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| Adrianne Krstansky, Christopher James Webb, Jen Alison Lewis, and Kippy Goldfarb. |
I've been
trying to figure out what to write for this blog, what kind of insight I could
bring to my process of playing a con artist, Midwestern guy, who grew up in the
public eye...and then lots of stuff came up, we went into tech week, and Nemo
hit us straight in the face.
There went my Internet connection.
There
went the rest of my tiger balm, soothing sore back and arm muscles from
shoveling the 2876548 inches of snow.
This blog
was going to be filled with insights into playing an ex-con, being a kid raised
in the Midwest, working on a new play...
It would
be combined with nuggets of wit and anecdotes about any kind of research I did
into the world of car dealers, assassins, family dynamics, and prison born
agains...
But all
of that would be about fourteen tons of pure Illinois bull$#!t.
I've been
workshopping this play with Dan and Kate for a couple of years now, and since
day one I've loved this character and this play. I know this world. I've spent
25 years of my life living in the Midwest. I grew up in Southwest Michigan,
moved to southern Illinois for a few years, back to Michigan for college, then
a few years later back to Illinois for a few years before relocating here. The
way this family interacts strikes a chord with me. The passive aggressiveness
is like a second language, that I'm fluent in. The flattened vowels, the
emphasis on different syllables, the double talk and familial obligation--it's
like coming home again.
I mean,
wouldn't you want to spend time with a nice family? Sharing some laughs,
kicking back some drinks, and throwing daggers (verbal and emotional) at the
ones you love the most? The Lincolns are nice people.
For a
group of completely screwed up, unbalanced, slightly psychotic sociopaths.
You know:
Midwesterners.
I've kept
this short because I didn't want to take up too much of your time reading it.
I'm
nothing if not polite.
-- Christopher James Webb
These sounds like my people.
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