BY LUCIA MAURO
Patrons who walk through the intricately restored castle-like door at
Lookingglass Theatre Company’s new home in the Water Tower Water
Works will feel like they’ve been transported into the belly of a
fantastical set. An artful tangle of pipes and pumps could be the unconventional
troupe’s design for a production that joins the writings of Roald
Dahl and Lewis Carroll.
Instead, the dramatic entrance is the Chicago’s actual Pumping Station,
dating back to 1869. Continue a few feet east to the earthy stained-cork
lobby, and an old coal shaft leads into the flexible 220-seat theatre,
with its state-of-the-art technology and removable balconies well suited
to Lookingglass’ merging of text, music, movement, acrobatics and
film.
But that journey—from pump room to playing space—reveals the
heart of this famed theatre founded in 1988 by a group of Northwestern
University graduates. Visitors can see the mechanics behind the magic.
Process and illusion join hands; history exists side by side with the
here and now.
“You look up,” says artistic director Laura Eason as she points
to steel beams and exposed pipes on the theatre’s ceiling, “and
you can see the machinery.”
As Eason takes me on a tour, amid the bustling of last-minute construction
and the start of a rehearsal for Studs Terkel’s Race: How Blacks
and Whites Think and Feel About the American Obsession (running through
Aug. 10), I find myself toggling between the old and new. It’s not
unlike touring a medieval fortress in Europe that has been converted into
a museum, but remnants of its past—like turrets or the original stone
pavement—jut out of chic slate floors and fresh-painted walls.
“So much of our mission has been about reimagining ancient texts,”
says Eason, “and exploring how they resonate for our times.”
At this point, we are not in the theatre proper but in a hidden upper-level
green room known as the Compass Room (named for ensemble member Phil Smith’s
East Coast family home on Compass Island). Here the interplay of past
and present is most evident as sleek cabinets and couches share quiet
space with rugs and pillows from Lookingglass’ Arabian Nights and
a chunk of the building’s original castle-inspired stone windows.
This is the place where the artists can relax, socialize or be alone to
create.
And it removes them from the tourist-heavy freneticism around them. They
can focus on bringing to non-traditional life literary masterpieces—from
Ovid and Dostoyevsky to Proust and Algren—and cultivate their ensemble’s
multifaceted visions. Yet, while the Compass Room may keep the artists
from veering off their original course, it remains part of a theatre complex
that will be experienced largely by tourists, as well as locals. How crucial
are commercial programming considerations to their Michigan Avenue location?
“Because of the modest size of the theatre, we didn’t have to
think of ways we should be more commercial,” responds Eason. “But
there is the added pressure of being in a more visible area and having
to present highly polished works. For example, we’re not sure ensemble
members can try directing for the first time. There’s going to have
to be other ways for ensemble members to develop their chops before they
can direct a show here. We’ll need a more rigorous development process.”
One of the most visible ensemble members, David Schwimmer—who has
helped open doors for Lookingglass’ fundraising efforts—co-adapted
Race with fellow artist Joy Gregory and will direct. It makes sense that
high-profile names are attached to the company’s inaugural show in
its new space. Plus, Terkel is a Chicago icon. Is Lookingglass concerned
about big names and Chicago-themed shows?
According to Eason, not entirely. And, in other printed interviews, Schwimmer
acknowledges that he has wanted to adapt Race long before the theatre’s
Water Works opportunity. Lookingglass itself has naturally gravitated
to Chicago-based pieces, like The Great Fire and They All Fall Down: The
Richard Nickel Story—together with more international themes.
“There’s no mandate for us to do a Chicago show,” states
Eason, after we move into the attached Flat Sammies eatery. “To have
that kind of rule would mean a certain stagnation. Race is a perfect example
of our interest in Chicago stories. But we planned our upcoming season
with the idea of balance—what will provide different experiences
for our audiences.”
The 2003-04 season opens with the remount of Mary Zimmerman’s introspective
The Secret in the Wings, an adaptation of darker, lesser-known fairy tales.
It continues with Glen Berger’s comedy, Great Men of Science, Nos.
21 & 22, about two 18th century European scientists who struggle with
the one experiment that will define their life’s work; and Joy Gregory’s
world-premiere musical, Philosophy of the World, inspired by the 1960s
all-female rock band The Shaggs.
Each show allows the space to be imagined in an entirely new way—an
environmental-like Lookingglass trademark seen in locations from a Ravenswood
warehouse to the challenging but malleable Ruth Page Center. In fact,
the theatre has produced 36 world premieres in more than 25 venues throughout
Chicago.
“We wanted to create a space that’s newly invested with each
show,” said Phil Smith during a recent presentation at the Park Hyatt
Hotel. “We have a trap room, fly space, catwalks and other amenities
[such as reinforced structures for circus arts, like swings and tight
ropes]—which is unusual for a space this small.”
Race will be held in the round, but Eason stresses that any configuration
is possible. The theatre is located in the former tourist photo and video
montage exhibit, “Here’s Chicago.” And while building the
theatre—designed by theatre specialists Morris Architects/Planners,
Inc.—Lookingglass needed to consider engineering feats like acoustically
isolating the rumbling of the pumping station (via the construction of
a concrete wall) and the delicate requirement of specialists removing
stones by hand to create the coal-shaft entrance.
