Sideshow Theatre Company presents their work in progress

Posted by DCA Theater on October 26, 2010 in July-December 2010 Season, INCUBATOR Series: Sideshow Theatre

Sideshow Theatre Company entertained a crowd of about 60 people last night in the DCA Studio Theater with excerpts from their play in development, Strangerland.  Check out a video of some selected scenes above.

The event was presented as a part of INCUBATOR, a series designed to support the creation of new work by emerging Chicago theater companies. Utilizing Chicago DCA Theater space and resources, participants explore new projects, develop and refine styles, and share their process with the public during a special showcase event.

Don’t miss the next INCUBATOR series showcase performance for Tympanic Theatre Company on Monday, January 31 at 7:30pm!

Encounters of the Packer kind

Posted by DCA Theater on October 25, 2010 in July-December 2010 Season, Factory Theater's "1985"

by Lindsay Verstegen, cast member (Julia) of 1985

I brought my camera to the most recent matinee of 1985. I must have sensed something magical was going to happen for this particular performance. As mentioned in a previous blog post, I am a Packer fan among Bears fans here in Chicago and here in this show. 

Action was happening onstage, but the real star was in the audience during the matinee. Sitting front row was a gentleman in full Packer attire (a Reggie White jersey even!) who created a tension among cast members, pre-show. How would he like it? Would he laugh? What were his intentions?

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Two Directors, One Direction

Posted by DCA Theater on October 22, 2010 in July-December 2010 Season, INCUBATOR Series: Sideshow Theatre

by Karie Miller, Outreach Coordinator for Sideshow Theatre Company and director-of-sorts of Strangerland

If I’m the director-of-sorts, it’s only because I spend the most time on the outside. When it comes to developing the performance moment to moment, I am still a member of a team.  When time got scarce and we needed to create many things all at once, groups would work on their own or I turned to Mike Steele (aforementioned “Stuff Guy” of Strangerland) and asked him to step in and coach parts of the play. Those moments where we divide up the play and work separately eventually turned into a dialogue where we work together…and have now become a partnership.

Don’t get me wrong: it’s sometimes been really frustrating to have two directors. After I did some preliminary work with the lover scene, I asked Mike to work with them to clarify the story and find the dialogue.  As as result, he developed it into a lovely scene. His style worked in a way mine was not working, and I had a moment of jealousy when I didn’t get to work more on that part of the play.

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Something out of Nothing

Posted by DCA Theater on October 18, 2010 in July-December 2010 Season, INCUBATOR Series: Sideshow Theatre

by Mike Steele, Strangerland ensemble member

At one point in time, I was not here.  I did not exist.  Furthermore, neither did you or him or her or any of us.  Every second of every day the past is eaten by the future.  Time, one might argue, is nature’s most bloodthirsty cannibal.  Not only do our cells get replaced by new ones over time but moments, thoughts, ideas, emotions are temporary as well – who I am in this moment is different from who I was in the last.  I never stop evolving.  Just like we entered this world, as something out of nothing, so too are we constantly creating originality in ourselves and in the world.  It’s not always easy to see, but the re-creation of ourselves is ceaseless until the day we die. 

Hi!  I’m Mike Steele.  This is a picture of a former version of myself from two days ago.

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Divine Dissatisfaction

Posted by DCA Theater on October 14, 2010 in July-December 2010 Season, INCUBATOR Series: Sideshow Theatre

by Jennie Winston, Strangerland ensemble member

The following is an excerpt form Jennie Winston’s rehearsal journal. She was writing after a particularly tense evening this past Monday.

Martha Graham spoke of the balance between pleasure and discontent involved in creation, using the term “divine dissatisfaction,” which I believe applies well to any person’s process of trying constantly to improve herself and/or anything she has a hand in.

Having never been a part of a devising process before, I’ve found myself working with a substantial learning curve. I love everything about learning, except that it often entails going through a stretch of having too much comprehension to be unaware of my nearsightedness but not enough to have already gotten past it.

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