Local author's play asks real questions of love

Our most-acclaimed holiday of romance doesn't get to the heart of the matter when it comes to love.

“Valentine's Day,” declares author Bruce Steinberg of St. Charles, “is for amateurs.”

As a lawyer, husband and father, the 53-year-old Steinberg has been pondering questions more substantial than whether love requires a gift of candy or flowers.

“What makes a woman a woman?” Steinberg asks. “And how in the world would a man, especially a husband, know the answer?”

In an attempt to answer that, Steinberg wrote a novel called “My Occasional Torment.” That novel caught the attention of Daniel Nigg of Nigg Media Productions in Naperville, who thought it could be transformed into a stage play that would be perfect for local actors Donna and Rob Kaye of Schaumburg, who read the work and decided to pour all their energy and time into the project.

“It was like dominoes falling and I don't control them,” Steinberg says. “It was an accident I had to be ready for.”

The result is “My Occasional Torment,” a play opening at 7:30 p.m. Friday at Center State Theater, 1665 Quincy Ave. in Naperville, and running Friday and Saturday nights for two weekends. (For tickets and information phone (630) 470-6393 or visit www.wix.com/eNIGGma/myoccasionaltorment or www.cterstage-theater.com)

The story starts with a kernel from the Steinbergs' real life.

“My wife (Peggy) and I went to see a movie at the Elgin Theater,” begins Steinberg, who wrote this latest book under his pen name of Bee Robb. He was washing his hands at the sink before the movie began when he saw a well-dressed, distinguished man exit a stall, fasten his pants, stand at the sink, run his fingers through his graying hair and leave without washing.

“What if he shared popcorn with a date?” Steinberg asked his wife as he relayed the story in the theater.

The main character in his book and play, Sebastian Connery, a self-righteous, Scottish-obsessed college professor and husband, confronts the hygienically challenged movie patron and ends up getting arrested. Steinberg's personal life obviously influences his writing, but he stops short of crossing the lines his character does, much to the relief of his real-life wife.

“If I told you bits and pieces in the book are true, I'd be her constant torment,” Steinberg says.

The story, trimmed from 90,000 words to about 15,000 for the stage, stars a wife grappling with her husband, their teenage son, their marriage and her body at age 53.

“I'm not sure I can do this. A lot of things are very close to home,” Donna Kaye, who plays the lead, told her husband initially after reading the story.

“This is you,” Rob Kaye, who directs the play as well as playing the husband, told her. “You need to do this part.”

Rob Kaye says the talented cast has been wonderful to direct. The cast boasts other veterans of suburban theater including Jim Williams, who moved to Huntley after years of performing in Palatine; Diana Satness, who is returning to the stage since she retired after years as a mainstay in the Elgin theater scene; August Conte, who might be best known for his annual roles in the Elgin Cemetery Walk; Jen Jersey, who has worked with the Kayes in Harmony Productions; and Mike Raleigh, a high school senior who has been a regular with Kidz Kabaret and other productions in Naperville.

As well as everything came together, Nigg sees this as the first step toward bigger things of “My Occasional Torment.”

“There's nothing to say this couldn't be a movie,” says Nigg, one of the co-founders of the Naperville Independent Film Festival.

Steinberg, his wife and their son Allen, 9, are taking things slowly. They've intentionally stayed away from rehearsals so that Friday's premiere will be new to them, too. He doesn't need to share his Valentine's Day with anyone outside of his son and wife. But he would like to thank his wife for all her support for this project.

“That,” Steinberg says, “is her Valentine's gift for me.”