Augusto Boal 1931-2009

May 2, 2009 saw the passing of Brazilian director, writer and activist Augusto Boal.

His first book, Theatre of the Oppressed (1973), was the subject of disucssion at one of my first meetings at Red Tape Theatre.

Paul G. Miller
Season Dramaturge

Opening Night Artwork!

Congratulations to the cast and crew of Enemy of the People!

We run May 4-30, 2009.

Paul G. Miller

Season Dramaturge

Ibsen's Inspiration

Ibsen scholar Michael Meyer discusses the incidents that inspired the plot of Henrik Ibsen's Enemy of the People.

He reveals that the father of Ibsen's colleague was stoned and chased out of the town of Teiplitz after speaking up about an outbreak of cholera at their spa in the eighteen-thirties.

Ibsen was also in Norway in 1874 when chemist Harald Thaulow waged ware on the Christiana Steam Kitchens "for neglecting their duty towards the city's poor." The chairman and the crowd prevented him from speaking at their annual meeting. The newspaper account read:

THAULOW: "I won't cast my pearls into the sand. This is a damned insult being inflicted on a free people in a free society. Now I'll go! Stand in the dunce's corner and be ashamed of yourselves!"

Meanwhile in 2009, as swine flu sweeps the news and the poisoned water investigation in Crestwood, IL continues to unfold, Red Tape Theatre's production grows more topical by the day.

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

Paul G. Miller
Season Dramaturge

Meet the Cast! - Courtney Bennett

Part seven in a series of interviews with the cast of Enemy of the People at Red Tape Theatre.

Name: Courtney Bennett

Role: Dr. Tammy Stockman

Where are you from?

I was born and raised in Little Rock, Arkansas, and I went to college in a town near there. I lived very briefly in New York City, but I moved to Chicago in October 2007.

What is the first stage play you remember seeing?

My folks aren't very interested in plays or movies, so those weren't a very big part of my childhood. Once I showed an interest in acting, my mother took me to see a traveling production of Chicago. After that, I think she got me every possible piece of Chicago merchandise-- hats, posters, t-shirts, etc. Little did I know I would inhabit the city one day.

When/why did you start acting?

I was always driven to entertain. In elementary school I vied for the speaking parts in assemblies, and in high school, I began taking drama my freshman year. My first real part was at 14 as a munchkin in the school's production of The Wizard of Oz. After that I was hooked; I attended every drama tournament and auditioned for every play.

Tell us about your character in Enemy of the People.

Tammy is an idealist. She believes in people and their ability to make big decisions with ease. I think she is naive, but she believes so deeply in the greater good that she often is willing to break rules to make things happen. I admire her willingness to take risks for what she believes in and her appreciation of the world around her.

What's next for you?

I plan to go back to school this fall. I got into the MFA in Physical Theatre Acting program at the Accademia dell'Arte in Arezzo, Italy. The next couple years are going to be a blur of European cities, and hopefully I'll come back to the US with a broader mind and soul. After that I really want to teach acting for college. I can't wait to get started!

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

Tickets are available through our website!

Meet the Cast! - Kieran Kredell

Part six in a series of interviews with the cast of Enemy of the People at Red Tape Theatre Company.

Name: Kieran Kredell

Role: Patrick Stockman

Where are you from?

I was born and raised on the southern end of the New Jersey shore, in a town called Barnegat. But I went to school in Connecticut, and currently live in Ukrainian Village.

What is the first stage play you remember seeing?

Seriously? I'm not sure if I have an answer for this one. Does the Cecil S. Collins Elementary School's adaptation of Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure count?

[Paul: It does indeed!]

When/why did you start acting?

My first performance was in eighth grade. It was the drama club's annual show: Krazy Kamp, a children's musical about rival summer camps. In retrospect, I'm sure it was charming. But at the time, I was convinced I was destined for bigger and better things. I started working at summerstock and community theaters in the area, and I guess the rest is history. I'm still not entirely sure why I started acting (besides the fact that I really really liked it), but it's grown to be a pretty important part of how I think about the world.

Tell us about your character in Enemy of the People

Patrick is Tammy and Peter's cousin (originally, Petra was the daughter of Dr. and Mrs. Stockmann). An openly liberal queer, he is somewhat of an outcast in Cherokee. A substitute teacher frustrated with the politics of his field, he firmly believes in the potential for education to create positive social change. Amidst the overwhelming lack of like-minded voices in town, he looks to Tammy for inspiration and guidance. To Patrick, she embodies the strength, determination, and selflessness required to be heard in such a stifling environment. And when the Sun.org was reinvented as a radical leftist publication, Patrick began to think the odds were turning in his favor

What's next for you?

