Fringe benefits

As announcements for next year’s Chicago theater season roll in, we’ve found ourselves holding our programs over our mouths to conceal yawns. So far, only the criminally overdue Chicago premiere of Tony Kushner and Jeanine Tesori’s Caroline, or Change at Court Theatre and the how-the-hell-are-they-gonna-cast-that musical oddity Grey Gardens at Northlight Theatre have stirred legitimate excitement.
 
But one thing that does get our blood pumping is the news that two of Chicago’s most daring fringe directors, Dexter Bullard of Plasticene and Sean Graney of the Hypocrites, will be at the helm of high-profile Equity productions in the next year.

Bullard, who scored at Northlight a few years back with his haunting production of Craig Wright’s creepy Grace but hasn’t been seen around the establishment much since, will be directing the world premiere of Brett Neveu’s Gas for Less at the Goodman. Like Tracy Letts’s upcoming Superior Donuts at Steppenwolf, Neveu’s play explores the gentrification of Chicago’s North Side (a topic I'm encouraged to see our largest institutions acknowledging and responding to). Both director and playwright will be making their Goodman debuts in the void left by the since-cancelled musical The Boys Are Coming Home. Gas for Less isn’t exactly a logical replacement for a splashy new swing musical, but it’s certainly a ballsy one, considering many subscribers probably signed on hoping for the latter. (And of course, there's still Ain't Misbehavin' this June, which has been moved onto the Albert Stage.)

Meanwhile, Chicago Shakespeare announced today that Graney, whose work has been in young people’s theater at the Steppenwolf and Goodman main stages (and big people’s theater in the Steppenwolf Garage and at the Court) will be directing Christopher Marlowe’s The Troublesome Reign and Lamentable Death of Edward II, King of England, with the Tragical Fall of Proud Mortimer (TTRALDOE2KOEWTTFOPM, for short). Graney will stage it in the promenade style he’s experimented with of late, meaning the audience will stand and wander around the theater space while the actors perform. Like Bullard and Neveu at the Goodman, both Graney and the late Marlowe will be making their Chicago Shakespeare debuts.
 
So while it’s true that the next year doesn’t feature a glut of innovative new plays, innovative new directors may help make up the difference.