Again, against all odds, JJ Gatesman braves the sky and elements to join us for Twelfth Night!
Q: How did your Unrehearsed journey begin?
JJ: My journey began as Bill Kincaid’s assistant at Western Illinois University. Between putting together shows there and watching how it was taught, it’s become one of my prime interests in the theatre world.
Q: In what ways (if any) has Unrehearsed affected your approach to more traditional shows?
JJ: Learning to prepare for unrehearsed has taught me to look closer at all texts and the specific words chosen for the actions the characters are given. It’s opened up a world of physicality that I would otherwise be hesitant to try out in rehearsals and made me pay more attention to how close, speaking of physical proximity as well as intimacy, that a character may want to be to another person or object on stage. I find it especially helps inform choices directors may be going back and forth on during blocking.
Q: You are our only Unrehearsed actor living way out in Las Vegas. How has Vegas theater been treating you?
JJ: I will always have a soft spot for local Vegas art of any kind, but it isn’t what I would call a nurturing environment. We’ve only recently seen the influx of really professional, high quality shows off of the strip with the Smith Center Opera House and a new LORT house going up, so there’s a sense of local theatre makers being satisfied with what is only good instead of great. Locals also have a way of discrediting a lot of the great work that does go up on the strip. Despite its fame the city suffers from an isolationist ideology and I think it’ll take a few more years for it to mature into a city where smaller theatre companies and more independant artists can thrive.
Q: You’ve traveled some great distances and put up with some crazy obstacles to perform here in Chicago (and Milwaukee). What keeps driving you to return to Unrehearsed?
JJ: Shakespeare is by far my favorite playwright, but it’s the direct and immediate interaction with the audience that keeps me coming back to Unrehearsed. It often reminds me of improv, except the performers are backed by some of the best writing and the best developed characters available to the English speaking world. That being said, it lacks a lot of the pretensions a contemporary audience has come to expect from a “classical” show. There’s nothing else like it.
Q: You’ve been doing Unrehearsed for years, and played Rosse in our debut performance of MacBeth. Do you have a favorite role?
5) I always have had a fondness for clowns and idiots so playing Andrew Aguecheek in Twelfth Night or Slender in Merry Wives have been some of my favorite skins to put on, but my absolute favorite experience would have to have been playing Proteus in Two Gentlemen of Verona. People often wonder whether or not to do the play because of Proteus’ questionable moral choices, and in our Unrehearsed production the audience was vocal about these. They flat out screamed and booed and hissed and laughed right in my face and I was able to give it back to them. It was an amazing feeling, having that exchange between performer and audience.
Come be vocal with us this Sunday!
January 5th and 7th
JUSTIN’S, 3358 N Southport Ave, second floor
Doors open at 7:00, show starts at 7:30
$5 Suggested Donation
PLUS: After the show, we’ll be announcing our Season lineup for 2014.
