THEATRE
LILA
|
‘THE
SUITCASE
DREAMS’
A
new
theater
group
comes
to
Madison,
suitcase
in
hand
SEPTEMBER 15, 2014 11:30 AM • BY GAYLE WORLAND |
WISCONSIN STATE JOURNAL
Even an empty suitcase is full of stories.
It has journeyed far — with the most intimate
and essential possessions of its owner secretly
latched inside. It has moved from place to
place, hand to hand, picking up memories
along the way.
So what better subject than a suitcase to
launch the latest work by Theatre LILA. The
theater company — the newest addition to
Madison’s professional theater scene — is producing the world premiere of “The Suitcase
Dreams” from the ground up, using accomplished local writers, actors, musicians and
designers in its creation.
“The Suitcase Dreams,” running Thursday through Sept. 28 in Overture Center’s
Promenade Hall, is a series of vignettes written by Theatre LILA co-founder Jessica Lanius,
co-artistic director Mike Lawler, playwright Gwendolyn Rice, director Tyler Marchant and
Tony Award-winning actress Karen Olivo.
The production, directed by Lanius, will feature original music by Erin Crabb and a set
created by Lawler, who is also production manager for Children’s Theater of Madison.
Madison connections run deep in Theatre LILA, though it, like a suitcase, traveled here from
someplace else. The company was founded in 2004 by Prairie du Sac native Lanius and a
kindred spirit she met in graduate school at Rutgers University, Andrea Arden Reese. The
two found a rehearsal space in New York City and chose the name LILA (pronounced LEEla), a Sanskrit term that means “to be free and to play,” Lanius said.
“It was all about creating an ensemble of actors who would work in a more physical way,
fusing together movement and storytelling and text,” she said. “I had done a lot of work up
at Stevens Point in my undergrad fusing modern dance and storytelling.”
Today Arden Reese remains on the East Coast, but Lanius has returned home to Madison,
where her son is a first-grader and her husband, Brad Kose, is director of professional
development for the Madison School District.
“I think I always had in the back of my head to bring the company home,” Lanius said.
Theatre LILA’s first Madison production was “No Child,” Nilaja Sun’s one-woman play
about teaching in a tough Bronx high school. Madison-area high school students and
teachers were invited to see the show and participate in outreach workshops.
When that show wrapped up, the Overture Center’s Tim Sauers and Ray Gargano, vice
president and director of programming and community engagement, respectively, asked
Lanius “what’s next”?
Her answer — maybe something with a suitcase.
“Two weeks later, here I’m writing a grant” proposal for “The Suitcase Dreams,” Lanius
said.
Since she began contacting writers, actors and musicians to pitch in for the show,
“everything has fallen together,” she said, “and also gotten bigger than I ever imagined in
that first pitch. It just wanted to be a little more magical, which meant more costumes, more
effects.”
Theatre LILA’s writers were asked to follow their imaginations. Some of the vignettes in
“The Suitcase Dreams” are purely choreographic, while some rely on text, said playwright
Rice.
“I think we all come from very different perspectives. We each have a very different writing
style,” said Rice, who has worked in the Madison theater scene for years. What makes
Theatre LILA stand out, she said, is that the company is about “developing new work.”
The company is also part of the Overture Center’s Community Arts Access program, which
gives less-established performance groups a break on rental costs. In exchange, Theatre
LILA is expected to provide educational outreach events and bring in new audiences to
Overture.
“It’s not a brand new company,” Gargano said of Theatre LILA. “It’s a company that’s
moved to Madison. So we were looking at success. To bring that success to Madison —
we were so excited to be a part of that. The work they do is cutting-edge. It’s something we
really don’t have here in Madison.”
Theatre LILA is “bringing in fresh and new talent and new audiences,” Gargano said.
“People love new stuff here. People come out when there’s something new and creative,
and Theatre LILA is a new and creative company.”
The group has a deep bench of talent, starting with Lanius, who took on the memorable
role of Mrs. Givings in Forward Theater’s 2010 production of “In the Next Room, or the
vibrator play.”
Theatre LILA collaborator Olivo also left Wisconsin to launch a successful career in New
York and Los Angeles — then later came home with a Tony Award for her 2009
performance in the Broadway revival of “West Side Story.”
Along with performances, Theatre LILA conducts Actors Lab 360, a free, audition-only
series of workshops for experienced actors, grounded in physical movement and
imagination.
“A commitment to developing artists is personally one of my focuses, because I feel like
there are actors here, but not a lot of actors stay here because there’s not a lot of work,”
Lanius said.
“So how do we create a space that is ripe with challenges and professional-level training
and the opportunity to explore new things, not just traditional theater? Right now there are
only Forward Theater and CTM that are providing professional-level contracts.”
Forward Theater primarily produces very new plays that have been artistic successes on
Broadway and elsewhere; it also sponsors a new play development series and monologue
festival. CTM concentrates on family-friendly plays with casts that include both professional
actors and youths.
Madison is also home to several theater companies devoted to producing musicals, a
strong and talented community theater network, as well as university and college theater
productions.
In an already-busy theater community, “I think we compliment what’s happening, and
present something completely different in that mix,” said Lanius, who compares Theatre
LILA’s mission to Chicago’s Lookingglass Theatre.
In the future, Lanius hopes Theatre LILA will gain its own space for Actors Lab 360 (now
held in Madison Opera Center’s rehearsal space), continue developing new works and take
shows to schools and major theater festivals. In March, the company will team with CTM on
an unconventional production of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.”
“(Co-founder) Andy and I have always thought that theater and creating theater is so much
more than the play itself,” she said.
“Our process is so much about getting connected, getting connected to the actors, having
the actors connect to each other. The experience in rehearsals is to me just as important as
the experience for the audience at the play.
“In this style, it’s all about invention,” Lanius said, “about something unexpected
happening.”
If
you
go
What: "The Suitcase Dreams: An Original Theatre LILA Invention," suitable for ages 14
and up
Where: Promenade Hall, Overture Center, 201 State St.
When: 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sept. 25 and 26. 2:30 p.m. on
Saturday, Sept. 21 and Sept. 28. Free performance at 3 p.m. Sept. 27 as part of the
Overture Center's 10th Anniversary Celebration.
Tickets: $24; $12 students. Purchase at the Overture Center box office or for an
additional fee at overturecenter.com or 258-4141.
Related
events: Theatre LILA presents "A Glimpse into the LILA Rehearsal Process"
from 10:30 to 11:30 a.m. Saturday at the Madison Museum of Contemporary Art, 227
State St. Free admission; suitable for all ages.
Theatre LILA's "Actors' Lab 360" also will perform at MMOCA on Oct. 10 as part of
Gallery Night.
Website: www.theatrelila.com