and three local farms, and will then head to Berlin for a year on a Fulbright scholarship to study the text/performance relationship in German theatre.

Effie, a retelling of Euripides' Iphigenia, runs April 22-May 9. What if peace could be guaranteed by the sacrifice of one human life? What if the life were yours?




Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays @ 7:30pm, Sundays @ 3:00pm at the EP Theater.


The Love of the Nightingale is Jeff Recommended!
It runs May 3-29.
Get your tickets through our website.

Myths on Stage: Meet Panelist Thomas Murray

Myths on Stage
Sunday, May 16,

following the 3:00pm matinee of The Love of the Nightingale.



Paul G. Miller hosts a panel of Chicago directors and playwrights who discuss the process of adapting Greek myths to the modern stage.



Panelists include:
Marti Lyons - Dramaturge, The Love of the Nightingale at Red Tape

Jeremy Menekseoglu - Artistic Director, Dream Theatre Company


Cory Tamler – Playwright

Sarah Sapperstein - Dramaturge

Tim Speicher – Artistic Director, State Theatre



and:
Thomas Murray. Thomas is a Chicago-based director and literary adaptor.
His directing has been featured at Strangeloop Theatre (Living Quarters, Welcome to the Moon, The El Stories), City Lit Theatre (The Wall-Reader), and the Minnetrista Cultural Center (Shedtown). He has assisted on productions with Next, Seanachai,The Gift, A Red Orchid, Noble Fool, and Steppenwolf.



Thomas has delivered research on the Emerging Scholars Panel at the Mid-America Theatre Conference and was selected by Chris Jones of the Chicago Tribune to represent the Great Lakes region in the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival Critics’ Competition.
Original adaptations have included The El Stories, The Wall-Reader (finalist, Art of Adaptation Festival), Carpathia, and Cruel and Barbarous Treatment. His essays on theatre have been published by Steppenwolf Backstage magazine, Ball State Daily News, and the Kennedy Center-American College Theatre Festival.



Thomas will be discussing his work wiht Living Quarters after Hippolytus. First produced by Dublin's Abbey Theatre in 1977, Living Quarters recasts the mythology of Theseus, Hippolytus, and Phaedra into an isolated Donegal homestead. Commandant Frank Butler returns home to Ireland as a hero after saving nine United Nations peacekeepers from enemy fire during a siege in the Middle East. But the revelation of secrets kept while Frank was away threatens to divide the Butler house forever.



The Love of the Nightingale runs May 3-29.


Get your tickets through our website.

Myths on Stage: Meet Panelist Jeremy Menekseoglu

Myths on Stage
Sunday, May 16

following the 3:00pm matinee of The Love of the Nightingale.

Paul G. Miller hosts a panel of Chicago directors and playwrights who discuss the process of adapting Greek myths to the modern stage.





Panelists include:
Marti Lyons - Dramaturge, The Love of the Nightingale at Red Tape

Thomas Murray – Director, Strangeloop Theatre


Cory Tamler – Playwright

Sarah Sapperstein - Dramaturge

Tim Speicher – Artistic Director, State Theatre



and:
Jeremy Menekseoglu. Jeremy is the Artistic Director of Dream Theatre Company and the playwright of eight Modern Greek plays: AGAMEMNON, ELECTRA, ORESTES, MEDEA, ANTIGONE, ISMENE, THE CLOUDS and LYSYSTRATA. Dream Theatre Company is currently in the midst of his AGON TRILOGY which covers Agamemnon, Electra and Orestes. It has already been called "a small, stunning portrait of power dynamics in a relationship that by turns echoes those between Edward Albee's George and Martha, Orson Welles's Charles and Susan Kane, and Sophocles's Antigone and Creon. Oh, and Jean Cocteau's Belle and Bete, too. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED" --Tony Adler, Chicago Reader. And “As a first installment, Agamemnon is a harbinger of good things to come. It will certainly be exciting to watch as Menekseoglu steers the Dream ensemble through the next two plays of his Agon Trilogy.” -Ian Epstein, Chicago Theatre Blog.



