Ignition is an amazing treasure in Chicago theater. It's a three-day festival - Friday night through Sunday - of readings of new plays at Victory Gardens. I learned about it last year and was only able to make it to the second-to-last reading on Sunday. It was wonderful, and I was so disappointed that I had missed the rest of the weekend. The 2018 festival dates immediately went onto my calendar.
After a whole year waiting for the do-over, I was determined to do this thing right. I attended the whole weekend, and it more than met my huge expectations. OHMIGOSH! I had so, so, so , SO much fun.
The weekend included readings of six plays that were still in development - one on Friday evening, three on Saturday, and two on Sunday. In more than one instance, we learned the playwrights had walked in that very morning with new pages or edits for the actors to learn on the spot. The facilitator used this to highlight for the audience how fluid the creative writing process is, explaining how we might be the only audience to experience this particular version of the play. Talk about exciting! It was also impressive to see the actors just roll with that process, get down to business, learn the new pages and edits, and focus on the beauty of the play's evolution rather than being intimidated by the idea of flux or change. We spend so much time finding obstacles and reasons not to embrace change - it was inspiring to watch a community embrace it as growth and positive energy.
It was also amazing - I keep using big words like that, I know, but I can't seem to find any others - to witness and feel the way the actors created a story and a world with just ordinary chairs, reading stands, and notebooks with paper scripts. No special lighting or sets or costumes or music - just the power of storytelling and words and facial expressions and human connection. The plays did tell fascinating stories and addressed timely social issues and themes, but it was that sense of connection running through all of them that impressed me the most - the experience of sitting in a room with other people, sharing words and ideas and emotions, finding common ground, the simplicity of just being together. Those experiences are rare in our tech-overloaded world, and the weekend reminded me what a treasure they are.
The highlight of the weekend for me was the final play, which ran an incredible FOUR hours (with two intermissions), never losing intensity and almost bullying me through every possible emotion, high to low, laughter to sloppy tears. I lost complete track of time and still can't quite fathom how the writer and actors did it. (Seriously, how in the world was that a DRAFT? It reflected genius I can only marvel at.)
I should also mention the festival is FREE - you only have to RSVP online in advance. (They also feed you bagels and appetizers and ice cream, and have a cash bar. What?!?!? Yes!) The first weekend in August 2019 is already blocked out on my calendar!