Just outside the balcony, historic bricks with the name “Queens Run”
are embedded into walls sporting reinforced steel and gallery-quality
photos of past productions—more old/new juxtapositions.
Eason often refers to the space as its own object of art, with the contrasting
images of water and earth flowing throughout—an homage to the aquatic
nature of the pumping station and Lookingglass’ penchant for works
that incorporate the elements (most notably, Mary Zimmerman’s Tony
Award-winning Metamorphoses). A triptych photo of the ensemble underwater
graces the lobby area, near a bar and two plasma televisions donated by
Sony (being used to project the stage action for latecomers but also serving
as running loops of videotaped post-show discussions to, hopefully, prompt
more dialogue).
Eason goes so far as to mention the “suspended” toilets in the
spacious ladies room to evoke a sense of floating. Sculptor John Lewis
has designed a 10-foot-tall “frozen waterfall” sculpture to
be lit from different angles. It serves as the marquee. And Miklos P.
Simon created the glass-and-metal sculpture wall of donor names. Yet the
symbolism is not overbearing.
Dressing rooms and storage space are modest, and modern showers feature
curtains with a rubber-duck pattern—a nod to Lookingglass’ watery
motifs and its family atmosphere (most of the ensemble members now have
small children). Eason laughs as we pass a shower with a double whammy—a
sprinkler from the building’s sprinkler system sticks out near the
spigot: “We have a sprinkler in our shower.” A 50-seat studio
theatre, with a sprung floor, is ideal for readings, classes, lectures,
receptions and performances. But the theatre’s rehearsal and offices
remain based at the Athenaeum Theatre.
While it seems like Lookingglass recently teamed up with the City of Chicago
to renovate the Water Works space, Eason notes that for “maybe 10
years, we talked with [Cultural Commissioner] Lois Weisberg about partnering
with the City.” The idea took shape in 1998. And, in 2000, Mayor
Richard M. Daley selected Lookingglass to build a new theatre in Water
Works. The City of Chicago and the State of Illinois both contributed
$1.5 million to support the conversion of the landmark building. And,
in a deal that sounds like an impossible fantasy right out of Alice in
Wonderland, Lookingglass is leasing the space from the City of Chicago,
which owns the structure, for $1 per year
Nevertheless, executive director Jacqueline Russell contends that the
project demanded massive fundraising efforts—prompting a restructuring
of the board away from a majority of artists to corporate movers and shakers.
The board also expanded from 16 to 35 members. And the whole project was
nearly quashed after 9/11—just when Lookingglass was getting ready
to launch its capital campaign. Delays resulted from large-scale security
evaluations of the space to a temporary lack of momentum following the
terrorist attacks. The ensemble members found, however, that prospective
donors still valued the arts.
“We would go to United Airlines [after 9/11],” says Russell,
“and they could still get excited about this project. It touched
people’s imaginations.”
When the economy took a swift nosedive, Russell says fundraising centered
on in-kind donations—like the Sony TVs, as well as Marshall Field’s
designing Lookingglass’ brochure and covering the cost of banners
along Michigan Avenue. Ford donated a van; and Eli’s Cheesecake will
provide cookies for concessions.
Russell—who repeatedly emphasizes Lookingglass’ family environment
(and a place where she felt she could achieve a balance between a career
and being a new mom)—adds that the positions of executive and artistic
directors overlap. She and Eason do not have regimented responsibilities.
And Russell explains, “When [the City] shut down Eleven Rooms of
Proust [at a warehouse for access reasons], we had the artists and board
members out there together building an accessible ramp.”
It’s too soon to tell what the true challenges and advantages of
Lookingglass’ new home will be. When asked if it might be difficult
to maintain its loyal audience base or assure audiences that the Water
Works’ location in an upscale hotel-shopping district can still offer
affordable parking, Eason proclaims, “It’s easier to tell people
how to get here than the World Tattoo Parlor [one of its previous site-specific
locales].”
She goes on to say “The first step is just getting the word out.”
Lookingglass does have the advantage of teaming up with hotels/restaurants
for packages. And it offers parking at the Olympia Centre Garage, 161
E. Chicago Ave. ($9 for subscribers; $10 for non-subscribers). The theatre
has added a family series that allows parents to subscribe to a Saturday
matinee mainstage season and bring their children to participate in theatre
activities in the studio.
Lookingglass also will continue its vast outreach programs. Through its
new Lookingglass Lab, a summer program for Chicago teens, it will present
an original theatre piece exploring issues of race on July 7. Several
ancillary programs—including panels on race relations – will
coincide with its current production.
Toward the end of our tour, Eason grows most ecstatic over the brand-new
high-powered lighting boards—located in a booth where the top part
of the pumping station’s original chimney and rungs are visible.
“It’s a little bit of history poking through,” she enthuses,
“even in the lighting booth.”
A perfect visual analogy for Lookingglass’ ability to illuminate
the past for modern audiences.