The show must go on
‘Play that Goes Wrong’ is carefully staged fun mayhem for Chicago Street Theatre
When Joel Henry decided to team with his wife M.B. Henry to direct the first production of 2023 at Chicago Street Theatre, he said it was already a familiar family formula.
“I think so many people know my parents, Jim and Dona Henry, from their work together at Chicago Street Theatre, so this seems like the stage has come full circle here at Chicago Street Theatre,” Joel said.
“There was a definite challenge to accept for everything involved with codirecting a show like this one.”
Joel teamed with wife, are tackling the prop heavy production, also filled with special effect trickery scenery, all showcased for audience amusement in “The Play That Goes Wrong,” with performances 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturday, 2:30 p.m. Sundays and 7:30 p.m. Feb.
23, Feb. 10-26 at Chicago Street Theatre in Valparaiso.
“The Play That Goes Wrong,” written by Henry Lewis, Jonathan Sayer and Henry Shields of Mischief Theatre Company of London, premiered in 2012.
The national Broadway tour played Chicago in December 2018, and then Broadway in Chicago produced a seven-week Chicago-based run through January 2022 at Broadway Playhouse at Water Tower Place in Chicago.
Chicago Street Theatre has the distinguished status of being the first community theater company in Northwest Indiana to mount a production, and with good reason, according to the co-directors, because of the show’s many complicated layers.
“When I started reading through the script and production notes, at first, I thought Joel was crazy for us to try to do a production with so many special requirements,” M.B. said.
“But it’s been worth it and our cast is incredible.”
Best described as “a play within a play,” the play is billed as “any actor or director’s worst nightmare,” faced with a production “where nothing goes right during a live stage performance.”
“During the scenes, the characters discover props are missing and doors don’t open, while they are surrounded by other chaos like set pieces collapsing and all types of farce while the cast is trying to perform what’s supposed to be a serious stage murder mystery,” Joel said.
The cast of “The Play That Goes Wrong” includes Jason Utesch,
Jason Hess, Aaron Duncil, Rob Morris, Michael Pals, Amanda Saqui, Jamie Landrum, Jason Kaplan, Jeff Schultz, Kandice Hart and Kayla Murphy.
Co-directors Joel and M.B. Henry lived in Los Angeles for 17 years before moving back to Valparaiso two years ago during the early days of the pandemic.
“My last time co-directing at Chicago Street Theatre was 20 years ago when I did the 2003 production of ‘The Dining Room,’ and then I moved out to Los Angeles,” Joel said.
M.B. had her first experience at Chicago Street Theatre last year as co-director of “Junie B. Jones is Not a Crook.”
While Joel has been the lead for the construction of the massive and elaborate set and design, which captures the elegant study and parlor setting of an old English manor, cast member Jason Kaplan has his own double duty serving as the stunt choreographer.
“Jason has lots of experience with stunt work so he is making sure that even though scenes look dangerous, they are really very safe,” M.B. said.
Falling walls, a focal point
window which must serve as an emergency entrance and exit to the stage for the cast, and a raised platform that breaks mid-performances are just a few of the pitfalls facing characters during the 2 hour and 20 minute romp.
“This is the heaviest stunt-related performance I’ve been involved with in a comedy,” Kaplan said.
“There is physical action between the actors, and then also, the physical action between them and the actual set. It’s important to have the techniques down.”
Chicago Street Theatre’s 68th season continues this spring with shows “Rosemary with Ginger” in March and “Rent” in April. In May, the theatre host its eighth annual Teen Fest followed in July by 2023 Shakespeare in the Park featuring “Julius Caesar.”