The abandoned storefront of the Fountain Square Building at 1601 Sherman Ave. in Evanston was filled with Northwestern theater-goers at the Saturday showing of “References to Salvador Dali Make Me Hot,” a spring Sit & Spin Productions show.
The piece, based off of José Rivera’s play of the same name, had six showings running from May 12 to 14. It was Sit & Spin’s yearly site-specific show and was the NU theater department’s first off-campus production.
Tristan Powell, the show’s director, said he wanted a space that would help reinforce the themes of the play. The Communication sophomore said in his daily activities throughout Evanston, he noticed an abundant amount ofempty storefronts.
“It was an epidemic of closed store after closed store,” Powell said.
Because the play takes place in a desert, he said, the empty stores were the perfect location for the show. He took pictures on his cell phone of every empty storefront and says he called about 20 to 25 landlords.
“This is the desert of Evanston, the empty place where nothing lives,” he said.
Parker Murphy, the show’s producer, also thought the abandoned storefront would benefit the production.
“I guess we wanted to challenge ourselves,” the Communication sophomore said. “We felt it was appropriate for the aesthetic of the show.”
For some of the actors, the innovative space of the show was also a unique experience.
“Getting to work in this space was awesome,” said Daphne Kim, a Communication freshman who played a cat in the play. “Activating this dead space into something alive, being at an off-campus site is really special.”
Ryan Bernsten, another Communication freshman, played the coyote, the cat’s wild and dangerous lover. He said bringing theater into an off-campus space helps integrate theater into the greater Evanston community.
“It’s raising awareness that theater doesn’t have to happen in a black box,” Bernsten said.
However, being off campus did present its challenges. According to Murphy, the audience size had to be limited to 32. Powell added that they had to undergo multiple safety checks from organizations including Risk Management and the fire marshal.
The play takes place in a desert and revolves around the relationship between Gabriela, played by Communication freshman Natalie Houchins, and Benito, a soldier played by Communication junior Matthew Dealy. Although they both love one another, they tear each other apart as their personal regrets, fears and feelings of discontent rage within them.
“(The play) is poetic, lyrical and surreal,” Bernsten said.
Bernsten added the themes within the play often applied to the lives of the actors and audience members.
“The themes are very relevant to life, universal and sometimes stun us at how much they apply to our lives,” he said.
Communication freshman Pat Buetow said the play’s unique elements added to the performance as a whole.
“I liked how they moved the scene around throughout the play so you weren’t sitting in the same place the entire time,” he said. “I liked the scene between the coyote and the cat, (I) thought it was full of interesting connections that were being made between how they were feeling and how human beings feel.”
