About a year ago, a handful of New Leafers gathered at Ranalli’s (now closed, more’s the pity) after a performance of The Permanent Way.  It was a quiet, snowy night, and as the dining room emptied out, our conversation became thoughtful.  Personal.  Significant.  We talked about fear.  As we doodled in crayon on the white paper tablecloth, one by one we enumerated our fears.  Fears about ourselves, about our families, about our company, about our country, about the world.  And we listened to each other, without commenting, without comforting, without correcting.  And when it was time to go home, we all had the sense that something big and important had just happened. 

Last Sunday, on a day so cold it made me wonder why I had moved to Chicago voluntarily, New Leaf gathered in a cozy condo for our first PlayDate.  No, none of us has small children.  There was no Kool-Aid involved, no disputes over sharing toys, no one crying over a skinned knee. 

PlayDate is the name we’ve given to our sessions dedicated to developing an original piece for next season.  TOP (or The Original Play) is a whole new territory for us.  It’s daunting, to say the least.  In the last few years, we’ve grown together as an ensemble – not an acting ensemble, really, but a group of actors, designers, directors, and creative people.   We’re always on the lookout for plays full of exciting potential for our designers, meaty roles for our actors, and big, resonant ideas for our directors.  And while many plays have one or two of those things, it seems like the best way to find something that speaks to all of us is to make something together.

 In an homage to that fateful night at Ranalli’s, Marni had covered the dining room table in white paper, and provided crayons, markers, colored pencils.  We started talking.  Just talking, just to see what would happen.  Nick, ever the sound designer, scored the conversation, changing the music to match the mood, to echo the themes.  We doodled.  We talked about how men and women think differently, as Nick (the lone man for the evening) tried to connect the dots, while the rest of us talked in circles.  We noticed that all the women drew spirals. 

The evening ended off the record, on the couch, laughing so hard we couldn’t breathe, talking in funny voices, and riffing off jokes 5 minutes or 5 years old.  

This will be a long journey, and Sunday night was just the first step.   We don’t have a theme, an outline,  or a title for TOP.  Yet.  What we do have is the assurance that we can work together,  daydream together, create something from scratch.  Together.  And that is really exciting.