No 'easy answers': Suburban native braces for role in 'Invasion of Skokie'

Actor Michael Joseph Mitchell, currently appearing in "The Invasion of Skokie," has had a long, rich career, with stints in Paris, New York and Chicago. But it all started in the suburbs.

"I grew up in Hoffman Estates and Arlington Heights," Mitchell says. "I delivered the Daily Herald in Libertyville in sixth, seventh and eighth grade."

This former paperboy, however, found his true calling at Carmel High School in Mundelein. There, Mitchell discovered he loved being on the stage.

"I got pulled into the theater at the nudging of a teacher," he says. "She pushed me. She knew me as this introverted but really creative kid. I was very overweight at the time. And almost immediately, as soon as I stepped onto the stage, I felt like it was the most comfortable place in the world. It was much more comfortable than real life."

He graduated high school in 1980 and studied theater at Drake University. He followed up his schooling with a stint at the National Theater Center, one that led him to perform with a small troupe outside of Paris.

Eventually he ended up in New York, living the actor's life and meeting his wife.

But like a lot of actors. he found New York was not as hospitable as sweet home Chicago. So he and his wife moved back in 1999. He has been working steadily here ever since.

Mitchell is currently appearing in "The Invasion of Skokie," which uses the 1978 American Nazi march in Skokie as its background. With a title like that, you would expect it to be a serious drama. But Mitchell considers the play to be a mix of both the comic and the serious.

"The play is entertaining, but it is not solely a comedy," Mitchell says. "It does not provide any easy answers. It is designed with some deep issues that cannot be resolved."

The story concerns an observant Jewish couple living in Skokie that suddenly must deal with the fact that their daughter has fallen in love with a non-Jewish guy - one who worked for the family when he was a boy.

"That means he is as close to the family as he could be - for a gentile and a nonfamily member," Mitchell says.

In the production, Mitchell plays Howard Green, a childhood buddy of the main character.

"Green has never been equipped to deal with the real world," Mitchell says. "He is terrified of life. And ever since his mother passed away he barely leaves the apartment."

He also has a habit of showing up, like Kramer on "Seinfeld," at exactly the wrong time.

Does Mitchell consider his character to be a comic character, meant to bring out the humor in the piece, or a serious one? Mitchell doesn't have a quick answer to this question.

"One of the things I like about this play is that it doesn't provide easy answers," he says.

• "The Invasion of Skokie" runs in previews Sept. 3, 4 and 9. The play opens Sept. 10 and runs through Oct. 10 at Chicago Dramatists, 1105 W. Chicago Ave., Chicago. For tickets call (312) 633-0630 or visit www.chicagodramatists.org.