#billyohnka

When we first arrived in Kankakee Monday morning, we did not have a play. Here we are, without a play:

When we left Kankakee Friday night, we had a play. Oh boy, did we have a play. Our (in theory) 45 minute piece clocked in closer to an hour and twenty minutes. Here we are with a play:

Okay. I joke. That's not our play. Those are several different rewrites of our play piled on top of one another. But still. We killed a lot of trees.

We could not have done all that tree-killing without Kankakee, IL.

We could not have done any of this without Kankakee, IL. 

This past week has changed me as a person and as an artist and, although I'm often accused of hyperbole, I mean that sincerely. 

If you've been following our journey, you'll know that developing new work is hard and devised work is even harder. The problem with both is that they can't exist without a lot of risk, a lot of love, and a lot of bravery. You need to give yourself over to the moment and live without the comfort of second-guesses. You also have to put rent and food on the back-burner. 

It's a tough gig. Even tougher is finding that first break--finding that place that will say: you deserve the time and the freedom to search for something that does not yet exist. 

It is at this point that we would like to thank the heavens for Brandi Burgess who provided us with not only the time and the freedom, but the family and the faith to pull it all off: 

This picture is from her appearance in Off-Color Theatre Company's No Talent Hacks. Brandi this past week provided an abundance of faith and family for our team. Here she is packed into our literal clown car with the Out of Tooner cast on our way home from rehearsal.

Brandi is currently working as the inaugural artist-in-residence in Kankakee, IL. She is helping to bring both economic and cultural prosperity to the community and she is doing one heck of a job.

She brought us to Kankakee with the faith that our team would bring something amazing and we had to have faith that she would provide the family we needed--the safe creative haven--to deliver a completely new and totally devised show.

She and Kankakee delivered big time. 

Firstly, she connected us to Donna and Steve Worth who opened up their beautiful home for us to stay in for the week. Donna and Steve were nothing short of quite possibly the most amazing hosts I've ever had the pleasure to stay with. They provided full breakfast spreads every morning and even threw a hilariously boisterous game night for us. 

If that wasn't enough--local restaurants and caterers provided lunches and dinners for us. Including the epically awesome Stella Bear Foods who provided to us a mouthwatering selection of wraps, salad, and quinoa salad that included more than enough vegan options and also provided an impromptu dinner for our company after our show Friday night. Not only that, they delivered upon us hug after hug after hug. 

We were also treated to lunch and deadly-delicious cupcakes by Nana's Cakery and Cafe. It took us an entire hour to recover from ecstasy after splitting a case of their cupcakes amongst the company. 

As lovely as the food was--the biggest gift Kankakee gave us was an audience. That was the entire reason we came to Kankakee, I remind you (although the cupcakes would have been reason enough). 

Our first night, Brandi managed to convince a few brave souls to journey through an unfinished show with us. 

The response that small house gave us though was unbelievable. Not only did they show up to watch the show and laugh at our jokes--they completely gave themselves over to our programming. They stayed after the show to engage in a passionate and thought-provoking talk-back and then they followed us to a bar where they continued to give us intelligent feedback and encouraged our progress. It's a reception that we never would have received in Chicago. The next morning we were on the front page of their paper: 

We also got covered on the internet by the lovely Pam who had visited us the day before (with her adorable dog that just about stopped rehearsal in its tracks). Pam wrote a fabulous article about us on her blog reelhonestreviews.com and also took some great pictures of us actually working. 

Our second night, thanks to the press, word-of-mouth, and Brandi, our house more than doubled. 

During this show, we presented some of our more risky material. Although we did stir up some people, the talkback after the show proved to be worth the excitement. Once again, the audience was wildly engaged, thoughtful, and offered plenty constructive criticism for us to think about.

Our actors especially connected with the audience and were trying to bribe one particularly adorable resident to join our group: 

Although she declined the offer of a teddy bear, she would later write cards for the company--nice to know our off-color humor has hit big with the youth of Kankakee!