I have been working for the past several months with About Face Youth Theatre's Outreach Tour, traveling to schools in the greater Chicago area (and nationwide) introducing kids to sex-positive sex-education, and encouraging adults to push their administrations to support similar efforts. We will continue touring throughout the school year. Also, I will be interning at Redmoon Theater, participating in several guerrilla street performances and helping to create spectacular things. And I'll be auditioning, of course, and looking for representation...

Enemy of the People runs May 4-30, 2009

Tickets are available through our website!

Meet the Cast! - April Pletcher Taylor

Part five in a series of interviews with the cast of Enemy of the People at Red Tape Theatre.

Name: April Pletcher Taylor

Role: Connie Allen, President of the Homeowners Association and Board President of The Sun.

Where are you from?

I’m originally from Niles, Michigan.

What is the first stage play you remember seeing?

I remember taking a class trip to Chicago to see Much Ado About Nothing when I was in elementary school.

When/why did you start acting?

I’ve possessed a fascination with acting since I was a child. A very shy and quiet person, acting and make believe provided a means for self expression. Also, I just plain loved the endless possibilities that existed on stage--still do.

Tell us about your character in Enemy of the People.

Connie Allen is an active board member in a number of community organizations. She has a great deal of pride in Cherokee and aims to protect this community from anything that may jeopardize its blooming prosperity. Experience has taught her that often times it’s not always what you say but rather how you say it that really counts, so she tries very hard to present any threatening issues in such a way that will prompt a remedy while at the same time not rocking the boat too much. Moderation is her motto and preferred method of handling opposition. However, when the stakes are high, moderation has been known to get thrown right out of the window....well, actually…it just gets placed on the window ledge and nudged off like a little bird…yes, that sounds much nicer.

What's next for you?

On June 1 I will be performing in Rubicon Theatre Project’s Becoming Ingrid as part of the Chicago DCA Theater Incubator Series. After that, who knows?

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

Tickets are available through our website!

Meet the Cast! - Errol McLendon

Part four in a series of interviews with the cast of Enemy of the People at Red Tape Theatre.

Name: Errol McLendon

Role: Dan Horster

Where are you from?

Born in Starkville, MS - raised in Cleveland, MS - also lived in Atlanta and Dallas.

What is the first stage play you remember seeing?

Some Dallas Summer Musical - first play I chose - The Me Nobody Knows.

When/why did you start acting?

Found out in high school that there was an alternative to jock, brain or class leader. I had not really found my place in high school until I was cast as the lead in my junior year. I finally found out the beauty of not belonging to a specific group and that individuality was vital in the world of the theatre. My grandfather spent his entire life saying "I could have been in vaudeville", "I could have been in theatre". I vowed not to reach the end of my life saying "I could have . . ." I would rather say "I tried . . .".

Tell us about your character in Enemy of the People.

I represent the person who puts friendship above all else. Politics, public opinion and religion pale in comparison to loyalty to friends and family. I am a member of the town, but not of the town, because I have seen the world driving a truck across country. Because of this exposure, I have a broader world view than most of the people in town. Quick to anger, slow to forgive, Dan would risk everything for Tammy.

What's next for you?

Directing You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown for a teen group in Libertyville and spending the summer enjoying the weather, cooking out and working in the yard and around my house.

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

Director's Note

Enemy of the People is a twisting journey that will provide the audience with a provocative story and many deep questions. Questions that will hopefully lead to circumstances we are all facing on a daily basis. From little things like how much paper do I burn through in my office each day when I know full well that we are decimating the rain forests to obtain it? Should I go on strike? If a shirt at Gap is made in Indonesia by the hands of small children, should I boycott? How much of my life and my creature comforts am I willing to give up for my beliefs? Should I stand complicit while our country profits off the wars in Africa? Should I hold accountable the politicians who failed to see levy’s breaking in New Orleans? Why did I only participate in two anti-war protests during the eight years of the Bush administration?

And at what point do I stop being a concerned citizen and become a dangerous fanatic? It’s fascinating that our protagonist and antagonist are brother and sister. That sibling rivalry which dates back to Cain and Abel has long been a dramatic motif. But in Enemy it illustrates how ideology can tear families apart. Can tear towns apart. Can tear countries apart. I think of the inflexibility of the those in favor and opposition to Proposition 8.

This is a play that I believe will captivate, resonate emotionally, enhance spiritual value, and ask a lot of really relevant questions. I am so excited to be going on this journey with you guys. It is a complex play but at the heart of it is this idea of beliefs. Of the irrationality of truth. Of the individual versus the mob. These are questions that lie at the very heart of what we as artists do. This is an important play to be doing right now and I am so proud that we are doing it.

Enemy of the People runs May 4-30.

Tickets are available through our website.

James Palmer

Artistic Director

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