Cable television and theater are getting together, and they just may become an item in Chicago. This month ”The Glass Mendacity,” a sendup of some of playwright Tennessee Williams` best-known works, makes the transition from theater to television through the efforts of a TCI of Illinois production team.
”What they wanted to get was the flavor of the old `Playhouse 90`-
theater on television,” said Maureen FitzPatrick, one-sixth of the Illegitimate Players, the comedy troupe that mounted the show`s theatrical production last fall at the Victory Gardens Studio Theatre. Written and performed by the troupe-a group that ”focuses on literary comedy,” said FitzPatrick-the show was reprised at the Jane Adams Hull House Zebra Crossing Theater in January under the direction of Marlene Zucarro.
”Oftentimes a play doesn`t easily go into television,” said TCI producer Ken McCarthy. ”We did a lot of rehearsing and preproduction. It was done with three cameras, and it wasn`t made for television, and we didn`t want to pretend that it was. The final product was the result of good writing and good acting.”
Although this isn`t the first time the Illegitimate Players have worked with cable television, it`s the theater group`s most ambitious cable venture to date. ”We did a number of shows with Group W of Chicago. That was just sketch comedy. This was different,” FitzPatrick said.
Nor is this production the group`s final collaboration with cable. FitzPatrick said plans are in the works for a televised version of the Illegitimate Players` as-yet-untitled parody of Arthur Miller`s theatrical classics.
”The Glass Mendacity” will be cablecast at 7:30 p.m. March 17 and 7 p.m. March 24 on TCI-Ch. 3. FitzPatrick said the program is also tentatively set to air on other cable systems in the Chicago area via Videopath. Check cable listings in your area.
