“EVIL PERFECT started as a simple love story but quickly turned into something deeply strange and uncomfortable. Among other things, it’s a response to dogma run amok. It’s a fierce critique of righteous, metropolitan do-gooders. It intentionally blurs the lines between the right and wrong. It’s hopefully both tender and vicious..”
So says playwright Spencer Huffman about his new work, Evil Perfect, that will get its maiden launch next week (see below), and later as the first full production of Bramble Theatre Company.
Born during pandemic times and new to the Chicago theater scene, the Bramble Theatre Company has set its sights on redefining how theater is made in response to the many issues now roiling our culture in these past few years. Here, Picture This Post (PTP) talks with several of the Bramble Theatre Co. creatives about their work and goals for their new theater initiative, including: Matt Lunt (ML), Creative Producer & Co-Founder; Spencer Huffman (SH), Evil Perfect playwright; Karissa Murrell Myers (KMM), Artistic Director & Co-Founder; and Jonathan Shaboo (JS), Director of Evil Perfect.
(PTP) Bramble has a unique history of starting during the pandemic, just when nearly all other theaters went dark. Can you share with Picture This Post readers how this came about?
(ML) Bramble was initially born out of a desire to continue the work of our artistic ensemble after training together at the School at Steppenwolf in 2019. More pressingly, Bramble was created as a response to a society demanding more out of their country. The virus, George Floyd protests, WSYWAT (We See You White American Theater), and climate change were just some of the issues that made us believe that “We can and should do better”.
How has your shared Steppenwolf training shaped Bramble Theatre Company?
(SH) Steppenwolf has a rich history of ensemble-based theatre making - that's an ethos we've adopted and run with. Our ensemble is involved at every step, from programming to marketing to the work itself. In the rehearsal room, we're constantly using the tools Steppenwolf gave us. As a playwright, it's been interesting to experiment with how to use our Steppenwolf School acting training as a writing aid. I think that's the next step for Bramble - to take what we learned at Steppenwolf and continue to innovate, adapt, and risk.
(JS) At Steppenwolf, we made an unspoken agreement to be our most honest, authentic selves when working with one another. Seeing everyone buy into that, you just develop this immense respect for the actor beside you. You've seen each other naked in a sense, exposed and vulnerable, and they've in turn seen you the same. That creates a bond that's hard to explain. We also developed our toolbox together, so we speak the same artistic language, you know? It's easy to communicate. So much of what causes headaches in a rehearsal room is a lack of honest communication. We can have those hard conversations because of how much we respect one another.
(ML) Steppenwolf’s rich history of Meisner, Viewpoints, and ensemble-based creation has made us into a thriving collective of artists forming one organism. We hope to continue their tradition of producing challenging plays that define Chicago and the US as epicenters of live performance, while simultaneously branching out into our own brand of creating art. Our training at Steppenwolf has infused our art with a high level of integrity. We demand only the best work from each other.
What does it mean when you say you seek a model for sustainable theater?
(ML) As a sustainable theatre, we acknowledge that resources are finite and must be managed as such. We recognize that artists must be compensated in a way that allows them to pursue a career that is not based on scarcity and sacrifice. We also recognize that art should not come at the cost of the environment and that we can always make a more efficient choice.
Finally, we see art as a resource of empathy and growth. Art without integrity serves no one and breeds stagnation. We would like to leave behind a theatrical world that is constantly tilling creative soil, regenerating what has been lost and feeding future growth.
Evil Perfect is an excellent example of this. Our workshop production will lead into a fully produced world premiere in the fall of 2022. We have already been in contact with artists that are on the cutting edge or resource management for set building and design. Some will be coming from the first ever masters programs of environmentally sustainable theatre. We have committed to fundraising that will allow us to pay EVERY artist over $1000 for their involvement. We formed a committee to create an action plan to address the issues raised in the open letter We See You White American Theatre as the foundation of our company’s values. We aim to take a holistic approach to the idea: Do no harm. Plainly put, our resources are our artists, our audiences, and the planet we all live on. It is past time to create art in a working environment that regenerates all of them.
Please tell Picture This Post readers more about your first production, Evil Perfect.
(SH) On the surface, Evil Perfect is a dystopian love story. But after the first few minutes, I think most audience members will realize that they're in for something pretty unusual. The play emerged from my frustration at the righteousness and lack of introspection among the highly educated, metropolitan do-gooders that populate our artistic and intellectual communities - but since then, it's grown into a story about our timeless obsessions: love, loss, fear, and family. The language of the play is both profoundly strange and eerily familiar. The play's thematic landscape is timely and guaranteed to make you uncomfortable. It's scary, gory, sexy, and funny.
(JS) The elevator pitch would be something along the lines of "In a not too distant future where society is driven by a corrupt definition of equity, Lilly, an outsider, teams up with Puck, the son of the society's matriarch, to take revenge against the state for the brutal murder of her husband" catchy eh?
At its core, Evil Perfect is a story about grief, repression and those unspeakable, ineffable things that are so core to our humanity. Our wonderful, unique imperfections that we think we need to hide, suppress, or rid ourselves of to create utopia. It's an exploration of what happens when you use language, ideology and fear to slam the lid on humanity. How long does it take for things to burst? how much damage will be done when it does? and what comes after?
Future plans for Bramble?
(KMM) We are currently in Season 0, a time of gestation and exploration with our Evil Perfect workshop this November and then in Spring 2022, we will be holding our first Festival of Unfinished Work, a 10-minute play festival that features unfinished new work currently in development.
We are currently in the planning stages for Seasons 1 and 2, which will feature two world premieres, workshops of new plays, and staged readings of work in development.
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For more information, visit the Bramble Theatre Company website.
Bramble Theatre Company Launch – Evil Perfect
WHEN:
Monday, November 15, 2021
WHERE:
Raven Theatre
6157 N. Clark St. (at Granville)
Chicago
TICKETS:
Pay-What-You-Can!
Photos: Mark Myers and Spencer Huffman
Poster courtesy of Bramble Theatre Company
