Theatre News Wire

Waltzing Mechanics announces its inaugural production of EL STORIES, running February 7 through February 23 at City Lit Theatre (1020 W. Bryn Mawr).

Anyone who has spent time riding Chicago's trains and buses has collected stories from their travels. The EL, after all, is a public square - a place where Chicagoans from all backgrounds come together. Using the words of actual Chicagoans' transit adventures over the course of a dramatized train ride from Jackson to Howard, the Waltzing Mechanics seek to reflect how we move as a community through this dynamic city.

The original script features twenty-three individual stories derived from hours of interviews with diverse Chicagoans representing neighborhoods from Hegewisch to Rogers Park. Each shares a unique encounter riding the CTA. Care was taken in adaptation to preserve the actual speech patterns of the source contributors in the script itself, and the ten actor ensemble prepared for performance using both interview transcripts and the source recordings as research guides.

Each performance also utilizes playback theatre in one scene before the dramatized Red Line train arrives at Howard. A volunteer from the audience will be invited to share an EL story of his or her own, will be guided to select actors from the ensemble to fulfill that story, and will watch as the story just shared is 'played back' in scene. Other audience members who wish to share their own EL stories are encouraged to remain after the performance, when their tales may be recorded individually by members of the company. Collected stories may be used for further productions as EL STORIES continues to document the living history of Chicagoans? intracity transit through performance.

EL STORIES was adapted and directed by Thomas Murray. The cast features Bryan Campbell, Nick Chandler, Zack Florent, Lance Hill, Keely Leonard, Eric Loughlin, Adrienne Matzen, Eleni Pappageorge, Shariba Rivers, and Margaret Scrantom.

Waltzing Mechanics creates original theatrical works inspired by real people telling stories about their lives. Using methods of performance ethnography, we facilitate dialogues among our audiences and within our communities.