On Tap with the Director of Bottle Can Draft

By Jocelyn Geboy in Arts & Entertainment on Oct 31, 2005 4:17PM

After we went to see Bottle Can Draft a few weeks ago at Matilda/Baby Atlas, Chicagoist wanted to know more about how the Sandbox Theatre Project was formed and how they developed their unique brand of site-specific theater. We sat down and talked with director Justin D.M. Palmer about how this project was developed and a little bit about how Sandbox thinks and works. The play runs again tonight (performance sold out) and closes November 7th, so read on for an inside look at the play's creation.

Chicagoist: What is the play about, where did the idea come from?
Justin: For some reason, people in their 20s go to bars all the time. We wanted to write a site specific play -- a bar is an obvious choice. We don't really know why. We definitely know that people our age and other ages go to bars a lot . If we don't know the answer, maybe we can figure it out. Eventually to me, at least, it became that I think people to go bars because there's this hope that something fantastic can happen. Night after night, you're paying all this money, you're going to get a hangover, but maybe you'll meet this beautiful woman who you'll fall in love with, or you'll get that nice hookup at the end of the night. Or you'll have a good time or stand on a chair and sing your favorite song.

Chicagoist: And there was something social in it... in the beginning of the play there is a real buzz, a noise, an energy...
Justin: A bar to me is just like theater in a way -- it's in a space. In this space, natural things can happen. And you don't know what's going to happen and you can be surprised by what's going to happen, good or bad. Like a fight could break out..or somebody could get REALLY drunk and be funny and you laugh at them.

Chicagoist: How did the writing of the play come together?:
Justin: I don't really write so well at the computer. Writing Bottle Can Draft was a really good lesson in that... because all three of us wrote it. I love to write with my hand, pen on paper first. And then once I have a draft of something, then I'm a much better editor. I just try to get the first piece of crap I can into my computer and then I can edit it and it always seems to end up to be drastically different. But this time, because the three of us had such busy schedules and it got all crazy, we would have meetings once every two weeks or so and a lot of writing would happen inbetween.

I don't know if Chelsea [Cutler] would say the same thing, but when Justin and Cliff [Chamberlain] write, keyboard at monitor, it becomes 'diary confessional' writing. The first draft of our play was structurally okay, but it was vicious. It was a play about people going to a bar and ripping on their friends. This fantastic actress who was there at the first read through said something really excellent, "There's conflict here, it's a play, but if I wanted to listen this shit, why don't I just go to a real bar?" And we said, "You're right. If we wanted to listen to people talk and bitch and moan about their jobs and rip on their friends behind their backs, why don't I go to a real bar and not pay $15?"

There's always a fear with site specific theater that people are totally trapped. Cause if it ever gets really negative, people think, "Fuck. I"m stuck in here. I can't walk out. I guess, I could, but I'd be making a scene."

Find out more about Bottle Can Draft and Sandbox after the jump....

Chicagoist: I noticed that people got up a couple of times during the play and went to the bathroom during the performance. We're in a bar, they've had several drinks beforehand... How did you feel about that as a director?
Justin: I think that was an interesting moment... at first I was disappointed, because I thought it broke the scene, but then I thought.. wait. How can you do a play in a site-specific space and not be okay with the fact that might happen? Later, I thought it was awesome because what it meant was he [one audience member in specific] was so comfortable in the space, it was as much his space as it was the play's space.

Sandbox believes that theater is the equal fusion of audience, actor and space. We're trying to get back to that. So many other productions are 90% actor, 9% audience and 1% space.

I talked with them [the cast] before the show. I said, "Our other half is here, the audience is here tonight. Recognize them, talk to them, before and during the show." I told them not to try and ignore them, they're a part of the play and a part of the stage. So, if something happens, don't be afraid to acknowledge them. I firmly believe that an audience should be involved in the play.

And this might sound surprising, but I hate theater that is audience interaction. Where they're asking you to really perform, too. We're acknowledging that you're there, but we're also not asking you to be in the play.

Chicagoist: How did you decide on Matilda?
Justin: I wanted that bar first, because I lived down the street from it, it's my favorite bar, I had been going there for years. I love them, it's a beautiful, huge open space. The owner called me back and said, "So let me get this straight, you can bring 50 people to my bar on a Monday night?" He's a savvy businessman, but then he said, "OH, it's you." And then he became one of the most supportive co-producers we've ever worked with. Now they're going to put a banner outside of the bar; he got PBR to sponsor the beer for the run.

Chicagoist: How are you getting people to give you these venues?
Justin: It's surprisingly easy. I'm a little apprehensive to admit it. For the bar, it was a business proposition, and then he got to know us and got behind us. it was a good business proposition for him. I'm not going to ask you to feel sappy for the arts and close your bar down. For the apartment play, it was strictly friendship. We explained the idea and the girls who lived there were like, "We GET to have a play in our apartment."

Chicagoist: Will you ever do the apartment play (Where We Live) again?
Justin: Absolutely. When we first did it, people would come to it and offer us their apartment.

Chicagoist: The three of you all write? How long have the three of you been together?
Justin: We met in college, we've known each other about seven or eight years. We went to school in Santa Barbara, California. There was an in-clique of about 50 people, not just four people. So we all *knew* each other from back then, but we moved out separately. [There was] stuff to us that was second hand nature about theater, because of our particular training and one particular professor, James Domer. We had a particular point of view on the world of theater, creating our own theater. We thought everyone thought that way, but when we came here we found this was a very different theater scene. People don't think about the fusion of actors, audience and space. People don't think about letting your imagination carry a lot of things. Don't think about theater with absolutely no props. There's a great tradition in Chicago of a realistic vein and emotional availability -- intense -- which I LOVE, but it's traditional. There's not a strong experimental theater history here. There's a few real standouts, but when you think of Chicago theater, you think of Steppenwolf, you think of the Goodman.

We came here and we looked around and were like, we DO have an interesting perspective that we aren't seeing a lot of in Chicago. So then we decided to make a company and make a go of it.

Chicagoist: Okay, We have to ask. What does the D.M. stand for?
Justin: In the early 90s, I would joke it stood for Depeche Mode; later that changed to Da Man...In truth, my mother re-married a terrific man when I was 6 so when I turned 18 I took his name legally -- I added it. Then, I had 4 names, a first, a middle, and two lasts. I think hyphenated names are lame, so I just decided to initial the middle two names. Officially, it's David McHughes. but Depeche Mode, Da Man, Daft Motherfucker are probably cooler...

Chicagoist Local Snapshot:
Your favorite place to eat in Chicago?
Panes on Sheffield/Wellington. Hands down. We like to joke it's the Sandbox - Lakeview Branch. Seriously, best sandwiches ever.

Favorite 'tourist' spot?
I wish I could say the Art Institute or the friggin' "Bean" or whatever it is, but in all honesty it's Giordano's pizza on Belmont. Every time a friend comes into town as a tourist they want Chicago pizza, so we go there, and we always have the best fucking time! Does that count as "tourist"?

The most underrated thing/place/thing to do in Chicago?
I don't know if it's underrated, but everytime I mention it people go "What's that?", is Brew n View. $5, cheap beer, 3 movies. It rocks. I love that place!

Bottle Can Draft has two more shows -- tonight and Monday, November 7th. Tonight's show is SOLD OUT. Doors open at 7pm with bar and restaurant open for business; show starts at 9pm. Tickets are available for a suggested donation of $15. There is limited seating, so call for a reservation at 773-456-2329.