Out playwright Martin Casella's forthcoming new play Directions for Restoring the Apparently Dead may sound like he's jumping on the zombie zeitgeist bandwagon. The advertising art of a levitating and shirtless prone body for Pride Films and Plays' world premiere production at Stage 773 also might give that wrong impression.
"There's no zombies at all—only an emotional zombie if you put it that way," said Casella during a telephone interview from Jersey City, N.J. "It's a drama about two old friends who are in their late forties who have not seen each other in a while and get together. Normally when we see plays like this it's women that it's happening to, but in this case it's two guys who grew up together and who stayed very close."
Casella based his time-shifting play in part from one of his own experiences of renting an English cottage and inviting a straight friend along. Where the play gets its title from is an old British Humane Society pamphlet that Casella saw in a museum that included a list of ways to aid people who may have suffered a narcotic overdose, an attempted drowning or asphyxiation.
"As the play goes on, you see [the play's title] as a kind of metaphor for what the two guys are going though in their own lives," Casella said.
Directions for Restoring the Apparently Dead returns to Chicago as the grand-prize winner of Pride Films and Plays' Great Gay Play Contest of 2013, when it was originally performed in a staged reading last May at the Center on Halsted's Hoover-Leppen Theatre.
"It's a much more personal play for Martin and it's a very interesting piece," said Pride Films and Plays founder and executive director David Zak, also agreeing about potential confusion surrounding the play's title.
"Sometimes you think that all gay theater literature is about young people, and that would be true of all the underwear plays and Naked Boys Singing and all the coming out shows, so it's really interesting to deal with a play about a gay man turning 50 and his friendship with his longtime friend," said Zak, who was recently inducted into the Chicago Gay and Lesbian Hall of Fame. "People that age need to see themselves onstage, too, and it's a play about joy and regrets and how life takes odd paths and I'm excited to produce it."
Casella most recently teamed with Zak when he directed on the 2010 London premiere of Casella's most famous play called The Irish Curse, which is about a support group for smaller-endowed men. Despite successful productions in many other major cities ( including the off-Broadway production that starred out actor Dan Butler ), The Irish Curse oddly hasn't played in Chicago—a fact that has both Casella and Zak wondering why.
"It only has one gay character, but it's not necessarily a 'gay play'—it's a men's play," Zak said about The Irish Curse. "It would be great to see in Chicago at one point. It's really funny."
Aside from his forthcoming world premiere, Casella has had quite a few of his works performed in Chicago, including the musical Taking Care of Mrs. Carol at the former Bailiwick Repertory Theatre and works like Saint Heven and Doo Dah! for the former STAGES musical festival at the former Theatre Building Chicago ( now Stage 773 ).
Casella heeded Zak's call to enter a new play of his in Pride Films and Plays' Great Gay Play Contest of 2013, and he was pleasantly surprised to not only be selected as a finalist, but to win the grand prize as well.
"I was kind of astonished when they called my name at the end of the weekend," Casella said about attending his first Great Gay Play Contest and participating in all of the competing play readings. To have Zak directing a fully staged production of Directions for Restoring the Apparently Dead so soon after the contest has made Casella very happy.
"This is my fifth play that I've had done in Chicago and I always have a good time there and the audience response is always fantastic," Casella said. "The Chicago theater community is, the few times that I've been there with my plays, so generous and kind."
Pride Films and Plays' world premiere of Martin Casella's Directions for Restoring the Apparently Dead plays at Stage 773, 1225 W. Belmont Ave. Previews run from Friday, Oct. 4, through Sunday, Oct. 6, with an official press opening at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 8. The regular run is 7:30 p.m. Thursdays through Saturdays with 3 p.m. Sunday matinees.
Tickets are $20 for previews, $30 for opening night and reception, and $25-$30 for the regular run. There is a $5 discount for seniors and students. Call 773-327-5252 or visit www.pridefilmsandplays.com .
