BY LUCIA MAURO
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"I'm
not interested in kitchen-sink drama. I prefer -- director Nick Bowling |
Throughout
our long conversation, director Nick Bowling mentioned the word family
at least 20 times. He used it to describe the dynamic of TimeLine Theatre
Company, the troupe he founded in 1997 with his fellow Theatre School
at DePaul University graduates, as well as his interest in 'family dramas.'
It came up when talking about Chicago's close-knit theatre community in
general. And, literally, it referred back to his own supportive Irish-Catholic
family'the primary reason he stays in the Midwest.
Even
theatre was a family affair in Bowling's hometown of Sumner, Iowa (pop.
2,000). Inspired by Hollywood movie musicals, the director performed in
swing choir, plays and musicals at Sumner High School. For a production
of Guys and Dolls, he played the role of Nathan Detroit opposite his brother
as Sky Masterson and his sister as a Hot Box dancer. Another sister worked
the lights. But, as Bowling points out, theatre was more of a hobby for
his siblings. 'For me,' he stresses, 'it was my life.' He is particularly
proud that his parents, also theatre fans, have seen every single play
he's ever done.
Calling
himself a 'musical theatre orphan from way back,' Bowling spent a lot
of time as an actor, singer and jazzy theatrical-style dancer-choreographer.
He even participated in ballroom competitions. 'My goal was very musical
theatre-esque,' says Bowling, 35. 'I wanted to sing and dance on Broadway.'
During
college, however, he discovered directing'a field that has allowed him
to participate in the total process and experience of theatre. He founded
TimeLine'where his current production of The Lion in Winter has been extended
through Dec. 14'with three actors, a designer and a literary manager.
He respects all aspects of theatre equally, and his much-lauded style
is closely tied to his symbiotic design collaborator Kevin Hagan (another
DePaul alum).
For
TimeLine's Jeff Award-winning The Crucible (2002), his cast melded seamlessly
with Hagan's unsettling iron cauldron design. In his Jeff Award-winning
Another Part of the Forest for Eclipse Theatre (2001), Bowling and Hagan
transformed the downstairs Chopin Theatre space into something of a reverse
telescope in which Lillian Hellman's Machiavellian southern family enacted
their schemes in a fun house or tunnel of uncomfortable optical illusions.
The medieval-set The Lion in Winter is based on a cruciform configuration,
with the audience seated in four quadrants yet surrounded by a drama of
epic proportions.
Bowling's
productions have successfully managed to be intimate yet expansive'a trait
he ascribes to two influential 'yin and yang' DePaul directing instructors.
From James Ostholthoff, he was encouraged to not be afraid of a sprawling
vision in which actors did the 'most outrageous, crazy-ass things' on
stage. From Joseph Slowik, he learned about specificity''getting down
to the human level.'
The
Theatre School at DePaul University essentially shaped Bowling's 'truthful'
and holistic approach to directing. Prior to DePaul, he received a bachelor's
degree in music/theatre from the Catholic University of America (where
he was awarded a scholarship) in Washington, D.C. Here he focused on acting
and choreographing. After graduation, he stayed in the D.C. area to choreograph
for mid-sized professional theatres like the Source Theatre, the Olney,
and Washington Jewish Theatre.
He
says that he still imagined being Fred Astaire or Gene Kelly, but 'those
sorts don't really make it [on Broadway] anymore.' As a performer, he
noticed that he would often look at the big picture of a production and
considered becoming a director. But, at the time, he felt he didn't have
the tools to pursue directing professionally. So he decided to move to
Chicago and enroll in the Theatre School at DePaul University's graduate
directing program.
'I
needed to be in a major theatre city,' Bowling explains. 'I was desperate
to be in the Midwest and near my family. DePaul was the most logical solution.
I loved everything about DePaul from the beginning.'
He
talks about the intense application process, which included analyzing
a play, doing an involved interview on directing, being interviewed by
several faculty members and auditioning as an actor. 'I thought,' adds
Bowling, 'this place cares so much.' He says he came away with 'thinking
outside the box' and 'the most important thing is truth between actors.'
The
all-encompassing curriculum allowed him to unify all elements of theatre.
He studied acting, directing, the history of art, architecture and costume
design, and a class that centered on blocking for an entire semester.
His favorite class was 'Con Fab,' which united directors, actors and designers
to create original work. It's where Bowling and his fellow students could
be their most 'adventurous.'
For
one project, the class was given a room and told to create a world for
Wagner's tragic opera, Tristan und Isolde. Bowling and his team painted
an annex space black and studded it with sequins. Then they flooded the
area with a foot of water'in a space that was above the computer lab.
They hung a 'frozen burning moon' to signify the fire and ice of passion.
Two naked actors lying in the water completed the abstracted tableau vivant.
And, luckily, the water never seeped into the computer circuitry.
