Joliet Junior College Theatre play explores financial struggles of pandemic
As Joliet Junior College continues to offer remote and hybrid classes to keep students safe, the COVID-19 pandemic is reflected in another way in the school’s online theater productions.
Joliet Junior College Theatre streams the world premiere of “Good Fortune: A Cautionary Tale” free from Feb. 25-28 via Zoom.
“A colleague of mine sent me a short story and I was inspired,” said Brian Fruits, assistant professor of theater at Joliet Junior College, about “Sinkhole” by Leyna Krow.
“Since the season’s first show was male-heavy, I thought it would be interesting to have a female-heavy story through the eyes of a female protagonist, which I thought was important.”
“Good Fortune: A Cautionary Tale” features a story by Fruits and is written by Andy Pederson, professor of English at Concordia University Chicago in River Forest and a member of the Dramatists Guild national trade association. “Times are tough. A lot of my friends — in particular those who are artists, actors, designers — are struggling. They’re not working. They don’t have a lot of funds coming in the economic crunch on all of us. A lot of my friends are saying, ‘I’m trying to hang in there,’” said Fruits, of Naperville.
“Tarin, the lead character in this play, was inspired by those things. You don’t have a lot of money. What do you do in order to survive? When you’re actually at the point you’re going too far with something and it may not be by honest means, when do you decide you have to pull back and stop?”
“She doesn’t have a job and decides to spend her last dollars on taking a training session for a tarot card/palmistry reading course and decides that she wants to attempt to con people out of some funds.”
After streaming “The Ulysses Blanket: A Play for Zoom” in October live to launch Joliet Junior College Theatre’s 202021 season, Fruits tweaked the approach to staging virtual productions.
“The one thing we learned is efficiency. The less you can have people online, the better. Also, how can you actually schedule rehearsals to better suit the students and community members?” said Fruits, who continues to teach classes virtually during Joliet Junior College’s spring semester.
“Right now the struggle is real in terms of Zoom fatigue and time management. More than ever, time is so valuable and so is personal time and mental health. I’ve really stressed with this production that we’re here to have a good time.
“This is a space to have fun and create. This should be the least stressful time of your day.
I’m trying to expedite the process. We’re trying to prerecord a couple of scenes, do some voice-over work and really try to tighten up the schedule a bit more.”
The cast of “Good Fortune: A Cautionary Tale” includes Kathy Quezada of Bolingbrook; Jamie Gossen and Valeria Ibarra, both of Joliet; Elena Karnezis of New Lenox; and Cristian Moreno, Nathaniel Revish and Samantha Zigmant, all of Plainfield.
Joshua Bomba of Broadview; Chloe McKinney, of Minooka; Megan Christian, of Newark; and Kelly Johnson, of Seneca are also in the cast.
“I love the fact that everyone seems game for anything and the fact that these students and community members are sometimes very dramatic in tone or in voice,” Fruits said.
“Sometimes they’re screaming in their house. Sometimes they’re having fun. They’re getting the gamut of emotions in their house, at their apartment or in their living space. I have so much respect for them. I’m so grateful for what they’re giving in rehearsals.”
The show’s production team includes New Lenox residents Brenden Delcorio as stage manager and Joliet Junior College associate professor Julie Giampaolo as design coordinator; Alyssa Morales of Joliet as assistant stage manager; and Bre Sakalis of Romeoville as technical support and design.
“Good Fortune: A Cautionary Tale” also features a preshow performance by mind and tarot card reader Jacob Mayfield of Chicago.
“We have a basic trick or reading before the show, which is fun. It’ll be a different one each night,” Fruits said.
“When I was doing research for the play about tarot card readers I actually picked Jacob’s brain about things. About a week later I said, ‘Would you be willing to do a reading or trick that would be interactive at home?’ It was a fun little way to add to the performance experience.”