Just like before, our night did not end with the talk-back but continued to the local bar where once again we engaged in debate over what political points we wanted to make and why humor was effective in broaching these topics. We laughed together, shared stories together, and addressed very serious topics together.

The strength and vibrancy of the community was everywhere we looked.

In this small town, I was reminded why I decided to do theater in the first place. It wasn't to compete with other artists or to schmooze so that my career could progress and my salary would increase: it was to make new friends and engage in productive dialogue about our country, our families, and our community.

Two of the most engaging audience members were the hosts of WKAN's Morning Show with Bill and Allison. We were invited to stage a coup in their studio on Wednesday morning and took them up on their offer without hesitation. 

Not only were Allison and Bill the most supportive community members in helping us put up our show--checking in on us daily and rallying the community around us--but they are the most amazing community members period.

You see, Bill Yohnka is secretly the Leslie Knope of Kankakee. He is the economic development director of the town and his dedication is unlike anything I've ever seen. He is passionately working around the clock to making this town continually better and better and better. I'm pretty sure he doesn't sleep. 

He is so amazingly passionate about his town that the Chicago Tribune wrote and article about him as well as the artist-in-residence program and Stella Bear Foods co-owner Sara Gallager. 

To see a whole town rally together, not just for us, but for themselves was inspiring to a degree that I could not even begin to express. 

They lit a fire under our butts that we had no desire to blow out. 

The next three days, we rehearsed like crazy. Often we were working off of three hours of sleep. We were rewriting, restaging, developing new material, building costumes, learning music, memorizing lines, and reshaping our show so that we could make Kankakee proud to call us guests. 

I can't tell you the hours we had to spend just trying to shave Nick so that way he could effectively play a baby.

The only times when we did take a break were when the citizens of Kankakee demanded it of us. Whether it was by throwing us a party at a local pub like Local Celebrity Chris James did or by giving our actor's massages like Angela did during our open rehearsal, the town made sure that we were taken care of so that way we could do art without a single distraction. 

It was with this love, support, engagement, and feedback that we were able to mount an original show on Friday. And we mounted it without fear. We wanted to make Kankakee proud, but we were not in it for egos or for fame. We wanted to do the work so that we could give back to the community that had given us so much. 

I know what I want in my life. I want to be surrounded by friends and family. I want to make art with my friends and family. I want to laugh and play games and talk about tough questions with my friends and family. If I could have a place to sleep, food to eat, and a nice shower at the end of the day as well, that would be great. 

This is all I want. 

This is everything Kankakee, IL gave us.

Thankfully, the feeling of gratitude appears to be mutual. We told Brandi to forward all of our hate mail to us. Instead she sent us this:

For me, the Out of Tooners has proven to be a valuable experience for several reasons. Here's just one. This week, I have watched my fifteen year old daughter, laugh at the world, and realize she's not alone in her thoughts. Huge. Thank you.

And this:

Dear Brandi: You may have noticed the young man with me last night, who is developmentally disabled. That is my nephew. Age 46, he was not dealt a good hand at birth, but we love him dearly. I can’t tell you how much going to see the Out of Tooners meant to him. He has talked about it constantly, and smiled, and they made him happy. That makes me happy, and grateful they came to our little town. So thank you, Brandi, and thank you, Bugsy, Baby Wee Wee, and especially Lucy; who sat in front of him in the vignette which required them to sit in the first row. She spoke kindly to Danny when we greeted one another, and he was thrilled. I heard about that in the car on the way home. The Out of Tooners will forever have two fans, and my eternal gratitude. 

There has never been a more rewarding response to any project I have ever done. This experience has already been life-changing for me and we haven't even gotten to Italy yet! (I have a sense though that once we get to Arezzo we'll wish we were in Kankakee). The kindness, intelligence, and vibrance that this town has shown us will be carried with me wherever I go. 

And not just figuratively. 

Kankakee resident Marc gave me this shirt after I saw him wearing it. I wanted to know where to buy one and he said that they didn't sell them so he went out to his car and switched shirts so that I could take his home.

How nice are the people of Kankakee, IL? They will literally give you the shirt of their back.

Until next time...