Lady rehearsals started on January 2, and we began by driving over to our scene shop on Church St. in Skokie and walking on a Styrofoam slope that, in a scant two weeks, will begin to look like a field in rural southern Illinois.  Our three actors: Michael Shannon, Lance Baker and Paul Sparks, gave it a trial run so that we could begin to shave it into a shape that will allow movement as they hunt for woodcock, while making sure that all of our audience can see and hear them clearly.

We then returned to the rehearsal room and read the play, after which we talked for about an hour and Craig (our playwright) began to outline what needed to be done to move the story and the characters forward. He focused on the character Graham, tailoring the journey of the neo-conservative congressman and the disintegration of his relationship with his high school buddies.

Lady is the story of three close friends whose lives, in their middle years, intersect infrequently, and whose philosophies are forged by very different life experiences.  This disparity is tearing them apart as friends (who once called themselves “the Sultans of Swing” after the old Dire Straights hit song of the 80s). They hunt for woodcock once a year together, and Craig has chosen this moment to show us the implosion of their lives and to use it as a metaphor for what he sees is occurring on a grander national scale, the end of America’s Moment.  Arguably this moment in time can be seen as the end of the American Empire, but while we argue it, the shifting values and disappearing middle class are hard evidence of a troubled and drifting once-great society, built on the bright possibility of hope and fueled by integrity and fairness.

I am excited to watch Craig assess the play and what he is trying to say; to rewrite and cut while on his feet.  I am amazed at how fast his mind is and how ruthlessly he jettisons anything that doesn’t make his point.  It’s fascinating to watch how deftly he writes around his theme, while never being too on the nose, using an elliptical and nuanced approach to evoke his point rather than hammer it home.

It is a thrill to be in the room with him and to share the experience with these gifted and patient actors as they try to assimilate the material and assess the shifting texts and its affect on their characters.

Of all the new work I have done here at Northlight, this has been a real eye-opener for me.  Craig has been writing furiously and fearlessly, needlessly apologizing for his process, and yet I am enjoying this ride immensely.  I think the team is, too.  Of course having said that, he might come in this weekend as we begin to run it, hate everything he sees, want to throw everything out, set it on a barge on the Erie Canal and I’ll want to kill him.  But for now, it is a sublime experience. 

More Anon,
Beej

Pictured: (Top) Michael Shannon and Lance Baker; (Bottom) Michael Shannon, Lance Baker, Craig Wright