A love affair with the bottle sent Gary Roeder to the streets. “I was a preppie,” Roeder, 47, says. “To go from being a preppie to down to nothing, it was like, whoa. Life is like a stepladder, from the bottom to the top rung. I’m somewhere in the middle now.”
The middle rung means sobriety; a safe, clean apartment at the Lakefront SRO; and acting roles in “Chicago 60640,” a play presenting the real-life stories of the formerly homeless.
“Chicago 60640,” which opened Thursday, runs at 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 3:30 p.m. Sunday in the gymnasium of the Margate Park Community Center, 4921 N. Marine Drive. (Tickets are $7 at the door. Call 312-275-6633 for information.)
Directed by Richard Geer, “Chicago 60640” features tales of a runaway seeking solace from a voodoo woman, a World War II vet and an 80-year-old Ojibwa Indian.
“The first time I stepped out on stage, I said, “I’m not going through with this,’ “Roeder recalls. “Then I got the first laugh and the audience applauded, and I said, “That’s it. I’m hooked.”‘
Meanwhile, Michael Moore-remember him? he made former GM president Roger Smith’s life miserable with his documentary “Roger and Me”-will read from his first book, “Downsize This!,” at a benefit for the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless Friday from 4-6 p.m. at the Harold Washington Library Center, 400 S. State St. (Tickets are $25; $50 gets you a signed copy of Moore’s book. Call 312-435-4548.)
“Everybody wants to come out and tell me their story of being laid off because of downsizing,” says Moore, who also produced the Emmy award-winning show “TV Nation.” “It’s pretty powerful stuff.”
