It’s one of the fundamental things on the actor checklist: the moment before.  What were you doing in the days, hours, minutes, seconds before you walk onstage or before the scene starts. In Burying Miss America, Jean talks about all the work that her mother’s funeral requires. The text is full of references to the [...]

I found myself in the old neighborhood last night. I was walking home from some meeting or rehearsal, fighting the desire to give up and catch the bus, when I realized I was no more than a couple blocks from my first Chicago apartment. About the time I had this thought, my day’s consumption of [...]

It gives me enormous pleasure to see BURYING MISS AMERICA opening this week as the first production of our 2011-2012 Season. Not only is this a beautiful new play by an exciting Chicago artist and wonderful friend of New Leaf, but it is also the culmination of our first revamped Treehouse play development process. This [...]

“While I was waiting for you before, I made this list. All the people that brought food. Or flowers. Or anything. The ordinary, average, worshiped her from all the pageants people. They get a note.” I’ve gotten to know this person called Jean Russell pretty well over the last few weeks, diving into the words [...]

Michelle Lilly is part of the production ensemble of New Leaf Theatre and is the Scenic Designer for Lighthousekeeping. One of my favorite parts of any design process is the shape search. This typically takes place once the basic storytelling concepts are down, but we’re still looking for the specifics of what the world of [...]