Geoff Elliott and Deborah Strang
The old man and old woman, who have lived together seemingly forever, prepare for the onslaught of visitors they have invited to hear the old man’s ultimate discovery. Empty chairs appear and the couple converse with invisible guests as more and more arrive. Eugene Ionesco’s The Chairs is a disturbingly absurdist mid-20th century play about long-lived relationships and unseen audiences. It is a bittersweet celebration for A Noise Within, as it closes its 19th and last season in Glendale before moving to a new permanent home in Pasadena.
The company has long planned to produce this most difficult theatrical classic, but now seems the right time as the company makes gentle comparisons to its 20 years of theatrical collaboration, particularly among the three artists most central to this production. Veteran actress Deborah Strang (who joined ANW 18 years ago) and co-artistic Director Geoff Elliott star as the elderly pair while co-artistic director Julia Rodriguez-Elliott directs. The three have worked together so long they have an almost silent language as they create the world of The Chairs.
The play is extremely difficult and problematic. So why would the Elliotts assign themselves this daunting task when they are in the midst of an enormous capital campaign and about to move their entire operation to a new location? Geoff Elliott laughs, “We’re just insane. We wouldn’t have started this company 20 years ago otherwise.”
Julia Rodriguez-Elliott responds with similar self-effacing humor. “All our plays are difficult. I look at our season and wonder, ‘Oh my god, what are we thinking?’ But this is our last season here, and it is a play we have had in the hopper for some time. The relationship between Deborah, Geoff and me has been such a strong one in the company’s journey. It is a fitting way to celebrate this landmark moment that the theater is experiencing. It seemed like the right thing to do.”
She is almost puzzled when asked to explain the play. “It sort of depends on the viewer. What you think is happening. It is about all the wonderful and challenging aspects of being in a long-term relationship — what’s good about it; what’s not good about it. It can be viewed as a somewhat scathing analysis of what people do to each other in such relationships.
Julia Rodriguez-Elliott Photo courtesy of Noise Within
“It can also be said it’s about a life lived without making significant choices, not dedicating yourself to something. I am not trying to shy away from the question, but a lot of it has to do with what you bring to the table when you see the performance. What you take away from it. That’s the beauty of it. The theatricality of it is very appealing to me, and the very thing that is challenging is it doesn’t follow a seemingly comprehensible narrative. But it does distill the human experience in such a profound theatrical way.”
She also considers it most interesting as an exploration of the long artistic relationships within A Noise Within. “Deborah and Geoff have a long history together, so that’s kind of a wonderful thing, because the relationship in the play demands that effortlessness of people who know each other so well. It’s one of those plays like Waiting for Godot that makes more sense as you age. In college you have no idea what they are about, so you heavily conceptualize them. Then as you get older you see it is not as absurd as you once thought.”
Geoff Elliott often co-directs with his wife; in this case, he is acting only. It may seem difficult to separate himself from the director’s seat but he enjoys that change, especially when his wife is the director. “If it is just Julia directing and I am performing in the play, I am allowed to be able to sort of ride the artistic process and not have to put my head into the other side. It is difficult but I can do that. I have such trust in her and such faith; generally I have such faith in the other performers I am working with. It is easier for me to do that than perhaps it might be for someone else. We also have a lot of experience doing this together. We have such similar interests. But we are human beings and sometimes we want to choke each other. There is always something bigger than either of us that both of us together can create and that’s a lovely thing.”
Rodriguez-Elliott also comments on their long partnership. “Geoff and I met in college at University of Florida in 1981 and married in 1983. To most people, working together like this may seem like their worst nightmare. I could never co-direct a production with anyone else, but there is something about the way the two of us think and the things we look for. We have a very similar aesthetic and priorities in what we believe to be good work. On that level it is really effortless. It is hard to imagine what our lives would be like if theater weren’t a part of it. It has always been part of the coffee talk in the morning. Our kids have been part of it and brought into it. It’s such a strong part of our lives.”
And now those lives are in the midst of an incredibly stressful, but rewarding period as they finish raising money and erecting a building in Pasadena to house their brand new 300-seat theater. This has been talked about for so long, it almost seems unreal as it comes to fruition. When sarcastically asked if anything interesting is happening, Rodriguez-Elliott jokes, “I wish there were something uninteresting in our lives right now. This is just insanity. We’re a little over 50% [completion] of construction, so by the end of April we will have a sealed building. Then projected move-in will be sometime in August. Of the $13½ million we are at about $12.2 million.”
With the building’s silhouette finally taking shape, the change in their artistic lives is coming into real focus. “It doesn’t really hit you until you stand there in the middle of it. Now the floors have been poured. You can see the stage and fly-loft. It feels like you are in a bit of a dream. You look at the future for the organization. As hard as it’s been – and it has been hard – this whole campaign has been a real push for us, trying to run the organization while running a capital project in historically the most challenging economic time this country has seen. When you see the real future there and the possibilities, it is very exciting.
Deborah Strang
“Artistically there are all kinds of opportunities. The practical part is that the building facilitates what we do in a way we are not able to now. As wonderful as it has been, doing a repertory schedule within a facility not designed to be a theater means there are plays we might not have not done in the past, because we didn’t feel we could pull it off within the parameters of our current building. I look at the new facility, and the ability to create images and to picture things with that kind of depth is very exciting and can build on what we do. There’s that part of it.
“Programmatically with the new building comes the opportunity to focus on new classics, for lack of a better word — to be able to commission new translations or adaptations of classic novels and be able to invest the manpower and resources into that kind of play development. That part is really exciting.
“The new space was designed taking the best of what we have here — the physical proximity that the audiences and actors value. No one is farther than eight rows from the stage. So the intimacy in which we present the work will always be there. Resources are never limitless, so we suspect it will always be a challenge to do the large scale work we do within a finite budget.
“Part of how we operate as a company is part of the aesthetic of the theater. So I don’t think you’re going to see productions much different in terms of the aesthetic, which is spare. We try to create images that are evocative and provocative but not necessarily representational. How we approach the work is not going to change. We just have the ability to make better pictures if you will.”
Geoff Elliot adds, “This is crazy – wild! We’ve become sometimes snowballed by so much stuff that has to be done. Part of it becomes overwhelming, and at times over the last two years it has really been daunting – beyond stressful. We had no idea what we were really facing. So there are many times you forget how amazing it is. When you go over there – especially now and stand where the administrative offices are or where the lobby is and look down on the performance space with fly-loft and dressing rooms and everything, it energizes us and we go, ‘WOW, this is so cool!’”
**All production photos by Craig Schwartz
The Chairs opens April 9; plays in repertory Wed.-Fri., 8 pm; Sat., 2 and 8 pm; Sun., 2 and 7 pm; through May 21. Single tickets: $42-$46 (discount prices for seniors, students and groups). A Noise Within, 234 S. Brand Blvd., Glendale; 818.240.0910, ext. 1 or www.anoisewithin.org.
