Harper stages 'Inteligent Design'
The play's director, Ilknur River Ozgur, gives us the rundown on this weekend's production.
Q. Briefly, what is this play about?
A. Jennifer Marcus, adopted from China by a California couple, is a troubled genius who is trapped in her fortress bedroom because her obsessive-compulsive disorder morphed into a case of agoraphobia, an abnormal fear of public or open spaces. She clicks away on her keyboard, forging "firm digital relationships" with a Russian-born scientist, an aeronautics engineer and a Mormon missionary. Jennifer designs and builds a robot she names Jenny Chow, who will travel outside of her bedroom to find the birth mother who abandoned her.
Q. Check one:
comedy
drama
comedy-drama
• drama-comedy
musical
experimental theater
Q. Tell us what you know about the author, and the history behind this play:
A. For the last four years, Rolin Jones has been a writer/producer for Showtime's award-winning series, "Weeds." He calls Jenny Chow the play that "keeps on giving," and speculates that if his dramatic effort hadn't been discovered in a classroom a few years ago, "I'd be cleaning pools right now. It was the luckiest break in the world."
Q. What's the appeal of doing this play from your point of view?
A. The play appeals to me because of its exploration into the sense of abandonment and love lost for all of us.
Q. What makes this play fabulous?
A. The story, the search to find one's self for everyone and how we are all related, how we all play a role in each other's lives. There's always a connection.
Q. Without giving too much away, is there a "don't miss" moment, and when does it come?
A. The fight for love between mother and (adopted) daughter.
Q. Has the play gotten awards or notable nominations?
A. It was a finalist for the 2006 Pulitzer Prize in Drama and received the 2006 Obie Award for Excellence in Playwriting.
Q. List the main cast and crew in your production.
A. Director: Ilknur River Ozgur
Guitar/Music Director: Andreas Kapsalis
Guitar/Piano/Tabla: Nahum Brinkerhoff
Digital Media and Editor: Terry Hahin
Lighting Designer: Charlotte Rathke
Costume Designer: Jane DeBondt
Jennifer Marcus: Shelle Espiritu
Preston: Edward R. Duncan
Adele Hartwick: Linda Collins-Hart
Jenny Chow: Grace L. Heuer
Todd: Lee Nadal
Mr. Marcus/Mr. Zhang: Curt Renz
Q. Who are you?
A. Ilknur River Ozgur, a friend of Kapsalis, and a 1995 graduate of Elk Grove Village High School, is a Harper alumnus who now teaches speech and theater at the college and is active with grass roots Chicago theater such as the Urban Theatre Company. She focuses on multicultural theater "because my family comes from Turkey."
Ozgur has also participated in Collab-or-action and the New York Fringe Festival by directing the play "Jaspora. "She has been active in the Chicago drama scene for the last 10 years.
If you go
• Show times: Thursday, April 30; Friday, May 1; Saturday, May 2 and Sunday, May 3. Weekdays at 8 p.m. Sunday at 2 p.m.
• Where: Drama Lab, Room L109, Building L of Harper College, 1200 W. Algonquin Road, Palatine. Parking most convenient in Lots 2 or 2A.
• Ticket prices: $12-$15. Call (847) 925-6100.
• Age group this play will most appeal to: Anyone who uses computer to build relationships; college students and their parents; really anyone except small children.
• Sensitivity scale from 1 to 5 and why: 3. Some profanity.