LaBute alliance reaps benefits for Profiles
An interesting thing has happened to Profiles Theatre. The 19-year-old hole-in-the-wall company has always been known for their passionate, energetic productions. One of their biggest hits was the hyperbolic suspense drama "Popcorn. " But over the past decade, they have struck up a close relationship with playwright and film director Neil LaBute.
How close? Close enough that artistic director Darrell Cox keeps referring to him as Neil. Close enough that "Neil" never misses a production of one of his plays when it is done at Profiles. Close enough that Profiles is one of the first theaters he lets produce his plays after they have debuted in New York and London.
The current show, "This is How It Goes," is a case in point. The show ran in New York in the spring of 2005, followed by a run in London later that year.
"The version we are doing was done in London," Cox says. "(LaBute) updated it about a month after it ran in New York. And we are the first to do it after London."
The relationship started when Cox directed LaBute's play "autobahn."
"Initially we only communicated by e-mail," Cox says. But over time phone calls followed. Then LaBute, who has relatives in Chicago, showed up at the theater.
"We became friends," Cox says, meaning by we, the artistic staff of Profiles and LaBute.
"We discovered we all had the same sensibilities," Cox says. "He is willing to approach a controversial subject and deal with it in a way that is, I don't want to say provocative, but in a way makes people think. He has a desire to get to the truth of whatever he is writing about. And we are the same way.
"He is also very attracted to stories that reveal the disparity between our actions and who we are," Cox says. "And he wants to tell a story. Also his shows really work well in a small space like ours, because he has a specific and unique approach to language. He is one of the few writers writing currently where you can read three lines and you can tell this is a Neil play."
Over the past few years, Profiles has done a number of LaBute plays: "autobahn," "Fat Pig," "Some Girl(s)" and "Things We Said Today. "
"Fat Pig," in particular, turned into something of a hit for Profiles.
The current show, "This is How It Goes," is about obsession and race.
"The show is about a guy who has been in love with a girl since high school, and he comes back home and discovers she is now married to a guy who happens to be black," Cox says.
"What I really like about the story is that it really is not just about race," he says. "Or rather it is about the way race is underneath so many things, and the way that the only time issues of race come up is when someone does something ridiculous and extreme. And how race and racism is much more destructive when it is unspoken. And Neil LaBute is all about exposing the unspoken."