The Love of the Nightingale runs May 3-29.


Get your tickets through our website.

Playing with Plays – The Discussion

Red Tape Theatre’s panel, Playing with Plays, was presented on Sunday, October 11, alongside the world premiere of Mouse in a Jar. The play was developed in our Fresh Eyes Festival and our guests represented a diverse group of companies devoted to new work.


Panelists included:

• Stephanie M. Acosta, Founding Artistic Director of the Anatomy Collective
• Daniel Caffrey, Artistic Director of Tympanic Theatre Company
• Daria Davis, Red Tape Company Member and director of Mouse in a Jar.
• Jason W. Gerace, Artistic Associate of American Theater Company
• M.E.H. Lewis, Playwright and Ensemble member of Stage Left and Infamous Commonwealth
• Martyna Majok, Playwright of Mouse in a Jar.
• Richard Perez, Associate Artistic Director of Chicago Dramatists
• Dav Yendler, Artistic Coordinator for About Face Theatre

Mission Statements were a recurring theme in the discussion. About Face Theatre’s xyz festival and Tympanic Theatre’s Bastards of Young selected scripts focused on queer issues and science fiction respectively. American Theatre Company’s play initiatives focus revolve around the question “what does it mean to be an American.” Each company receives hundreds of submissions and depend upon their missions to select works for further development. Emerging playwrights were encouraged to target their submissions to companies with similar focus rather than bending their work to a conflicting mission or aesthetic. Companies seeking experimental and non-linear works have to engage in extensive outreach to like-minded playwrights. Mr. Perez commented that 30 years ago Chicago Dramatists felt the odd man out for focusing on new work, whereas now they part of an exciting local and national movement.

When asked about the process of securing a second production the panelists agreed that the focus on emerging work made this a challenge. They agreed with Ms. Davis’ statement that a play is not “done” when the first production closes and that a second production can allow a playwright to utilize what they learned from the first audience. Mr. Gerace stated that for this reason the second production is as important as the first.

Mouse in a Jar is Jeff Recommended and runs through October 31.
Purchase tickets through our website.

Paul G. Miller
Managing Director

Playing with Plays - Meet our Oct 11 Panelists!

Playing with Plays

Sunday, October 11, following the 3:00pm matinee of Mouse in a Jar.

Join Mouse in a Jar's playwright, Martyna Majok and Director Daria Davis in a discussion with local theatre artists on the topic of creating new and original work. Moderated by Red Tape's Paul Miller, this is an event for theatre practitioners and theatre enthusiasts alike.

Our panel includes:

Stephanie M. Acosta, Founding Artistic Director of the Anatomy Collective. With TAC Stephanie has directed the multi-disciplinary performances such as Many Things are Destroying Me, the Prometheus Myth, Orphan Works Series w/Chicago Underground Library & Monster/girl. Currently showing Gone created in partnership with the Chicago Parks District for Chicago Artists Month, running Oct. 2-17.

Daniel Caffrey is Artistic Director of the Tympanic Theatre Company, which he founded in 2007. He has worked as a writer, director, and occasional actor with companies including Chicago Dramatists, Dramatis Personae, Dream Theatre, Hobo Junction, iO, The Side Project and Victory Gardens. Upcoming projects include Bags Of Blood (WildClaw Theatre), Yukon Cornelius (ARFTCO), Folkfire (Tympanic), and writing and directing for Tell It & Speak It & Think It & Breathe It (The Ruckus).

Jason W. Gerace is Artistic Associate of American Theater Company. At ATC Jason has assistant directed Speech & Debate (Jeff nomination for Best Direction, PJ Paparelli) and the 2008 production of It’s a Wonderful Life under the direction of Damon Kiely; He has produced and directed the inaugural production of the Chicago Chronicle project directed the most recent remount of Oklahoma, produced and directed in this year’s Big Shoulders Festival, produced the first 10X10 Festival, and is curating the upcoming 25 Festival of new plays.

