URBANA – The Station Theatre in Urbana is looking for actors to audition this Saturday for the play, Skeleton Crew, the third installment of African American playwright Dominique Morriseau’s Detroit cycle trilogy. Skeleton Crew tells the story of four Black characters – 2 men and 2 women – working at an auto plant that’s at risk of going under.
Morning Edition host Kimberly Schofield spoke with director Lisa Gaye Dixon and the Station’s board president, Kendall Jeonson, about the play’s themes and how to prepare for auditions.
SCHOFIELD: Either Kendall or Lisa…can you tell me briefly what Skeleton Crew is about? What is the plot?
DIXON: I think Kendall and I could do that together, sort of tag-team. So the major themes are about, quote, unquote, the American dream, about race, and how hardworking, working-class people come to deal with what started to happen with the economy as factories and things begin to shut down in Detroit. It really is about…how do people support each other, help each other? How do they get through those things that are – especially when it comes to race – how do they deal with issues of race in the workplace, in traditionally White, traditionally male environments? Okay, I’m going to turn it over to you for more the plot.
JEONSON: So it’s 2006. Detroit auto plant in the midst of the recession. Auto plants all around the city are shutting down and the one featured in this show is still going. There are rumors going around that it could be shutting down soon. We’ve got our four characters. Dez and Shanita are the younger, looking at their futures and seeing what they’re going to be doing with their future. Shanita is pregnant and looking to start a family. Dez is looking to open up his own auto shop. Then we’ve got Reggie – older – he’s a foreman. And we see sort of how we deal with the different power imbalances when we’ve got authority figures over people within the same community. And then Faye, the long time worker. She’s about to hit 30 years, she’s looking forward to retirement, and all she asks is that they don’t close before she hits that 30-year mark. So we see how we deal with all those relationships.
SCHOFIELD: How did this show, Skeleton Crew, get picked for the Station season?
JEONSON: The Station Theatre has a play selection committee. They spend three, four months looking through submissions that are made by the company members or community members. Skeleton Crew was submitted, considered, and accepted by the play selection committee and then voted on by the board. And this show really exemplifies the theme of our season, which is ‘taking a magnifying glass to the American dream and its successes or failures.’
SCHOFIELD: How did you become the director?
DIXON: I think as the rumor went around that I was retiring, it became sort of an idea that, ‘hey, maybe we could get Lisa to direct Skeleton Crew.’ Kendall, as both producer and stage manager, already sort of had a plan laid out about how we would get designers and all that good stuff, and has already created the poster, which is pretty awesome that hopefully folks will be seeing around town soon. He’s setting up everything as a fantastic stage manager should do.
JEONSON: That about sums it up, yep. Along with Jacki Loewenstein, I work on finding directors for all of our shows. We take submissions. We also seek people out if we find a show that will really fit for them and Skeleton Crew is great for Lisa.
SCHOFIELD: This is a small cast, too, which I think works well in the Station Theatre as a black box theater. Two men and two women are the characters and it’s an entirely Black cast and mostly crew…minus you, Kendall, is that right?
JEONSON: Yes, we have a few designers that are not Black, but for the most part, yes.
SCHOFIELD: The two men and two women, what should they prep if they come out to audition?
DIXON: There is no memorization expected, but if they are able to read a copy of the play, or get as familiar as possible with the text, that’s always helpful. I love auditions. I love everything about theater. That’s kind of why I’m in it. But one of the things I’m hoping to be able to do is – with small groups of people – work on the text. So it isn’t just that you come in and they do the thing and you say ‘next.’ But you come in, I will always work with somebody, whomever is there, to see what I can pull out of them, to see how we can work well together, to see if they can make adjustments, make choices, and that sort of thing. So nothing has to be perfect, but my hope is that folks are able to be as creative as possible in their auditions, and then we’ll go from there.
JEONSON Everyone is welcome. And the great thing about theater is that everybody has the capability of acting, as long as we just find the right role, find the right show, and Skeleton Crew is a new opportunity that we haven’t seen a lot of at the Station Theatre. If anybody would like a copy of the script, we’re happy to share it if you just reach out to the Station Theatre.
DIXON: And I would ask you to think about it, especially men and women in the Black community here in Champaign Urbana, even if you’ve never done anything, but you’ve always harbored a secret desire – that’s kind of how I got into it. I always harbored a secret desire and then one day, somebody asked me to audition and 30 years later, I’m a professor of theater, so I ask you to take a chance on something new. You may find it’s not for you. You may find that you enjoy it and look forward to rehearsals. You never know if you don’t try.
SCHOFIELD: Do you know anything about the playwright?
DIXON: She’s one of the hot new playwrights in the last five to seven years that has been discovered and has had her plays partially produced or completely produced on Broadway, even. And she’s sort of the second generation after Lynn Nottage and other folks. She’s sort of the second or third generation of young African American playwrights who are sort of bursting onto the scene dealing with both history African American history, but also dealing with questions about the African American psyche as it has moved into the 21st century.
SCHOFIELD: What drew you to this show or this playwright?
DIXON: I had directed one of her shows at the nationally recognized Clarence Brown Theatre in, I think, spring of 2017. So I had heard of her, but that was when I was really deeply introduced to her work and there’s two things I really like about it. One, is that the vernacular is real and honest and true. She writes the way people speak. Two, is that every once in a while, when I was reading the script, I would just laugh out loud, suddenly, at something that happened, or a turn of phrase or something. So that is what I really like – is that it’s not broad comedy, but there’s definitely quite a bit of humor, I think, in the play.
JEONSON: Yeah, the dialogue is really natural. It feels really real. I found myself – now, this isn’t saying much, but – crying in many of the scenes. But I also found myself laughing out loud while reading it, just because there are real moments between these characters who have clearly known each other for a really long time. The relationship dynamic that we see is something that a lot of people can relate to.
DIXON: I have to say, I’m quite thankful to see that when I moved back here from overseas many years ago, the Station Theatre was around and had been doing things, but it’s been really nice to see the evolution of it becoming more open and having larger and more diverse kinds of seasons, and therefore bringing in different kinds of folks for direction, production, the choice of plays, and all that stuff. So it’s been really wonderful to see that and then also to be asked to be a part of it, as well. I am really thankful about that. One of the things I’ve always wanted as an African American woman is for my community to be as invested in their own way – as much as they can and in their own way – in the arts, in the community. I hope the Black community comes out in droves – men, women, no matter your age, no matter your size, your shape – all are welcome because it’s a joyous experience and I want everybody to take part in that or support that in however they can.
Auditions for Skeleton Crew are this Saturday, December 7th, from 11am-230pm at the Station Theatre in Urbana.