Saints You Should Know
Kate Fodor
The Butcher of Baraboo
Marisa Wegrzyn
Spare Change
Mia McCullough
At: Steppenwolf Garage, 1624 N. Halsted
Contact: (312) 335-1650; $15
Runs through: Aug. 13
BY CATEY SULLIVAN
It’s a first, fascinating look for three never-before-staged plays in the Steppenwolf Theatre’s garage space this month as the First Look Repertory of New Work presents pieces by Mia McCullough, Kate Fodor and Marisa Wegrzyn.
The second annual First Look Festival showcases works in process. These plays are not finished or staged readings, but they aren’t full-blown productions either, notes Steppenwolf Director of New Plays Development Edward Sobel.
‘The impulse behind First Look is to get as close to a full production as possible, but still allow the writer the latitude to make changes as they see fit,’ Sobel said.
‘It’s a question of emphasis,’ he added. ‘The directors and the playwrights go in knowing that the emphasis is going to be on developing the play as opposed to mounting a set production. You can look at the entire run as a preview process.’
Running in repertory through Aug. 20 are Kate Fodor’s 100 Saints You Should Know, directed by B.J. Jones; Spare Change, written by Mia McCullough and directed by Lisa Portes; and The Butcher of Baraboo, written by Marisa Wegrzyn and directed by Dexter Bullard.
‘It’s a happy coincidence that all three of our First Look plays this year are by women,’ Sobel said. ‘Women are traditionally under-represented as playwrights. We didn’t set out to meet a quota or anything; it just turned out like [that] this year—which I am extremely happy about.’
McCullough’s Spare Change deals with Brad (Paul Novel), a man haunted by a woman he thinks he saw soliciting men on the el. Wegrzyn’s pitch-black comedy The Butcher of Baraboo centers on the cleaver-wielding title character, her pharmacist sister and a town cop who starts uncovering dark family secrets.
As for Kate Fodor’s 100 Saints You Should Know, it is a sterling little slice of intensity in its story of a disaffected priest, the rectory-cleaning woman and her deeply troubled teenage daughter.
‘We’re living in a time where a lot of us are searching for a spiritual connectedness. There is a hole in our soul; this play talks about that loss. Every character in here is lacking a connection to a higher power,’ said Jones.
And just how relevant is the topic of embattled religion?
‘Look at these fierce battles between the Muslims and the Christians. Good God, we’re practically back at the Crusades,’ said Jones, who took on directing duties for 100 Saints on top of his work as artistic director of Skokie’s Northlight Theater.
100 Saints You Should Know steers away form international battles to focus on the marrow-deep, personal struggles of its protagonists. ‘The focus is on the priest, and his need for touch, and affection and physical love,’ Jones noted. ‘Would I consider this play for a spot at the Northlight? The short answer is yes.’