Director Jessica Thebus is a Chicago theatrical community lifer as well as a life-long North Side/North Shore resident.
Thebus grew up in the Piven Workshop with John and Joan Cusack, Jeremy Piven and Sarah Ruhl; earned a Doctorate in Performance Studies from Northwestern, where she is now on the faculty; and has worked extensively with other universities and major theaters. Married, with a 9-year-old daughter, Thebus now lives in Rogers Park and is currently directing “Buzzer,” a new play developed by Goodman Theatre, and working on “In the Garden,” which opens April 16 at Lookingglass Theatre.
Make It Better: “Buzzer” tackles difficult issues, like race and gentrification, from a newer perspective. You direct it from your own perspective as a mother of a “white daughter of Irish and German descent, who has black classmates, but no black friends.” What is this play’s message for your neighborhood and all points north?
Jessica Thebus: The play is an intimate story of what happens to these three characters that do not expect to end up in the conversations and confusions that unfold in the course of the play. The two white characters feel like they “get it” and it is not clear that they all really do not quite get each other until the pressure of a “bad” neighborhood brings issues of race, class and privilege to the fore. At bottom, I feel like the play encourages us to talk about race with each other, even though it is awkward and uncomfortable. To try to live through letting the offense happen without shutting down the conversation, and finding our way through it.
You turn your directorial skills next to “In the Garden,” set in the mid-1850s and Charles Darwin’s marriage to a devout woman who is also the mother of his nine children. How do you make this show engaging for and relevant to today’s audiences?
I think that story is deeply present today! We are still having the very same argument that the Darwins navigated for so many years! How do we work with both proof and faith? How do we find a space for discussion that lets in the possibility of the other’s point of view?
From your viewpoint, what are the strengths and weaknesses of the Chicagoland theater community?
There are others who I am sure can give very educated and erudite answers to this question…and I am not trying to shrug it off, but I see only strengths. The amount of theatrical work made in Chicago. The varied, talented and passionate companies. The many styles of work. The fantastic big shows, the fantastic small shows. The support of female playwrights and directors. The incredible actors. The community of passion and connection.
About a year ago I started this passion project called Rough Magic—you can check out the very rough website at rough-magic.org. Rough Magic exists to celebrate the Chicago theater community, and harness the energy that exists here to make gorgeous, impulsive, one-night-only celebrations that support the work of local organizations doing good. The fact that this would even occur to me, and have gotten so much support over the past year, is a perfect example of the joy of making theater in Chicago.
You’re a professor at Northwestern, working with the next generation of theater professionals. What do you see as the future of theater? What direction are we heading in?
Today’s best young theater artists are global and interdisciplinary. The things that seemed like boundaries between disciplines and specialties mean less and less to them. There is great power in this. They know that devised work is available to them, and so are classic plays. They love Shakespeare and they love original political plays—they love song and film. It is very, very exciting.
What is the next play to which you will take your daughter?
Back to Lookingglass to see “The Little Prince” again!
