Eclipse Theatre Company frames each of its seasons around the work of just one playwright. Throughout the company's 23-year history, award-winning gay playwright Terrence McNally was frequently under consideration, but it wasn't until 2015 that Eclipse finally chose him.
"Coming off of a really exciting, successful season with playwright Lynn Nottage, there a sense of wanting to shift gears a little bit and there is certainly a lot of comedy to McNally's writing," said Eclipse artistic director Nathaniel Swift who performs in the season opener, McNally's 1991 off-Broadway drama Lips Together, Teeth Apart, and directs the second, McNally's 1993 drama called A Perfect Ganesh which is about two American women dealing with grief while traveling in India. Rounding Eclipses' season is McNally's 1989 gay breakup drama involving obsessed opera queens called The Lisbon Traviata, which will be directed by Goodman Theatre artistic associate Steve Scott.
"There's a really important conversation going on in the country right now about gay rights that was certainly a part of the landscape of when we were deciding," said Swift, who identified himself as straight during the interview. "So with the recent legislation in Indiana, that was certainly not something we were anticipating, and that brings us to the forefront in working with a playwright who absolutely explores the issues of gay rights."
But Swift said Eclipse had a very tough time just narrowing down their 2015 season to three choices because McNally is renowned for his prolific and stylistic writing output. Not only is McNally famous for Tony Award-winning plays ( Master Class, Love! Valour! Compassion! ) and Emmy Award-winning screenplays ( Andre's Mother ), but he has also adapted books for musicals ( Kiss of the Spiderwoman, Ragtime ) and opera librettos ( Dead Man Walking, Great Scott ).
Even at age 75, McNally is as busy as ever. On Broadway McNally is not only currently represented with his hit revised revival of his 1986 comedy It's Only a Play starring longtime acting muse Nathan Lane, but also with his musical adaptation of Friedrich Duerrenmatt's dark drama The Visit co-written with composer John Kander and the late lyricist Fred Ebb. The Visit features Tony-winning star Chita Rivera returning to the role that she created in 2001 at Chicago's Goodman Theatre.
Swift said the season was programmed to show off the theatricality of McNally's off-Broadway output and each work touches upon issues affecting the gay community, whether directly or obliquely. For instance, all the onstage characters in Lips Together, Teeth Apart are heterosexual, though they're spending their 4th of July weekend smack dab in the gay vacation mecca of New York's Fire Island because one woman has inherited a prized beach house because her brother passed away from AIDS.
"This is really about straight couples who aren't all together comfortable with homosexuality," said Swift, noting how Eclipse is treating the play as a 1990s period piece rather than making any attempts to update it.
"Our director, Ted Hoerl, is a gay artist who is right at the age of the characters in Lips Together, Teeth Apart in that in the late '80s and early '90s and certainly well familiar with the social landscape at the time," Swift said. "The importance of not forgetting the way that we as a country treated gay people throughout the AIDS crisis is part of what Lips Together, Teeth Apart is about. To say that we as a country did a disservice to the gay community is really a severe understatement."
"Lips Together, Teeth Apart also has a lot of interesting ways that it plays with theatrical conventions with a lot of asides—direct address—to the audience that are used in really creative ways to expose some of the emotional depth of these characters," said Swift, citing one of the challenges of performing the material.
And then there's also the regret of certain McNally works that other Eclipse ensemble members wanted to perform, but were ultimately not chosen for the season. For instance, Eclipse had hoped to produce the Chicago premiere McNally's 2014 Broadway drama Mothers and Sons, a sequel of sorts to his Emmy Award-winning TV short Andre's Mother, to explore how far gay rights have come in America. But instead Northlight Theatre in Skokie obtained the rights and will stage Mothers and Sons in early 2016.
Nonetheless, Swift is looking forward to the rest of Eclipse's McNally season, particularly since they've received very encouraging words from him in about a whole season dedicated to his work.
"McNally said he was honored and excited about the season," Swift said. "He was very supportive and very encouraging about what we were planning and my hope is that he'll be able to stay in touch as we go through the season."
Eclipse Theatre Company's Lips Together, Teeth Apart plays from Thursday, April 16, through Sunday, May 24, in Studio 3 of the Athenaeum Theatre, 2936 N. Southport Ave. Tickets are $18 for previews and students, $28 during the regular run.
Eclipse's 2015 Terrence McNally season continues with A Perfect Ganesh playing July 16 to Aug. 23, and The Lisbon Traviata playing Nov. 5 to Dec. 13. For more information, call 773-935-6875 or visit www.eclipsetheatre.com .
