Carthage players take Steppenwolf stage

The Carthage Theatre Department was well represented in Steppenwolf's fifth annual First Look Repertory of New Work in summer 2009. Of the three new plays the Chicago theatre company staged  in the summer series, two had Carthage connections.

Honest playwright Eric Simonson and Carthage students read through the script in preparation for the play's Spring 2009 Carthage premiere.

Assistant theatre professor Martin McClendon performed in Honest, a play commissioned by the College and first performed at Carthage in Spring 2009. A second play in the Steppenwolf series, Ski Dubai, was written by adjunct theatre professor Laura Jacquim.

This 2009 First Look Repertory of New Work was held July 22-Aug. 9 in Steppenwolf's Garage Theatre. Tickets were $20.

Honest

Honest, featuring assistant theatre professor Martin McClendon, was written by Academy Award-winner and Tony-nominated writer and director Eric Simonson. Simonson wrote the play while working as a visiting artist at Carthage. His conversations with Carthage students about their lives and politics helped shape the script. The play was commissioned by the College and had its world premiere in Wartburg Auditorium in Spring 2009.

Honest tells the story of writer Guy, who pens a best-selling memoir about his drug addiction and homelessness before coming face-to-face with a prying reporter. The reporter, snooping for a scandal, demands Guy reveal the truth about his past. The tale takes the audience back to Guy's college days and then to a strange and traumatic family history.

Prof. McClendon joined the Carthage Theatre Department in 2006. He worked as a professional actor in Chicago and Los Angeles for 10 years before he began teaching.

Simonson received an Oscar for Best Documentary Short for his film A Note of Triumph: The Golden Age of Norman Corwin in 2006. He was nominated for a Tony Award for his direction of Steppenwolf's The Song of Jacob Zulu.

Ski Dubai

Carthage Theatre professor Martin McClendon, shown participating in a read-through of Honest at Carthage, performs in the play this summer at Steppenwolf in Chicago.

Ski Dubai tells the story of Rachel, a young environmentalist who moves from New York to Dubai to work amidst skyscrapers and luxury hotels on a man-made island. An Environmental Friendliness Consultant, she must work to uphold her principles in the flashy city, as she meets quirky, displaced internationals battling loneliness and isolation.

Ski Dubai was written by adjunct theatre professor Laura Jacquim. Prof. Jacquim is the winner of the 2008 Wasserstein Prize, a $25,000 award for emerging female playwrights.