Emma Rosenthal, a Communication junior, performs in a modern take of Shakespeare’s “The Tempest.”
Photo Courtesy of Steppenwolf
Alex Weisman sat outside the McCormick Tribune Center on Sunday night staring at his BlackBerry, which buzzed at roughly three-minute intervals.
“Sorry,” the Communication junior said with an air of surprise. “The reviews are starting to come in – and they’re good.”
Weisman has appeared on the Northwestern stage in both student-run and Theater and Interpretation Center productions and did regional theater in his native Florida. His appearance in “The History Boys,” which opened Saturday, marked his first foray into professional Chicago theater.
The director of “The History Boys,” a production of TimeLine Theatre Company, had seen Weisman in a production at NU and asked him to audition in August, Weisman said.
Weisman had a good deal of competition for his role, P.J. Powers, TimeLine’s artistic director said.
“For this show in particular, people really came out of the woodwork,” Powers said. “I’ve never seen so many letters and headshots in the mail as I have for this show.”
Powers said small companies like TimeLine have an easier time getting to produce in Chicago than in New York, and as a result, non-union actors have an easier time landing roles.
“In many ways, when we were seeing these 220 guys, I kind of didn’t care what was on their résumés,” Powers said.
Weisman is not the only NU student to flourish in Chicago’s theater scene. His friend Caitlin Collins, a Communication junior, is currently starring in Goodman Theatre’s “Magnolia.” Weisman’s roommate, Emma Rosenthal, also a Communication junior, is currently appearing in Steppenwolf’s “The Tempest.”
Rosenthal and Communication sophomore Miles Fletcher play two of the three “spirits” in “The Tempest.” In this production, the text is traditional, but the spirit leader Ariel wields a MacBook and the spirits dance to his techno beats and perform aerial stunts.
“We knew going into it that it was going to be a very physically demanding show,” Rosenthal said.
Rosenthal said the rehearsal process started in February and the show opened March 26. Balancing school and her acting career has been “manageable,” Rosenthal said.
“Miles and I are actually taking a full course load,” she said. “Steppenwolf and Northwestern were really accommodating. It’s just a matter of really learning to figure out time management.”
Steppenwolf’s Casting Director Erica Daniels, Communication ’91, said she looks to NU and other schools in the area when casting young roles, even if it means working with a student’s schedule.
“I’m familiar with the teachers, and I know that if they can make it work for somebody they really try,” Daniels said. “I think Northwestern has gotten better about bridging the gap between the professional world and the collegiate world.”
Daniels said she contacted professors at NU for recommendations of actors who could “sing and move well” – she returned to NU in casting Jake Cohen, a Communication senior, in the upcoming production “Up.”
“I had seen Jake in a production he did for the Griffin Theatre,” she said. “I knew that he had done a beautiful job and I wanted to read him.”
Though they said “school comes first,” the actors said the experience of acting in professional productions has been an equally valuable learning experience.
“It’s been wild,” Rosenthal said. “It’s just fascinating and humbling. It’s like taking a master class every day.”