Internationally produced playwright M.E.H. Lewis is author of Fellow Travellers (Jeff award), Creole (5 BTA nominations), and Burying the Bones (Jeff nomination), an ensemble member at Stage Left and Infamous Commonwealth, resident at Chicago Dramatists, and member of the Dramatists Guild. She's currently workshopping Musica Mundana with InFusion and preparing for SLT's production of Here Where It's Safe.

Richard Perez is the Associate Artistic Director for Chicago Dramatists. He recently ended his seven year tenure as the Producing Artist Director of the Bloomington Playwrights Project in Indiana. In that time he oversaw the production of over thirty new mainstage plays, with at least sixteen of those being world premieres.

Dav Yendler is a director, illustrator, playwright, and graphic designer living in Chicago. Originally from Northern California, Dav moved to the city to explore the fascinating new theatre that only this city can make. As Artistic Coordinator for About Face Theatre, Dav works closely with Artistic Director Bonnie Metzgar to develop AFT’s most innovative work.

Mouse in a Jar runs October 5-31, 2009.
Tickets are available through our website.

Green Night of Theatre - The Discussion

Red Tape Theatre’s Green Panel was presented on Sunday, May 24, alongside our adaptation of Enemy of the People. The play concerns the fallout from an environmental disaster, so we asked our guests to discuss green advocacy in our homes and community.

Stacy Meyers-Glen from Chicago Openlands suggested that the most important things an environmental advocate can do is volunteer and lobby. There’s lots of work to be done and not enough people to do it. Chicago Openlands protects the natural and open spaces in and around northeastern Illinois.

She announced that the Illinois Envronmental Protection Agency (IEPA) has proposed stronger water quality standards which would require the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District (MWRD) to disinfect treated sewage that flows into Chicago’s waterways. This would reduce pathogens, such as giardia and salmonella, that can infect people and wildlife. She encouraged supporters to write to:

John Therriault, Assistant Clerk
Illinois Pollution Control Board
100 W. Randolph Street, Ste 11-500
Chicago, IL 60601

More information on the proposals can be found at the Friends of the Chicago River website.

Courtney Bennett, who plays Dr. Stockman, spoke of her work at the Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum. The museum hosts a Savannah prairie and the largest butterfly haven in the Midwest. The blue Rubbermaid bin she brought with her contained a sanitary, smell-free, compost bin containing red wiggler worms, brown paper, and fruit and vegetable food scraps that would ordinarily be preserved in a landfill. By balancing the food to worm ratio the bin provides compost for lawns and house plants.

Workshops on indoor and outdoor bins, green house cleaning, recycling 101 and other fascinating topics are taught at the museum and can be read about here. The nature museum is one of many organizations seeking volunteers to care for animals, clean up parks, and educate the community.

Their green careers are full of opportunities and surprises. Ms. Glen-Meyers recounted a public hearing asking for a river cleanup. One of the scientists asked to speak brought the judges a sample of the polluted river water. Some stuck their fingers in, and were given handwipes. “You’ll want to disinfect your hands.” They quickly complied. Ms. Bennett recounted a surprising conversion with an adult visitor at the haven who refused to believe that caterpillars and butterflies are the same creatures, despite footage suggesting the contrary. “He’d made up his mind.” Education will always be needed.

Final performances of Enemy of the People are Thu-Sat, May 28-30.
Tickets are available through our website.

Paul G. Miller
Season Dramaturge

Green Night of Theatre - May 24

This Sunday, May 24, following the matinee of Enemy of the People, Red Tape will host our Green Night of Theatre

Ibsen’s play examines the fallout from an environmental disaster. Join our guests from Chicago Open Lands and the Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum as they show us how to be greener in our homes and our community.

Courtney Bennett, Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum

The Chicago Academy of Sciences and its Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum inspire people to learn about and care for nature and the environment. The Academy improves quality of life in Chicago and the region by delivering superior environmental and science education programs to students and teachers, by offering Museum exhibitions and conducting public programs that foster green living, and by restoring local ecosystems and advancing scientific knowledge through collections and research.

