For Jessica Creane, realizing an artistic vision meant going as far as bringing live sod into the Lisner downstage.
This weekend marks the release of “The Seagull,” a four-act play by Russian playwright Anton Chekhov. Creane, a senior majoring in political communication and creative writing, chose to direct the show for the 14th Grade Players after seeing it performed in London, where she traveled the summer after her freshman year. She said the play demanded intense character study from the seven-person cast, especially because some of the most dramatic moments of the show happen offstage.
“The actors have to fill in the gaps,” she said, citing the two-year time gap the play leaves between the third and fourth act. “It’s an incredibly complex play,” she added, speaking to the minimalist sense of the work.
Creane worked with a translation of the play by Martin Crimp, which she herself edited further. She said this weekend marks the first-ever performance of this version of the show.
“This play just humanizes everyone in a way other translations I read have not,” she said. “Everything we’ve done in the show with acting highlights the cast and characters.”
She said two sets – an interior and exterior – were created for the show. The exterior set includes a makeshift Russian countryside – constructed of live sod grass.
“I’m all about the sensuous experience of a play. I want you to smell what the characters smell,” she said, emphasizing that she took this step to create an experience as vivid for the audience as possible.
She said performing in the downstage, a 100-seat blackbox theater in the basement of Lisner Auditorium, was ideal for the sense of intimacy it offers. “It’s like a puzzle,” she said of constructing sets for the blackbox. “It allows you to do anything.”
This weekend marks Creane’s second experience directing a show for the 14th Grade Players. She directed “Sexual Perversity in Chicago” two years ago. She has also acted in student theater productions. Now working as a director, she is enthusiastic about the quality of her cast.
“The actors have brought so many ideas. Every time I ask them to keep surprising me they do,” she said.
“The Seagull” will be performed at the Lisner downstage this Thursday and Saturday at 8 p.m, and this Friday at 7 p.m. and 10 p.m. Tickets are $5 at the door.
