BY LUCIA MAURA
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A familiar phrase like "The sky’s the limit" takes on quite expansively literal dimensions when applied to actor-director Frank Farrell. A multifaceted fixture in the Chicago theatre community since the late 1970s, he has been known to create innovative–and often unconventional–opportunities for himself and his colleagues. He most recently announced the expansion of his popular summer "theatre hikes"–initially affiliated with Equity Library Theatre Chicago–to a year-round season produced by his newly formed company, Theatre-Hikes.
Farrell, an outdoors enthusiast, got the idea for these mobile performances set in parks and forest preserves while practicing his lines outside for a production of As You Like It at Michigan’s Grand Valley State University. He was playing Jaques and later took to heart his character’s proclamation that "All the world’s a stage."
Early on, Shakespeare formed the core of Farrell's nature-based performing ideas. In 1997, he conducted his first theatre hike in Michigan; one year later, his al fresco production of As You Hike It debuted in Chicago-area forest preserves under the auspices of Equity Library Theatre Chicago as a showcase for union actors. The concept took off and soon audiences grew from a few nature/theatre lovers to overflowing crowds traipsing through the forest with the performers in A Midsummer Night’s Dream or Rip Van Winkle–typically held in the Botanic Garden, Morton Arboretum and along various suburban nature trails. In 1999, Farrell took As You Hike It to New York’s Central Park–another communal success.
Then Morton Arboretum in Lisle, which reports that the hikes increased their patrons and membership, decided to make Farrell’s theatre excursions a regular part of its activities. Expansion was inevitable. Now local audiences can tip-toe through the tulips and trudge through the snow with Theatre-Hikes–a company that now hires non-Equity actors, with the short-term future goal of featuring at least one Equity actor in each of the summer productions.
"My ultimate dream," says Farrell, 44, "is to have a company of Equity actors who tour the national parks. I want to expose actors, as well as audiences, to the idea of using our national parks so that we can preserve these great open spaces. I’m trying to make theatre hikes a viable format we understand."
He believes this new performance genre will encourage people to experience art and stay fit at the same time. And he is drawn to "the unspoken cooperation" of audiences who, in an outdoor setting, tend to look out for each other. Actors are well acquainted with the mosquitoes and stifling heat of summer performances. Now that Theatre-Hikes continues all year, artists will be coached by Farrell to treat their profession like "a winter sport."
"It’s very rejuvenating," says Farrell, who typically serves as the hike leader. "The winter hikes tie in with the idea of gathering around the campfire. We’ll serve warm refreshments indoors; and I envision pulling kids on sleds."
Theatre-Hike’s 2002 season opens Jan. 19-20 with Farrell’s adaptation of The Snow Queen by Hans Christian Anderson at the Morton Arboretum, with additional performances Jan. 26-27 at the North Park Village Nature Center, 5801 N. Pulaski. A Valentine’s Day theme encompasses the next production, Scenes of Romance, Feb. 9-16 at the same locations. It features excerpts from As You Like It, Irving Stone’s "Those Who Love" and George Eliot’s "The Mill on the Floss." Some of the shows preview at the North Lakeside Cultural Center.
In April, Arbor Day celebrations kick off with Hiking with Johnny Appleseed, adapted by Farrell and Lara Filip. The summer season consists of O. Henry’s "The Ransom of Red Chief," Shakespeare’s Love’s Labour’s Lost, Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland and Farrell’s adaptation of Hiking with Davy Crockett.
Interestingly, Farrell admits that in high school he wanted to pursue a career in either environmental engineering ("I was very much into Earth Day," he notes) or theatre. Theatre-Hikes seems to be the culmination of those goals.
Yet his new company also continues a pattern Farrell has established throughout his performing life. He’s been especially adept at creating his own original theatre outlets.
"Theatre is what you make of it," he says. "You can either sit around and wait for work to come to you, or you can make it happen yourself."
Farrell has been making theatrical things "happen" since a very young age. Born in the Bronx and raised in Ridgewood, N.J., he is the third of six children in an Irish-American family inclined toward the arts. His father was a singer; his uncle was an actor. Classical music and visual art talents ran through his gene pool, too.
But Farrell quietly admits, "It’s sort of embarrassing to say, but acting is always something I wanted to do–perhaps because my mother had those musical-theatre albums in the living room. I remember being three or four-years-old and listening to Gypsy. I didn’t understand the words but was drawn to the melody. I’m a melody man; I hear the melody over the words."
Around that same time, Farrell remembers listening to his uncle read Macbeth aloud. "It’s hard to describe," shares the actor-director, "but I connected with something. I wanted to be near that energy."
A number of challenging and constructive detours along the way led Farrell to a theatre career stretching across experimental one-person shows, environmental pieces, adaptations of obscure works and new venues for performance. He has tackled nearly every genre and continues to push himself into uncharted dramatic territory–all admirable for someone who described himself as "a shy, self-conscious kid."
A student production of The Music Man at his Catholic grammar school helped solidify his interest in live performance–even though he was an audience member. By junior high, he got cast in The Death and Life of Larry Benson but recalls being so soft-spoken no one in the audience could hear him. Undaunted, Farrell plunged into improv and comedy, discovering that he could make people laugh. "I think improv worked so well for me," he reflects, "because I could shape the performance."