Stacy Meyers-Glen, Policy Coordinator, Chicago Openlands

Founded in 1963, Openlands protects the natural and open spaces of northeastern Illinois and the surrounding region to ensure cleaner air and water, protect natural habitats and wildlife, and help balance and enrich our lives.

Enemy of the People runs May 4-30.
Tickets are available through our website.

Paul G. Miller
Season Dramaturge

Tribune covers "unusable" nature preserve

Enemy of the People concerns the fallout from an environmental disaster. We recently highlighted the parallels to the incidents in Crestwood County. This morning I came across a story in Maywood.

'Dangerous' conditions at preserve
by Gerry Smith, Chicago Tribune
May 20, 2009

And after visiting Miller Meadow last fall to look into allegations of
open dumping, an Illinois Environmental Protection Agency inspector determined
that there were no violations, said state EPA spokeswoman Maggie Carson.

But Cox said the debris on the site is widespread and "physically
dangerous" for people who want to use the area for recreation.

"Purely from a public-use point of view, it makes the site unusable," Cox
said.

And Dye said she worries about the threat to wildlife at Miller Meadow
after seeing how erosion on the restoration site has carried debris and
biosolids toward the river banks.

"I'm not an expert, but if you dump a bunch of construction debris and soil
near a river and it starts to erode into the river, I think that's a problem,"
Dye said

Our Green Night of Theatre is Sunday, May 24 after the 2:00 pm performance of Enemy of the People. Panelists from Chicago Openlands and the Notebaert Nature Museum will discuss how to be green in our homes and community.

Tickets are available through our website.

Paul G. Miller

Season Dramaturge

Ibsen's Women - The Discussion

Red Tape Theatre's panel, Ibsen's Women, was presented on Sunday, May 10, alongside our
gender-swapped adaptation of Enemy of the People.

Prof. Jacob Juntunen (UIC Dept of Theatre), began with Nora from A Doll's House, who abandons her husband and children. The revolutionary aspect of this may be lost in a time of 50% divorce rates but Nora's action was unthinkable at the time and caused fierce debate among the audiences.

Mr. Robert Scogin (Artistic Director, Shaw Chicago) compared Ghosts to a Greek Tragedy, citing Mrs. Alving as a modern Clytemnestra who kills her husband with her moralizing only to be punished by her children. Mrs. Alving's resignation to stay with her husband despite their incompatibility has also branded her as "Nora grown up."

Prof. Julie Ward (Loyola Dept of Philosophy) commented that this made Hedda Gabler into "Nora on steroids." Unhappy with her timid husband, but unwilling to submit to her immoral admirers she sabotages their lives then ends the life of life of herself and her unborn child with her fathers pistol.

Mr. Scogin argued that in Ibsen's time evil springs from boredom as society leaves his women with nothing to do. Prof. Ward countered with the heavy responsibilities Nora takes by running the finances of her household. Mr. Scogin agreed, but added that society left Nora no legal way to do so, forcing her into forgery. Ibsen's plays critique aspects of a society that does not allow one to make a moral choice.

When asked if these women are still relevant, Prof. Juntunen answered that the plays present
women who actively reject their socially prescribed roles. The plays still has the power to make husbands and wives very afraid.

Enemy of the People runs May 4-30, 2009
Our next panel, Green Night of Theatre, will be Sunday, May 24.
Tickets are available through our website!

Paul G. Miller
Season Dramaturge

Ibsen's Marriage

The Stockman’s marriage in Enemy of the People has its share of troubles but they are one of the healthiest couples in Henrik Ibsen’s canon. At today’s panel, Ibsen’s women, we will discuss the fraught relationships in A Dolls House, Ghosts and Hedda Gabler. Critics have enjoyed contrasting these plays to Ibsen’s own marriage.

