The Jewish Theatre Ensemble transformed Shanley Pavilion into a dystopian world on May 30 and 31 for its production of “Urinetown: The Musical.”
“Urinetown,” originally directed by John Rando in 2001, is a satirical musical set in a world in which a severe drought has caused a ban on private toilets. The Urine Good Company, which is owned by Caldwell B. Cladwell (played by Communication senior Declan Franey) charges people to pee.
Inciting incidents including fee hikes, a death and an impactful encounter with Cladwell’s daughter, Hope Cladwell (played by Communication junior Maddi Anderson), act as the catalysts for a rebellion. Bobby Strong (played by Bienen freshman Nigel Swinson) leads the rebellion while also falling in love with Cladwell’s daughter.
Communication sophomore Myah Shelton, who directed and choreographed the show, said she and Medill junior Abigail Lev, the producer, chose “Urinetown” because it “checked all of (their) boxes.” “Urinetown” is fun and silly, but also connects to deeper themes such as environmental racism and police brutality, Shelton said.
Lev said the show is able to present these themes to the audience in a “more palatable way” through satire and music. The show also references other popular musicals such as “West Side Story” and “Fiddler on the Roof.”
The show’s ensemble is split between two groups: Urine Good Company and the police officers who enforce the company’s rules and the people who struggle to pay the fees to pee. In the show, the police show violence to anyone who can’t, or won’t, pay the fee.
“Being able to parody all these different musicals when we’re doing the show with such a racially and socially conscious lens becomes even more powerful,” Shelton said. “Not only are we making fun of musical theatre, but we get to make fun of the Eurocentrism and the whiteness of musical theatre and really get to kind of reclaim these musical theatre tropes and ideas.”
Shelton said she and Lev prioritized diversity within their team as soon as they started working on the show almost a year ago, including through color-conscious casting. Lev said the pair cast white actors in what she called the show’s “rich ensemble” and actors of color in the “poor ensemble,” referring to the characters in the show that struggle to pay the fees to pee, so that those characters reflected historically marginalized groups.
Shelton said the production of “Urinetown” has been her favorite show that she’s worked on so far at Northwestern. She and Lev chose people for the team that were not just talented, but also kind and great to work with, Shelton said.
“The fact that so many people have so much stake in an idea that grew from us a year ago is just so incredible,” Lev said. “And to see how much other people care about something, it just makes you feel so good to help create a team that does that.”
The show is also donating part of its proceeds to the Black Voters Matter Fund.
Shelton said “Urinetown’s” team had to be scaled down in order to fit in Shanley Pavilion. The cast included 16 actors, many of whom played more than one role, in order to make the changes work.
Shelton said the cast members made many connections and friendships through the show.
As producer, Lev was in charge of helping foster these connections. She said her biggest role was to create a family within the team. There were several bonding events for the team, including a trip to a Chicago Cubs game.
Communication freshman Sarah Bock, who plays Little Sally in the show and is known for her role in the Apple TV+ show “Severance,” threw the first pitch at the baseball game. Rehearsal was canceled that day so the team could go watch, Lev said.
Swinson said everyone on the team was very supportive of each other.
This show was Swinson’s second stint in the role of Bobby Strong in “Urinetown.” His first time was in seventh grade, and he said that performance was what encouraged him to pursue performing as a career.
“When I did the show before, because I was so young and because I was learning how to be a performer, there were a lot of choices that I didn’t make because I didn’t know how to make them,” Swinson said. “So now that I have that knowledge, it’s been very exciting but difficult to be very conscious in how I’m singing and how I’m acting.”
There are a lot of underlying messages in the show, particularly about environmental protection, that Swinson said he didn’t understand the first time he performed in the show. He said he now recognizes those messages better and hopes the audience does too.
“I think the most important part of this process has been what it’s brought to the Northwestern community and the theatre community,” Shelton said. “I think it’s really forced people, not only my team and my cast, but just everyone to kind of question their beliefs.”
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