According to Elizabeth LeCompte, the MacArthur “genius” grant-winning director of the Wooster Group, the ensemble began when its members “just started working together 20, 30 years ago — to be honest, I can’t remember.”
If her memory failure strikes some as odd, consider just what the Wooster Group is: arguably the country’s most radical theater. But a theater group in which few, if any, members at any given time have a background in theater or the dramatic arts.
“I wasn’t trained in theater but in painting and photography,” says LeCompte, who directs the group in “HOUSE/LIGHTS,” the debut Chicago performance of the Woosters next week at the Museum of Contemporary Art.
So who knows when — exactly — the moment occurred when they suddenly found themselves on stage, dramatically engaged, conscious of themselves as theater?
“When we started people were doing different things,” LeCompte remembers. “It was a very open time in the early ’70s. There were new ideas, new technologies, and, yes, some older ideas about theater, too. We were, I think, one of the last groups of people that had an optimistic idea about live performance. Back then, people who were adventurous went into theater; now you have to be crazy to go into theater.”
Because they came from different disciplines, because they weren’t bound by the traditions of theater, the Woosters saw what they were doing as modern art inclusive of various genres. That’s why, from the get-go, the group incorporated technologies such as film and video.
LeCompte and her cohorts also understood the artifice of traditional theater and created an approach in which acting was not necessarily a part of the work.
“We don’t play characters,” she says. “And we’re very conscious of our audience, in every way.”
What the Woosters bring to Chicago is “HOUSE/LIGHTS,” based on Gertrude Stein’s “Dr. Faustus Lights the Lights.” It’s the first time the group has tackled Stein, in spite of her own contributions to radical theater, such as “Four Saints in Three Acts.”
“A friend of mine mentioned Stein to me but it took me a couple of years to get around to reading her,” says LeCompte. “One of the things that drew me to her was the aura around her and trying to figure out how to put her language on stage. It’s a real conundrum. She didn’t write a play but talked about a play in the play. Something about her sense of humor drew me.”
She won’t discuss the particulars of “HOUSE/LIGHTS,” except to say it involves video and film, as usual.
“I think Stein would like it,” she adds. “It’s pioneering, like her.”
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Lunar Cabaret closed up shop and raised Curious Theater Branch in its place, eliminating the eclectic music offerings for which the place had become known. But this Saturday, a little window opens up for the kind of intimate musical experience so familiar to Lunar and so rare to most clubs. Immediately after Curious’ current theatrical offering, Bryn Magnus’ “Small Together,” Lunar welcomes Jenny Magnus, Rose Polenzani and Diane Izzo for a one-night-only musical experience. Each will do their own solo set.
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Think of it as Tony’s greatest hits: Antonio Sacre, who’s been doing performance and bilingual storytelling around town for a few years, has put the best of “Buscando Papito” and “The Hick, the Spic and the Chick” into a solo show called “Solo Cubano/Only Cuban.”
Why the reprise? Sacre, who won an excellence in acting award from the New York International Fringe Theater Festival, is taking off for New York to pursue the big time.
Show times vary at Strawdog and Lunar this weekend.
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You’ll probably need advance tickets for Mezcla, a fusion-of-sorts band from Cuba. What these folks fuse is Afro-Cuban rhythms, electronic instruments, trad styles and contemporary attitudes. They’re best known as the modern band behind Lazaro Ros, Cuba’s best-known singer of sacred African music. They’ve got a four-night stand but it’s gonna be crowded, so call ahead — it’s at the Heartland.
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the facts
Friday and Saturday, 11 p.m., “Solo Cubano/Only Cuban” by Antonio Sacre, Strawdog Theater, 3829 N. Broadway; Sunday, 7 p.m., Lunar Cabaret, 2827 N. Lincoln Ave. 773-296-2296. Lunar is wheelchair accessible.
Saturday, 10 p.m., Jenny Magnus, Rose Polenzani, Diane Izzo, Lunar Cabaret, 2827 N. Lincoln Ave. 773-327-6666. Lunar is wheelchair accessible.
Wednesday and Thursday, 7:30 p.m., Nov. 15, 8 and 10 p.m., Nov. 16, 3 p.m., “HOUSE/LIGHTS” by The Wooster Group, Museum of Contemporary Art, 220 E. Chicago Ave. 312-397-4010. The MCA is wheelchair accessible.
Thursday through Nov. 15, 9 p.m., Nov. 16, 8 p.m., Mezcla, Heartland Cafe, 7000 N. Glenwood Ave. 773-465-8005. Heartland is wheelchair accessible.