Henrik Ibsen married Suzanna Thoreson in 1858, at age 30. His one time friend Martin Scheneekloth saw the marriage as a tragedy. In his letters about Ibsen he wrote:

“To find that one does not really love the woman one has married, that one’s requirements for a happy co-existence are so opposed to one’s wife’s that no reconciliation is possible, must be a desperate situation for a man, and that is Ibsen’s. He is a domineering character, egocentric and unbending, with a passionate masculinity and a curious admixture of personal cowardice, compulsively idealistic yet totally indifferent to expressing these ideals in his daily life… She is unwomanly, tactless, but a stable, hard character, a mixture of intelligence and stupidity, not deficient in feeling but lacking humility and feminine love. They can not find peace through love, so they wage war on each other, ruthlessly coldly, and yet she loves him, if only through their son, their poor son, whose fate is the saddest that could befall any child, to see divided what should be reconciled in him.

Whose is the fault if not the man? He took her from her father’s house, led her out into the strange world, and instead of devoting his life to finding some form of reconciliation he gives all his mind and passion to a demonic pursuit of literary fame. It is disturbing to hear him describe his plans to send his wife and child home so that he may work in peace abroad. He lacks the courage to pursue his career without abandoning his domestic responsibilities, to face up to the consequences of his ambition, to work incessantly to give her life fulfillment, to suffer and strive to educate his son. Thus he, who so loudly and brilliantly condemns the cravenness of our age, who in mighty poems proclaims the strength of human will, is himself a craven vacillating weakling. "

However their son Sigurd painted a very different picture. He saw his mother as Ibsen’s greatest champion who forced him to write in the many time she was tempted to give it all up. “The world can thank my mother that it has one bad painter the fewer and got a great writer instead.”

Henrik stayed with Suzannah till his death in 1906. While she encouraged the publishing of his work, she did her best to burn all his letters to her declaring their correspondence private. The letters that have survived are very affectionate. Ibsen referred to her by pet names such as his “cat” or “eagle.”

In 1914, a few days before her death, she spoke to an interviewer. “When we were young, many so-called friends came to Ibsen, but I sent them away… I had many unkind words for it, but I didn’t care. He had to have peace for his work… Ibsen had no steel in his character- but I gave it to him.”

Most likely glimpses of the truth remain in all his late plays of the joys and the sorrows, while the rest remains a mystery.

Our panel on Ibsen's Women is today, May 10, after the 2pm matinee.

Enemy of the People runs May 4-30, 2009.
Ticket are available through our website.

Paul G. Miller
Season Dramaturge

Hedda's First Impressions

The protagonist of Henrik Ibsen's Hedda Gabler agrees to an unsuitable marriage, then destroys everyone in her path trying to get out. The premiere in 1891 was met with hostility by the critics who failed to understand Hedda's behaviour. Their sometimes hysterical responses mirrored a line in the play: "People don't do such things,"

Ibsen scholar Michael Meyer found insight in Gerhard Gran's review for Samtiden:

Gran: “It is a law, or anyway has until now been a law, that drama, in its present state of technical development, can only present comparatively simple characters… Everything that should make this curious being intelligible to us, her development, her secret thoughts, her half-sensed misgivings and all that vast region of the human mind which lies between the conscious and the unconscious – all this the dramatist can no more than indicate. For this reason, I think a novel about Hedda Gabler could be extremely interesting, while the play leaves us with a sense of emptiness and betrayal."

Meyer: "Gran’s remarks explain why people who accepted Emma Bovary, Anna Karenina and Dorothea Brooke wre baffled by [Ibsen's heroines] Ellida Wangel, Rebecca West and Hedda Gabler. Neither actors nor audiences, nor even those who bought the play in book form, were able to read between the lines of dialogue as we can today."

One of Ibsen's worst reviewed works went on to become his most produced among new generations of actors and audiences who wanted to "read between the lines."



I'll be hosting the panel on Ibsen's Women this Sunday, May 10 after the 2pm matinee.

Raven Theatre's Hedda Gabler runs May 3 - June 27, 2009

Red Tape Theatre's Enemy of the People runs May 4-30, 2009.


