Waukegan Theatre Festival opens Friday night; ‘As a playwright, it's a chance prove yourself'

Chicago Tribune

3 days ago

Connor Daley of Lake Villa started acting on stage at age 9, and started writing songs when he got his first guitar. Now, the Illinois State University sophomore theater major has written his first play — a musical — that will be part of the Waukegan Theatre Festival this weekend.
'Singing and writing songs became an outlet for me,' Daley said. 'I feel it is a very powerful story,' he added, referring to 'The Point of Return.' 'I'm very excited it's going to be part of the festival.'
The Waukegan Theatre Festival opens Friday at both locations of the Three Brothers Theatre and the Waukegan Music Exchange in downtown Waukegan, with multiple showings of four productions. Three of the four playwrights are from Lake County.
Josh Beadle, an owner of Three Brothers and the festival organizer, said the event has taken place for most of the last seven years, though not during the coronavirus pandemic. The schedule is arranged to enable a theatergoer to see all four productions in the three days. The cost is $30.
'There's one price, and you can see as much as you want of the festival,' he said. 'People will get to see a little bit of everything. They can catch everything if they want to.'
All four plays — two are musicals — are never-before-performed shows. Beadle said part of the purpose of the festival is to give playwrights, both experienced and first-timers, an opportunity to show their work to the public. It could launch a career.
'This is an opportunity for playwrights to write something new,' he said. 'We're looking for the next (William) Shakespeare or (Christopher) Marlowe. This is one avenue to get a play performed. As a playwright, it's a chance to prove yourself if you're a bit of an unknown.'
Opening with two shows Friday night, there will be four performances throughout the day Saturday and two more on Sunday, giving each of the four plays a pair of showings. Beadle said the timing was intentional to give people multiple opportunities to see all four of the productions.
Starting the festival is 'The Perfect Team' by Henry Allan at 7 p.m. Friday and Saturday at Three Brothers' 221 North Genesee Street location, and Kevin Blair's 'It's Coming From Inside the House' at 7 p.m. Friday and Saturday at Three Brothers' 115 North Genesee building.
Daley's 'The Point of Return 'will be performed at 4 p.m. Saturday and 1 p.m. Sunday at Three Brothers' 115 Genesee building, while 'Sitting, Standing, Lying' by Beadle opens at 1 p.m. Saturday at the Waukegan Music Exchange and 4 p.m. Sunday at 115 North Genesee.
Daley said 'Point of Return' tells the story of the 'inner workings' of a woman's mind as she copes with her father's death. Telling the story with songs and duets, it shows how she works through her emotions to the 'point of return.'
'The show aims to bring awareness to mental health and grief,' Daley said. 'When I was going through a hard time in my own life, writing songs helped me through it.'
A Mundelein resident, Allan said, 'The Perfect Team' is his sixth produced play. Four are musicals. It tells the fictitious story of a Broadway composer who died, but his soul 'cannot rest' until he finishes a last story. He enters the body of a young composer to finish the job.
'I start writing a play with an idea,' Allan said. 'When I know who the story is happening to, I know the lead and the gender. I figure out who surrounds him. I look at songs I've written to see if they can be repurposed. As I write, I make a note that a song belongs here.'.
Bringing his 10th play to the stage, Beadle, a Waukegan resident, said 'Sitting, Standing, Lying,' a comedy, is about two actors 'mysteriously locked in a rehearsal room.' They have no director, stage manager or crew, and must figure out what to do.
'It's one of my more abstract productions,' Beadle said. 'It goes from the abstract to the absurd. It's a combination of (Samuel) Beckett and (Franz) Kafka. It's much funnier than we realize. It's an homage to Beckett, but really a comic version of two actors trying to figure it out.'
Blair, who lives in Chicago, said 'Coming From Inside the House' is four separate plays produced as one performance. He wrote three while Brandon Wright, also from Chicago, wrote the fourth. They like giving the audience a variety of genres.
'You'll laugh, cry and scream,' Blair said. 'There's science fiction, a dark comedy, one about a cult and magic taking place during the zombie apocalypse.'
Not only do the playwrights have an opportunity to present their show to a live audience, Beadle said, they get to hear the words spoken when they have only been able to read them before. With comedy, it is easy because it needs to evoke laughter. With drama, it can be harder.
'Sometimes with a joke, it lags too long before the punchline,' he said. 'A lot of times plays open in Chicago before going to Broadway so they can be tweaked.'
Beadle said it is not at all uncommon for the writer to make changes after a first or second performance. There are often alterations between previews and opening night. For Daley, it is nearly a certainty.
'I'll tweak it after the performances,' Daley said.