Village Theatre Guild's 'Autobahn' has director all revved up
Bill Burghardt, who's directing the Village Theatre Guild's production of “Autobahn,” will tell you that once you combine a great cast and a great script, a play can “zoom” along on its own.
This seems to be the case with “Autobahn,” the VTG's season opener, which runs 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays and 3 p.m. Sundays, Oct. 21 to Nov. 12, at the theater on the northwest corner of Park Boulevard and Butterfield Road in Glen Ellyn.
Burghardt, who chose the Neil LaBute script, says LaBute's excellent writing, great dialogue, comedic and dramatic talent — his “dramedy” in Burghardt's words — is high octane fuel for any cast.
And the cast is terrific, says Burghardt.
“I am thrilled to be working again with Candace Snapp and Paul Mapes, who were outstanding in the VTG production ‘Rabbit Hole,' and have both worked professionally. Lisa Dolnic's work at VTG, both as director and actor, is particularly strong. Greg Dvorak was seen last season in ‘Apartment 3A,' and pulled off some of the most explicit work I have ever seen under Lisa Dolnic's direction.
“I have never worked with Robert Richardson before, though he has done terrific work at VTG, and has been an absolute joy to work with, and Tracey Powers, who has done an extensive amount of voice-over work, is a wonderfully natural actor,” Burghardt said.
“Vince Scallone is a firecracker; one of those natural talents who needs little direction, and has worked extensively in the area. Jason Taylor appeared in ‘The Real Inspector Hound' last year, and I didn't know until he was cast that he had no previous acting experience. He continues to surprise.
“Nora Laidman is a senior in high school and has great talent and a wide open theatrical future in front of her. I am very proud of the cast and can say they are one of the strongest ensembles with which I have worked.”
A presence at the VTG for 33 years, Burghardt came to Glen Ellyn in 1978. As actor, playwright, drama critic and director, the Naperville North High School teacher has worked on 40 productions in the VTG's intimate space, writing three and directing more than a dozen.
In his youth, Burghardt said he played in a high school production of “Our Town,” but he didn't follow through on an interest in the theater. He graduated from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign with a major in rhetoric and composition.
It was years later, in 2005, that he consummated his interest in the dramatic arts by earning a master's degree in theater directing from Roosevelt University in Chicago.
Writing has always nurtured his soul, and Burghardt began his career as a print journalist. He had a long stint in the newspaper business, beginning with the Daily Illini, where he did reviews and fiction.
This was the foundation of a newspaper career that spanned many area publications, where he wrote criticism, reviews and edited entertainment sections, from the Daily Journal in Wheaton to Sun papers to the Daily Herald and the Chicago Tribune.
Burghardt was recognized in 1989 when he won the Peter Lisagor Award for outstanding arts criticism.
Burghardt says he once idolized J.D. Salinger and wanted to be a great fiction writer, not an actor. Theater eventually eclipsed other interests and he found himself hankering to write theatrical criticism and work in live theater.
To Burghardt, it's the process that counts — bringing the writer's vision to life.
“To me, it's creating strong images through strong acting and taking risks. It's one of the greatest highs you can have in life, either being onstage or directing the action,” he said.
“I feel if you have strong, committed people with you, then the work they do away from the theater is as important, if not more important, than what happens during the process.
“Over rehearsing can kill a play. I've seen it. You lose spontaneity. I tell my students that it's like watering a plant. If you continually water it, you'll kill it. The plant needs time to grow. So do plays. So do actors.
“When they see me I bring the water. But then they have to go away and let the part/person grow in them.”
LaBute's writing is edgy, which appeals to Burghardt. In “Autobahn,” LaBute divides his provocative work into seven mini-plays, each no longer than 10 or 20 minutes, and each having only two characters.
The playwright creates memorable scenes, such as a girl returning home with mom from drug rehab, an older man on an inexplicable road trip with a teenage girl, a guy trying to ditch a slightly maniacal girlfriend, and a man begging forgiveness of his wife for his verbal indiscretions.
All scenes feature two people in the front seat of an automobile.
“The challenge comes from the reactions of the actor driving the car,” Burghardt says, “each one obviously has to keep eyes on the road yet react to what is being said. It's a great challenge in acting without speaking, just reacting.”
According to Burghardt, within this assortment of mini-plays the audience will see LaBute's clear fascination with language. In his monologues — which comprise four of the seven mini-plays — LaBute moves fluently from topic to topic, from sorrow to rage, from unawareness to discovery.
Tickets are $18. Contact (630) 469-8230 or villagetheatreguild.org.
If you go
What: “Autobahn”
When: 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, 3 p.m. Sundays, Oct. 21 to Nov. 12
Where: Village Theatre Guild, Park Boulevard and Butterfield Road, Glen Ellyn
Cost: $18
Info: (630) 469-8230 or <a href="http://villagethreatreguild.org">villagethreatreguild.org</a>