Paul G. Miller
Season Dramaturge

Gender Swapping the Stockmans

In Henrik Ibsen’s original An Enemy of the People there are two female roles: Dr. Stockman’s free-thinking daughter Petra and his long-suffering wife Katherine. They lack influence in Ibsen’s society and are relegated to the roles of cheerleader and confidante respectively. Both are punished for the Dr’s defiance of authority and remind him what he stands to lose. Red Tape Theatre’s contemporary adaptation flips the genders of five key characters including the protagonist, Dr. Stockman, placing her against women and men of influence in the town.

Two other productions recently experimented with the gender politics of the work.

In 2007 Strawberry Theatre Workshop in Seattle produced Arthur Miller’s adaptation of the script but swapped the roles of Katherine and Thomas making her the Doctor and him the loyal “househusband.”

"Women began to earn medical degrees in Europe in the early 1700s. And a female whistle-blower who can't get men to listen to her entreaties? That isn't much of a stretch." ~ Misha Berson, The Seattle Times.

"Amy Fleetwood brings something new and invigorating to this traditionally male role; with her piercing blue eyes and surging spiritual energy, her portrayal tips the familiar on its head, injecting Ibsen's portrait of moral outrage with a transformative dose of humanizing charm and understated feminist fury." ~ Richard Morin, Seattle Weekly.

Strawberry’s production left the text virtually unchanged. A more radical rewrite occurred in 2006 at the Rinkogun Theatre Company in Japan.

"Set in modern Japan, the classic play from 1882 was fully recognisable, save for a few modifications. Among Tokyo’s neon lights and skyscrapers, the originally masculine main character Dr. Stockman had become a woman… Nora [from Ibsen’s A Doll’s House] wanted to help her sick husband, just as Dr. Sudo wishes to help her painter husband suffering from mental problems. When Dr. Sudo wants to open an “onsen,” the townspeople and Dr. Sudo’s sister, the town mayor, thoroughly support her. Tests reveal however that the spring water is bacteria-infested." ~ Ibsen in Japan

"Nowadays, in Japan, many of the leaders of citizens' campaigns are women, and also the leader of the Social Democratic Party has been a woman for a while. So it was necessary to change it to a heroine to be in tune with the modern day." ~ Director/Adaptor Yoji Sakate, The Japan Times

Sakate found the work more than relevant in the contemporary setting.

“Well, if you look at current society in Japan, for example the scandal over forged documents regarding the earthquake resistance of new buildings, or the scandals over financial corruption that happen every day and everywhere, these lies routinely pass by with hardly any fuss…”

In other words, political corruption never goes out of style.

Red Tape’s production of Enemy of the People runs May 4-30, 2009.
Tickets are available through our website!

Paul G. Miller
Season Dramaturge

Ibsen ain't afraid of no Ghosts!

The title of Henrik Ibsen’s play, Ghosts, refers to the outdated social rules and superstitions that hinder the lives of the main characters. Should a wife stay with an abusive husband because she was told to “love, honor and obey?” Should a daughter care for her ailing father even after he’s expressed sexual interest in her? Should a pastor forgo insuring an orphanage and trust in a “higher power” to protect it? Ibsen answered with a loud NO! Ghosts declared that rape, adultery, incest, and venereal disease among the middle classes were issues that existed and must be addressed. Not everyone agreed with him.

“The play is one of the filthiest things ever written in Scandinavia.” ~ Ludvig
Josephson, Theatre Owner

At first no theater in Europe would produce the work. It premiered at the Aurora Turner Hall in Chicago with Danish Actress Helga von Bluhme as Mrs. Alving. The published script was seen as something not fit for decent homes, but gathered a loyal following among a younger generation of theatre artists.

