March 20, 2008
By Myrna Petlicki, Contributor
Pioneer Press
original link

Three women who met at Piven Theatre Workshop in Evanston are reuniting for a project dear to all of their hearts: the Steppenwolf Theatre Company production of "Dead Man's Cell Phone." The play is by award-winning playwright and Wilmette native Sarah Ruhl, directed by Evanston native Jessica Thebus and stars Polly Noonan, who also grew up in Evanston.

Ruhl, whose many honors include a MacArthur Fellowship, has lived in New York for about a year-and-a-half, after a stint in Los Angeles, but has maintained her ties to her Piven friends. In fact, she revealed that she had Noonan in mind when she created the lead character of Jean in "Dead Man's Cell Phone." "I realized that it was for her maybe halfway through writing it," Ruhl said. Noonan starred as Jean in the premiere at Washington D.C.'s Wooly Mammoth Theatre.

Ruhl, whose many honors include a MacArthur Fellowship, has lived in New York for about a year-and-a-half, after a stint in Los Angeles, but has maintained her ties to her Piven friends. In fact, she revealed that she had Noonan in mind when she created the lead character of Jean in "Dead Man's Cell Phone." "I realized that it was for her maybe halfway through writing it," Ruhl said. Noonan starred as Jean in the premiere at Washington D.C.'s Wooly Mammoth Theatre.

In the play, Jean is sitting in a cafe becoming increasingly disturbed because the cell phone of the only other customer keeps ringing. When she discovers the customer is dead, Jean answers his phone. She keeps answering his phone and becoming involved with the callers, including his wife, brother, mistress and mother.

Midwestern kindness

Noonan described Jean as having "a Midwestern quality of kindness and empathy first. She feels things deeply and she wants to get it right. She's a little bit selfless." Noonan did social work for a time, so it would seem that she also possesses that quality.

Ruhl began writing the play about five years ago, after she finally purchased a cell phone. "I was starting to observe the way cell phones changed culture and changed solitude," she said. "I felt like we had barely caught up as a culture to how it was affecting our daily life."

While she was writing the play, Ruhl had a related cell phone experience. "I had a woman find my phone in a cab and she called many, many numbers that I had called that day," she recalled. "You wonder how much of a life is imbedded in these objects."

Ruhl reported that Thebus, an artistic associate at Steppenwolf, championed the project at that theater "absolutely with my approval because I love working with Jess."

Thebus described Ruhl's plays as "amazing. I think she has a unique language for talking about how things actually feel, not just how they're supposed to feel. She uses metaphor as well as grim reality, and she folds them together in a way that they illuminate each other."

Piven teacher

Ruhl noted that Thebus was one of her teachers at Piven. Also at Piven, Noonan appeared in Ruhl's "Melancholy Play" directed by Thebus. Ruhl described Thebus as "a close collaborator. She reads early drafts of my plays and we talk a lot about theater."

Noonan has appeared in about 10 of Ruhl's plays. She was involved with "Passion Play: a cycle in three parts." Ruhl slated her for the role of the Village Idiot. "I remember at the time feeling kind of miserable that I was offered the role of the Village Idiot," Noonan recalled with a laugh. "I don't want to be the weirdo." Noonan reprised that role in Goodman Theatre's critically acclaimed production.

Both Thebus and Noonan laud "Dead Man's Cell Phone."

"I am so excited to be working with Jessica again," Noonan said. "And I'm thrilled to be working on Sarah's play. Her words are incredible and what she puts forward for an actor to devour is a rich feast. Part of the joy of the play is that it's deeply sad, but it's also funny."

"It's a really funny play about death and loneliness," Thebus explained. "And it's a really intimate play about the failure to connect."

Copyright © 2008 Pioneer Local