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I love Neil LaBute’s The Shape of Things. It was one of the first shows I’d ever seen for review. (That was just over a decade ago. It was a Renaissance Theaterworks staging.) That production was in Next Act’s old space. Subsequently I’ve seen it both in the basement of the Brumder Mansion and on home video. (LaBute and company did an indie film adaptation of the play back in 2003.)
Set in a midwestern college town, it’s the story of a student who slides into a a very complicated relationship with an art student. She changes him quite a bit, which complicates relations with his friends. All In Productions will be staging the play this coming April at the Villa Terrace. This month, they’re looking to cast for the show in a pair of auditions taking place of Feb. 14 (9:00 a.m.-12:30 p.m.) and Feb. 15. (11:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m.) No appointment is necessary. Auditions will be held in the Underground Collaborative on 161 W. Wisconsin Ave. For more information, visit the Facebook event listing for the auditions.
It was interesting listening to the commentary track on the DVD. He’d said that there’s a moment in the play when one of the characters rather suddenly breaks that membrane between the stage and the audience. She opens up the floor for questions directly to her. Neither of the performances I’d seen had ever managed an discussion at that moment. It’s a little uncomfortable. (The film version of the play had Rachel Weisz doing her best to approximate the discomfort by looking directly into the camera and raising a pair of middle fingers to it. Doesn’t quite have the same effect.) Anyway...I love the idea of that scene actually doing something more than just passing by onstage. Maybe I’ll get another pass at it here. (I don’t think it’s specifically mentioned in the script. The moment can be played entirely without audience discussion. So depending on how it’s staged, they may not WANT audience interaction at that point, but I look forward to the possibility of seeing that again.)
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