[I like Ghosts] less for its own sake than for the insight it gives me into this
elegant, cautious, decorated, slightly snobbish person who… has always had a
secret desire to say; “Damn and blast!” in the midst of all his elegance – and
has now acquired the courage.” ~ Alexander Kielland, Book Seller

The personal attacks that the work provoked from the “so-called liberal press” infuriated Ibsen. He resumed work on a piece he had set aside, making corrupt newsmen into central figures. On June 21 1882 Ibsen wrote: “Yesterday I completed my new dramatic work. It is entitled An Enemy of the People, and is in five acts. I am still a little uncertain whether to call it a comedy or simply a play; it has much of the character of a comedy, but there is also a serious basic theme.’
Ibsen had never finished a work faster. He was again ready to speak the “unpleasant truths” that must be heard.

Quotes taken from Ibsen by Michael Meyer.

Shaw Chicago presents Ghosts from April 18 - May 11, 2009.

Robert Scogin, the Artistic Director of Shaw Chicago, will speak on Red Tape's panel, Ibsen's Women, on Sunday, May 10, 2009.

Red Tape Theatre presents An Enemy of the People from May 4-30, 2009.

Paul G. Miller
Season Dramaturge

Pastor Manders: The Tears of Righteous Men

"We haven't the right to be happy" claims Pastor Manders. The antagonist of Ibsen's Ghosts has denied sanctuary to a woman who loves him, shaming her into returning to an abusive husband for the sake of propriety. Last night I attended Shaw Chicago's production of Ghosts at the DCA Theater. Ibsen's original audience was scandalized by the immoral characters that the Pastor faced. A contemporary audience greets his harsh words with laughter. Ibsen seems to be saying that we, like the characters in Ghosts, should know better than to listen to moralists.

Pastor Manders presents an intriguing contrast to Mayor Peter Stockman, the antagonist of An Enemy of the People. Both men cling to their reputations and suck the oxygen out of any room they attend. They think nothing of entering a friends house and saying "You can't afford that food" or "how dare you read these scandalous books!" But while the Mayor cynically manipulates all those around him, the Pastor will naively believe any man who flatters him. This leads him into one business blunder after another.

These men sacrifice all who love them to protect their incomes but it has been said that Ibsen writes no true "villains." They are allowed a sliver of pity, for their investments are doomed to fail and they will left completely alone.

Shaw Chicago presents Ghosts from April 18 - May 11, 2009.

Robert Scogin, the Artistic Director of Shaw Chicago, will speak on Red Tape's panel, Ibsen's Women, on Sunday, May 10, 2009.

Red Tape Theatre presents An Enemy of the People from May 4-30, 2009.

Paul G. Miller
Season Dramaturge

Meet our Panelists!

Red Tape Theatre is pleased to announce our upcoming panel series. These will follow our 2:00 p.m. matinee performances of Enemy of the People.

Ibsen’s Women

Sunday, May 10, 2009

Hedda Gabler, Nora Helmer, Helene Alving. As Red Tape reimagines Ibsen’s Dr. Stockman as a woman, we invite a panel of guests to discuss Ibsen’s groundbreaking heroines.

Panelists include:

Jacob Juntunen, Professor of Theatre, University of Illinois in Chicago

After dropping out of high school, Jacob’s first play was produced by Edward Albee at Stages Repertory Theatre in Houston. Since then, his plays were produced around the country, and his script Under America was one of five selected by the Driehaus Foundation for submission to the Sundance Institute Chicago Roundtable. Under America was also a finalist for the Christopher Brian Wolk Award. Jacob attended Clackamas Community College (A.A. 1996), Reed College (B.A. 1999) and Northwestern University (Ph.D. 2007). Recipient of multiple academic and playwriting honors including a Diedrich & Johnson Scholarship, an Agnes Nixon New Plays Award (both at Northwestern University), a Lee Blessing Scholarship to attend the Timberlake Writers’ Colony, and a Tennessee Williams Scholarship to attend the Sewanee Writers’ Conference, Jacob teaches theatre history and an honors seminar at the University of Illinois, Chicago (UIC) and writing at the School of the Art Institute. For more information, go to http://www.jacobjuntunen.com/.

