Chicago isn't at a loss when it comes to prominent solo shows. It's interesting to note that many current productions and upcoming revivals give a variety of voices to members of the LGBTQ community.
Two shows previously seen in Chicago in 2014 are Fawzia Mirza's Me, My Mom and Sharmila and Steven Strafford's Methtacular!, both of which get prime ( if brief ) showcases in the new 1700 Theater as part of Steppenwolf Theatre's eclectic Lookout Series. Both are very personal portraits of the artists' lives. Mirza explores her Pakistani Muslim family history in Canada before she came out as a lesbian, while Strafford takes a comical approach to his three sex-fueled years as crystal-meth addict more than a decade ago in Chicago.
Two other solo shows are premieres featured in the Greenhouse Theater Center's ambitious Solo Celebration series: Sarah Myers' meditation on Jewish heritage and modern marriage in I Do Today, and playwright Philip Dawkins, who performs a thoroughly researched look at one of his mother's family stories tied to Disneyland in The Happiest Place on Earth.
Just why these artist chose to do solo shows differs. In some cases, it's the classic notion of actors writing their own material to provide themselves with work along with the added bonus of artistically creating works to give voice to underrepresented minorities.
In other instances, the playwrights chose the theatrical form of a solo storyteller because that's what was best suited for the material.
"Part of creating my own work was to cast myself," said Mirza, who has been increasingly branching out into screen work like her feature film Signature Move and her involvement with Eve Ensler's Emmy-nominated trans TV series Her Story.
"For me, this is an opportunity to tell stories and put Muslim women who also identify as queer," said Mirza about Me, My Mom and Sharmila. "These are stories that you don't see enough of and put them all in one place and I think it's a really great opportunity to defy the idea of what any one of those minority groups looks like or acts like or sounds like."
There's also an educational, plus cautionary, aspect to Strafford's Methtacular! As part of his rehabilitation process, Strafford wrote out stories of his life as an addict and they ironically proved to be so entertaining that many therapists and friends encouraged him to craft them into a solo show.
"I didn't think it was a good idea because telling the world you were a meth addict isn't necessarily great for cast-ability as an actor, but it turned into something bigger than me," Strafford said, noting how his show has received great acclaim when it was previously staged in New York and Chicago. "I'm telling a dark part of my life to show people that shame isn't worth it."
For Mirza, creating a solo show meant that she could take it anywhere and mount it as simply as possible. She was very proud to note that Me, My Mom and Sharmila has played multiple locations ranging from university classrooms to international theater festivals ( including one where the famed Bollywood star in her play's title, Sharmila Tagore, actually saw her perform it live ).
But for Myers and Dawkins, the creation of their solo shows were just as complex as a full-fledged production. Both cited how vital directors, dramaturgs and even other actors are ( or were ) involved in the collaboration process.
For instance, Dawkins wrote The Happiest Place on Earth with the intention that someone else would be performing his play ( this will happen later when it receives a July 2017 production at the Hub Theatre in Fairfax, Virginia ). Dawkins was later talked into performing the piece by Sideshow artistic director Jonathan L. Green following an early workshop reading.
"It sounded really hard and scary, so I said, 'Yes,'" Dawkins said. "The balance between what is storytelling and what is performing and where is the almond in that Venn diagram—it's one thing to write a character and know how it should be performed and able to recognize it when someone is accomplishing that, and it's another thing to write it, know how it should be performed and then hope you're doing that thing."
Myers opted not to perform her show I Do Today, and that didn't have to do logistically with the fact that she lives in Minneapolis. But she's glad that Chicago actress Caren Silkaitis has found so many commonalities with the piece and the character Myers created to represent "herself."
"My own identity is a shifting one. I have certainly identified as bisexual and I still do," said Myers about why she was compelled to write I Do Today. "But this play is about a kind of link to in addition to my sexual identity, a gender non-conformity that looks normative on the outside because I'm married to a cisman at this point in my life, but I've had many different kinds of queer relationships throughout my life."
Fawzia Mirza's Me, My Mom and Sharmila plays 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday, Sept. 23 and 24, at Steppenwolf's 1700 Theatre, 1700 N. Halsted St. Tickets are $15. Also playing the same venue is Steven Strafford's Methtacular! at 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday, Nov. 11 and 12. Tickets are $20. Call 312-335-1650 or visit Steppenwolf.org .
Sideshow Theatre Theatre's co-production of Philip Dawkins' The Happiest Place on Earth continues at 8 p.m. Wednesdays through Saturdays with 2:30 p.m. matinees through Sunday, Oct. 23, as part of the Solo Celebration at the Greenhouse Theater Center, 2257 N. Lincoln Ave. Also playing the same venue is Sarah Myers' I Do Today at 7:30 p.m. Thursdays through Saturdays with 2 p.m. matinees through Sunday, Oct. 9. Tickets to both shows are $42-$48; call 773-404-7336 or visit GreenhouseTheater.org .
