Circle Theatre

As a native of the great state of Michigan, I can speak to a certain wry affection for the habits of the denizens of that northernmost one-third of my home state known as the Upper Peninsula.  Cold, isolated, and often neglected (it once tried to secede from Michigan and form its own State of Superior), it covers an area larger than Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Rhode Island combined, yet has less than one-tenth of the population of the city of Chicago.  These few hardy souls are known in Midwestern parlance as "Yoopers" (from "U.P.ers"), and like to refer to downstate Michiganians such as myself as "trolls" because we live "under" the Mackinac Bridge.  A fondness for pasties and a tendency to sound like the characters in Fargo are the common stereotypes, but there is, of course, much more to this corner of the country built around a Scandinavian heritage, old iron mines, fisheries, forests, streams, and wildife.  Ernest Hemingway can attest.

Communing with nature (often in the form of hunting it) is one of these great Yooper traditions, and the subject of Michigan native Jeff Daniels' hit play Escanaba In Da Moonlight and its prequel, Escanaba In Love, which will receive its Chicago premiere at Circle Theatre in Forest Park starting September 10th.  Escanaba In Da Moonlight originally premiered in 1997 at Daniels' Purple Rose Theatre Company, located in Chelsea, Michigan.  In 2006, it was given a hit Jeff-recommended run at Circle Theatre that ran for eight sold-out weeks.  The original Escanaba tells the story of Reuben Soady, a middle-aged man viewed by all those around him as a loser for the sole failure of never having bagged a buck.  You see, deer-hunting season is kind of a big deal in the U.P., so much so that the local schools build their yearly cirriculum around it (no joke).  It is a rite of passage into manhood to shoot your first buck, and the fact that Soady has yet to accomplish this makes him an outcast in his town and an embarrassment to his family.  Escanaba In Da Moonlight is a comedy and thus ends happily, and Daniels' tone of knowing (yet never demeaning) satire shows that he possesses the same aforementioned wry affection for these people and their lives.

Escanaba In Love takes place some forty years before EIDM, in the middle of World War II.  The setting is much the same: the Soady deer camp during hunting season.  This time around, the focus is on a young Albert Soady, Jr. (played by Bradford Lund), Reuben and Remnar's father, as he courts their future mother, Big Betty Baloo (Simone Roos).  The grandfather, Albert Sr. (Tucker Curtis) and great-grandfather Alphonse (Jason L. Boat), who was the ghost that led Reuben to his final triumph in EIDM, also make appearances.  The Circle Theatre cast is rounded out by Timothy C. Amos, who plays Salty Jim.

What prompted the folks at Circle to return to the north woods, other than the considerable success of EIDM?  "There was definite audience demand, but as a company we really wanted to revisit this charming group of people," says Kevin Bellie, Artistic Director for Circle Theatre.  "The stories are fun, the dialogue quick-fire and the moral always heart-warming."  And it also offers, for some, a welcome local-color alternative to the Loop theatre scene's preoccupation with the latest flashy musical out of New York.  "This show is especially charming to folks of this area, as it really captures a Midwestern attitude," says Bellie.  "For those that like Escanaba In Da Moonlight, this is a nice bookend.  However, even if you didn't see that play, this production is sure to please and charm anyone."

Escanaba In Love runs September 10 through October 26, 2008, at Circle Theatre in Forest Park, 7300 W. Madison.  Fridays and Saturdays at 8pm, Sundays at 3pm, and additional Thursdays at 8pm on October 2,9,16, and 23.  Tickets are $26 Fridays-Sundays, and $20 on Thursdays.  For reservations call 708-771-0700 or visit www.circle-theatre.org.   

Luke Vander Heiden
Contributing Writer