Robert Scogin, Artistic Director, Shaw Chicago

Winner of The Chicago Drama League’s 2008 Crystal Award, appeared on Broadway in Shakespeare’s Henry V and Off-Broadway in A Road Where the Wolves Run and Children of the Ladybug. Regional credits include: the American Shakespeare Theater, California Shakespeare Theater, Great Lakes Shakespeare Festival, Notre Dame Summer Shakespeare, Indiana Repertory, Missouri Repertory and the Guthrie Theater. Chicago credits include: Wisdom Bridge, Northlight, Next, Famous Door, Writers’ Theater, Goodman, Remy Bumppo, and Chicago Shakespeare Theater where he has appeared in more than thirty productions, most recently in Henry IV Parts One & Two, both on Navy Pier and at the Royal Shakespeare Company in Stratford-Upon-Avon. Celebrating his thirteenth season as Artistic Director of ShawChicago, he has directed more than forty of Shaw’s plays. Other directing credits include: The Comedy of Errors and King Lear (Shakespeare’s Motley Crew), Last Summer at Blue Fish Cove and The Two Gentleman of Verona (Footsteps Theater), Pinter’s The Lover and The Dumb Waiter (Writers’), A Doll’s House and The Millionairess (Next), and The Lion in Winter (Rising Moon). He taught and directed Shakespeare at the Turkish State Theater Conservatory in Ankara and Konya, Turkey. He returned to Turkey in March of 2007 to direct Shaw’s Arms and the Man in Turkish for the Konya State Theater Conservatory’s Second International Theater Festival. He was most recently seen in A Bench in the Sun at Apple Tree and as Father Murphy in Writers’ Theater’s world premiere of The Savannah Disputation.

Julie K. Ward, Professor of Philosophy, Loyola University

Julie Ward (Ph.D., Univ. California, San Diego) is Professor of philosophy at Loyola University, where she specializes in Greek philosophy, and topics in feminist philosophy. Her publications include: Feminism and Ancient Philosophy (Routledge, 1996); Philosophers on Race (Blackwell, 2002, co-ed. T. Lott); and Aristotle on Homonymy Dialectic and Science (Cambridge, 2008). She has published papers in Aristotle's psychology and metaphysics, ancient skepticism, and also on Simone de Beauvoir and critical race theory. She is currently working on a book devoted to the development of the concept of physis, or nature, in the thought of Plato and Aristotle.Dr. Ward arrived at Loyola in 1990, after teaching at University of Oregon, Mt. Holyoke, and Stanford University. She offers graduate courses primarily in Greek philosophy, especially Aristotle's psychology, ethics, and metaphysics. In addition to ancient philosophy, her undergraduate teaching covers ethics and social philosophy, with a focus on race and gender, and philosophy and film.

Green Night of Theatre

Sunday, May 24, 2009

Ibsen’s play examines the fallout from an environmental disaster. Join our guests from Chicago Open Lands and the Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum as they show us how to be greener in our homes and our community.

Panelists include:

Courtney Bennett, Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum

The Chicago Academy of Sciences and its Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum inspire people to learn about and care for nature and the environment. The Academy improves quality of life in Chicago and the region by delivering superior environmental and science education programs to students and teachers, by offering Museum exhibitions and conducting public programs that foster green living, and by restoring local ecosystems and advancing scientific knowledge through collections and research.

Stacy Meyers-Glen, Policy Coordinator, Chicago Open Lands

Stacy Meyers-Glen joined Openlands in 2006, before which she practiced for ten years as an environmental attorney, prosecuting environmental cases with the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office. Stacy also had the privilege of working with Samuel T. Lawton, Jr. at the Illinois Pollution Control Board (IPCB), where she drafted regulations and opinions on issues ranging from air pollution to deregulating the electrical industry. Prior to her tenure at IPCB, Stacy developed the Illinois Environmental Crimes Investigators Network and prosecuted environmental cases with the Office of the Illinois Attorney General.

An Enemy of the People runs May 4-30, 2009

Get your tickets here!