Bartender, I’ll have a…White Russian.
I’m SURE you remember me from such Factory shows as…Janice Dutts Goes to Life Camp, Siskel and Ebert Save Chicago, Dirty Diamonds, Shameless Shamusues, Ren Faire! A Fistful of Ducats, Ceres, Mop Top Festival, Dead Wrong, 1985, Hey! Dancin!, The League of Awesome, 1985 (DCA remount), Easy Six, White Trash Wedding and a Funeral (remount), Toast of the Town (remount), Incident on Run #1217, ‘Namosaur!, Street Justice: Condition Red, Hey! Dancin! Hey! Musical!, Hotel Aphrodite, The Guardians Of Rock (Abbie Hoffman), and 30 Days in the Rabbit Hole (Abbie Hoffman). BUT YOU HAVE PROBABLY NEVER ACTUALLY SEEN ME.
(Editor’s Note: Rachel was the costume designer for all of these shows, which is why you’ve never seen her. She’s also a ninja who works on 70,000 shows simultaneously.)
I got involved with the Factory because…[Factory Emeritus and former Executive Director Allison] Cain asked me to come on board for Operation Infiltration and I couldn’t and was pretty sad about it. So the next opportunity came along, Janice Dutts. LMACK, POMPA, ROACH, SHANNON, CISSY, and ENGLE sealed the deal for me. Beside the awesome people, it’s all new work. New work created by these crazy people I admire and respect. So yeah, who needs to do another production of “OKLAHOMA!”.
My current/next gig is…how much space do I have? And when does this get posted? Seriously though, ones immediately coming up: Universal Wolf at Trap Door, Merchild at 16th Street Theater, Fugue for a Particle Accelerator with 20% Theater and ZOMBIE BROADS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I give a shit about our move to Rogers Park because…IT’S A REALLY BIG DEAL. There’s a certain validation and recognition that comes with having a permanent home that is yours. It’s a foundation, it’s roots and it screams WE ARE HERE. To have a theater company hang in for as long as the Factory has and only produce ORIGINAL WORK written by its ENSEMBLE MEMBERS. That’s an artistic force.
If I had to force you to listen to 2 albums, they would be…I dread this question. Rusted Root’s “When I Woke” and Jimmy Buffet’s “Songs You Know By Heart.”
My favourite Factory memory is…the laughing. All the laughing. There isn’t some epic story I have, but whether it is at an ensemble meeting, performance, production meeting, load-in, strike, read through, rehearsal, hanging out at a bar or whatever, I call them the “Factory Laughs.” You cannot mistake them for anything else. It’s the laugh that vibrates through a room and is infectious. It’s the blend of those distinctive big laughs and the support of the quiet wheezing gut shakers. It is joy in its purest form and it happens every time.
I’m switching drinks, I’ll have a…Caucasian
