Townspeoplin' at the Goodman

One cool thing about Robert Falls is that his name is a complete sentence.

The extras holding room.

Speaking of complete sentences, here's one: this Spring I got the chance to step onstage at the Goodman Theatre as a citizen/townsperson/extra/supernumerary/person. The show was An Enemy of the People, Robert Falls' adaptation of Henrik Ibsen's political drama. He picked a ringer for the zeitgeist— highly relevant to America's current political situation.

So citizeny.

I expected it to just be a small paycheck, but Mr. Falls didn't just want bodies on the stage: it was an opportunity to exercise focus and honest reactions as we (collectively) played a scene opposite the incredible Philip Earl Johnson (in the role of Thomas Stockman) and the rest of the talented cast. Watching and learning from their performances night after night was a great opportunity and genuinely enjoyable time after time.

Since there were roughly one hundred of us, I had the chance to meet a bunch of other Chicago actors. Look at us over there! That's what we wore to the closing night party as well as every night we were there because those were our costumes you know how this works.