Eve-Olution

So I'm co-directing this play about two women who are trying to juggle careers and families. It goes up this weekend and this weekend only. October 14 at 8 pm and October 15 at 5 pm and 8 pm. You can reserve tickets here.

(So while I strongly encourage you to see On Golden Pond at ICCT, they have two weekends of performances... so see Eve-Olution this weekend! And if you're in On Golden Pond, get this. We have a 5 pm show on Saturday and our running time is at most an hour and a half. Plenty of time to make a 7 pm call for your show. We'll even do a special On Golden Pond discount...)

I have had an incredible time exploring this show and meeting the challenges of staging what is, for the most part, two one-woman shows side by side. I have been lucky to have a very smart co-director who seemed to catch everything I missed and two excellent actresses who turn in amazing performances. We added this show to the season about a month and a half ago so it's been tough to pull it all together so quickly. The only reason we've been successful is the willingness of the actresses to work an unconventional rehearsal schedule as well as spend so much time on their own working the lines. If you need a dedicated and talented actress for a show, look no further than Madonna Smith or Annette Rohlk.

Here's my director's note:

As Brian [my co-director] wrote, it probably seems strange for two men to direct this show. But for me, there's a lot about Eve-Olution that is very familiar. A couple of years ago, I began a new career: stay-at-home dad. It's easily been the most rewarding and most challenging experience of my life. The irony for our production is that it's Brian and I who have children and our two wonderful actresses who have not had that experience yet. So as I was reading this play, I found myself nodding along as Liza or Allison was describing playdates or demanding children. And during the rehearsal process, it fell to me to explain the proper way to hold the babies during breastfeeding. This play covers a lot of familiar territory for me. It became important for me to do this show because I think what these women are going through - juggling everything in their lives that they need to be happy - is something we can all relate to, no matter if we're men or women.The old stereotype is men work and women take care of the kids. We all know those stereotypes don't apply in our modern world. Men want to have a greater hand in raising their children. And women want to have the fulfilling career. We want it all. And we're trying to figure out how to pull that off. That's the struggle these two women are going through. It's a struggle we can all understand. We don't have the answers, but I think at least we are starting to ask the questions.

Branching off from that... It seems to me our country has been redefining families in the last 30 or 40 years. Roles are not set in stone anymore. Dads are not willing to remain on the sidelines of child rearing. And women are not willing to give up a career to raise a family. What I wonder is if we're heading toward a time when moms and dads are both working part time jobs, allowing both of them some child rearing time and career time. Of course, something has to change in our economy so we can survive on one salary again. In most families, both parents have to work just to make ends meet. Maybe we'll see switching of roles: Mom has the career for five years and Dad stays home with the kids. And then they switch. I don't know what the answer is and there's almost certainly no one right answer for everyone, but we are definitely in the midst of a huge change in the family dynamic.