'I
took off with Jim's [Ostholthoff's] theory that you break every rule you
can,' says Bowling. 'At DePaul, they pushed us to be creative and create
fantastic worlds on limited or no budgets.' So he was well prepared for
the resourcefulness needed to survive in the abundant but financially
strapped off-Loop theatre scene. While still at DePaul, he founded a short-lived
company called Two Planks, which produced a provocative staging of Ionesco's
The Killing Game (with actors on moving scaffolding) in what is now TimeLine
Theatre at Baird Hall in Lakeview. He also directed a touching production
of The Subject Was Roses, starring current TimeLine artistic director
PJ Powers, for Carpe Noctem Theatre at Stage Left.
After
receiving his MFA in directing in 1996, Bowling decided to stay in Chicago.
He sighs contentedly when he speaks of this city: 'You land somewhere
and say you're home. That's how I feel about Chicago. I feel like I've
come back to my people. There's a Midwestern aesthetic here, yet I have
everything available to me. Chicago is the ideal place for me [especially
now that most of his family has relocated to Indianapolis], and it's where
I want to stay.'
In
1997, he co-founded TimeLine Theatre, served as its artistic director
and directed its inaugural production of Summit Conference. That same
year, Bowling was invited by Court Theatre's artistic director Charles
Newell to become his assistant. (Bowling had previously interned at Court
as a dramaturg.) This full-time job gave him financial stability and exposed
him to different aspects of the business, including casting and managing
finances. He also created and directed the Resident Apprentice program.
Bowling eventually became associate artistic director at Court. But, in
2000, he and Court parted ways over 'artistic differences.'
Since
then, Bowling has been a freelance director and works full-time as a corporate
concierge.
He
has directed frequently for TimeLine, including Hauptmann (Jeff nomination
for best director), Gaslight and Streeterville (world premiere.) Other
Chicago directing credits include Shattered Globe Theatre's Time of the
Cuckoo and Frozen Assets; Shakespeare's Motley Crew's Present Slaughter:
The Coarse Acting Plays; Rivendell Theatre's Factory Girls; Buffalo Theatre
Ensemble's Angels In America; and Impulse Theatre's Blithe Spirit. He
has served on DePaul's directing faculty.
His
total view of theatre means that scenic/lighting design is on an equal
playing field with the actors. 'I have found that a lot of theatre is
actor-based,' Bowling notes, 'and the design gets overlooked or forgotten.
I believe design can make an actor better. Design, for me, doesn't overshadow
the actor.'
Bowling's
initial impulse as a director is to find the world of the play, not only
through a concrete visual set but one that exists on an emotional, psychological
and intellectual plane. That world, he says, contains rules that he can
adhere to, expand or break as is necessary for demonstrating the script's
inherent truths. And there must be a degree of magic present.
'I'm
not interested in kitchen-sink drama,' Bowling emphasizes. 'I prefer hyper-realism.
I think it's a very truthful approach'like realism on drugs. With hyper-realism,
things are recognizable, but they have a few different rhythms than our
world. I'm interested in plays that are not quite real but sometimes bigger,
faster, stranger than our world.'
So
the director is attracted to works that are a bit askew, with an element
of 'something slightly magical and something slightly unreal.' And family
dramas'like his current staging of The Lion in Winter'are tops on his
list.
Bowling
is greatly influenced by Chicago actors, especially the actors he worked
with at DePaul: 'The actors are fearless. They're attracted to danger
and risk. That spirit completely provoked that same quality in my work
as a director.'
The
key to his directing is what he terms 'a balance of rawness and refinement.'
Bowling begins at the raw and moves toward some level of refinement. It's
his goal to try to create as messy a theatrical world as possible, then
pare it down.
'I
love starting with fireworks in the first few weeks [of rehearsal],' he
continues. 'The challenge is how much shape to give this wonderfully raw
thing and knowing when to stop.' He makes an analogy to a kindergarten
student who keeps putting too many colors into a drawing until his or
her teacher takes away the paper. Bowling admits to having to squelch
a desire to add or tweak. Then the director goes back to his two directing
mentors at DePaul'Ostholthoff and Slowick'to reach that mid-point between
sprawl and specificity.
Bowling
is now at a transitional time in his career. He's ready to take a respite
after directing, on average, three to four plays a year while working
full-time. He wants to concentrate on writing and adapting. He is planning
to direct a few staged readings in the spring and is anxious to direct
musical theatre again. At the moment, Bowling is essentially replenishing
his creative coffers.
He
remains affiliated with TimeLine Theatre because of the company's commitment
to exploring history in a new way. 'I look to the past to learn about
the present,' insists Bowling, an admitted 1930s and 1940s buff, 'in a
world focused on the future. I love to uncover and examine things from
our past.'
Throughout
his life, theatre has 'catapulted' him into 'this wild, insane energy,
excitement and passion.' At its core, he finds that theatre is capable
of provoking and touching audiences. They also can learn something and
'question what they thought they knew.'
Ultimately,
the reason why he thinks we should experience live theatre is 'to become
better people.'