He attended Adelphi University in Garden City, N.Y., where he was greatly influenced by Jaques Burdick, an acting instructor with a mime-movement background. Struck by Burdick’s boundary-breaking approach to theatre, particularly taking it out of its traditional setting, Farrell directed a college production of Riders to the Sea in a stairwell. He then spent a year (1977-78) at the Drama Studio in London, where–in addition to developing a lifelong passion for Shakespeare–he crafted a one-person performance piece on the life and poetry of John Keats.
After relocating to New York City, Farrell suddenly found himself struggling to make a living and finding work as an actor. He split his time between playing a department-store Santa, being a waiter and performing in a Cole Porter musical revue at a dinner-theatre in New Jersey. In the early part of 1979, he was in the ensemble of a New Hampshire "spring stock" theatre troupe and, by the fall, was cast as Hortensio in Illinois Shakespeare Festival’s production of The Taming of the Shrew. Farrell credits late director Michael Maggio with encouraging him to settle in Chicago.
"The first thing I noticed about Chicago," says Farrell, "was that I could afford to live here. I didn’t have to work three jobs. There’s a real community here, and you have the option of creating your own opportunities. In New York, I worked three jobs and auditioned constantly but couldn’t make a dent."
Nevertheless, Farrell did not find theatre work immediately in Chicago. Acknowledging that he suffers "the rejection pretty hard," the aspiring actor-director grew bitter after not being called back or hired. But he would not equate rejection with being a bad actor. So Farrell began offering free Shakespeare classes. An ad he placed in the Reader drew a number of students. He also was taking classes with Del Close at The Second City and later was a member of The Second City touring company.
This relationship, paired with his successful Shakespeare classes, led to the formation of a company called Free Shakespeare. Between 1980 and 1983, this minimalist troupe performed works like Titus Andronicus and The Merchant of Venice at 11 p.m. on The Second City e.t.c. stage. Farrell’s premise was rooted in having the actors learn their parts individually before being thrust into the production before a live audience–a tactic that inspired immediacy and improvisation. One of the gimmicks included having the stage manager, with script in hand, sit on a lifeguard-style chair in the middle of the stage in case the actors forgot their lines; another involved wildly anachronistic costumes.
"A lot of what I do arises out of practicality," Farrell concedes. "I created Free Shakespeare because I needed work. It then took on a life of its own. It also reinforced the idea that theatre relies on the actor’s energy. All you need are the actors and a text."
He left Free Shakespeare when he turned Equity after being cast in Goodman Theatre’s productions of The Government Inspector and A Christmas Carol in 1987. Farrell performed consistently throughout Chicago, including the Steppenwolf, Body Politic, Victory Gardens, Organic, Court, Chicago Shakespeare Theater and Oak Park Festival Theatre. One of his breakthrough performances was playing President Franklin Delano Roosevelt in Sheldon Patinkin’s multi-Jeff-Recommended production of I’d Rather Be Right. And his much-lauded performance in National Jewish Theatre’s 1993 staging of Puttin’ on the Ritz (also directed by Patinkin) brought more attention his way.
Farrell performed frequently with Paul Sills’ Story Theater, was in the national tour of Ken Hill’s The Phantom of the Opera, and was in the ensembles of the Great Lakes Theater Festival in Cleveland and Santa Cruz Shakespeare in California.
Directing credits include Whisper into My Good Ear and The Time of Your Life at Raven Theatre; Ice Cream & Hot Fudge and The English Only Restaurant at Voltaire; the musical Two Gentlemen of Verona at the ImprovOlympic; and countless showcase productions for Equity Library Theatre Chicago, where he served as president for the 1999 and 2000 terms. As an Equity actor, he has faced the challenge of struggling to get work in a mainly non-Equity town while maintaining a commitment to providing outlets for Equity actors to be seen by talent buyers and making sure his artists get paid.
"Being an Equity actor makes you aware of how money is being spent," says Farrell. "It forces you to not so readily give away your time and talent."
In addition to Free Shakespeare, he founded the Temporary Theatre Company, Shakespeare’s Herd and, in West Olive, Mich., the Pigeon Creek Shakespeare Company (still in existence since its formation in 1998). In 1991, Farrell broke off a personal relationship and decided to move back to New York. After doing a few showcases, he auditioned for a "resident professional theatre associate" position at Cornell University, which hired him to be part of their ensemble from 1991-93. While there, he performed in Cloud Nine, Caucasian Chalk Circle, The Royal Family, Cabaret and The Rover.
Once back in Chicago–between working in the accounting department of an advertising agency–Farrell returned to auditioning and performed in Chicago Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night (directed by Michael Pennington), Maggio’s Wild West-set As You Like It at Goodman and Endgame as part of the Buckets O’ Beckett Festival.
He established a strong relationship with the North Lakeside Cultural Center on Sheridan Road, where Equity Library Theatre was based. Farrell reprises Eugene O’Neill’s mammoth drama, Strange Interlude (which he initially produced and starred in three years ago) Mar. 2-30 at the North Lakeside Cultural Center in an environmental setting that leads audiences into different rooms of this historic house. It runs six hours and includes a dinner break; participants will be able to smell the food cooking downstairs. Farrell stars as lead Charles Marsden.
"I take great pride in the theatre," says Farrell. "You can hardly separate it from when thinking began. Theatre has the ability to spark an unobtrusive collective unconsciousness. I feel like I’m part of a human tradition."
For more information on Theatre-Hikes, visit www.theatre-hikes.org.