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Back in February of this year, I had the opportunity to see Switchboard at the Neo-Futurists' Theater in Andersonville. Switchboard is the brainchild of Sivan Spector and Annie Share, inspired by the Eastland Disaster in 1915. A little-known piece of Chicago history, the SS Eastland suddenly capsized while tied to a dock in the Chicago River during a company picnic. The disaster resulted in the deaths of 844 passengers and crew members. While the bulk of the play dives into the history of the SS Eastland and the events of the disaster on July 24, 1915, Sivan and Annie weave their own stories of loss and grief into the narrative. It’s a unique blend of theater, puppetry, and craftsmanship that makes for a profound experience.
Switchboard will be remounted for a three-week run at Steppenwolf’s 1700 Theater, opening Friday, November 22.
I want to know more about both of your backgrounds in theater. Could you give me a brief overview of your previous projects, experiences, training, and how y’all have been involved in the Chicago theater scene in the past?
S: I have a background in mostly acting and directing. When I moved to Chicago, I moved here to pursue more acting opportunities. I moved in March of 2020, had two auditions, and then everything shut down. During that time, I received unemployment—which was really awesome since I’d been furloughed from my job—and I started making puppets. I was at home all the time and had an interest in puppetry. I never had the time in the past to develop that interest, so I spent an entire year just learning how to make puppets. When I was able to return to teaching children’s theater, I shared this interest with them. They encouraged me to bring in more puppets. Once things started opening back up, I started getting more involved in the theater scene. This time, I was able to return as a puppet-maker and explore devised theater. I met Annie when we were both working on a devised Purim show. That was how I got my start in Chicago theater. This project is a really exciting continuation of that.
A: I have more of a background in improv and comedy. I moved here in part to see what that world was like, but discovered it wasn’t quite the right fit. I started doing more alternative variety hours and live story-telling shows. Then I found the Neo-Futurists and fell in love with this style of performance. I auditioned for the ensemble and was cast in March 2020, and I became the associate artistic director in April 2023. The Neos create non-illusory, experimental theater that’s a fusion of sport, poetry and living newspaper. The bulk of my artistic practice over the past few years has been within the Neo-Futurist aesthetic—writing and performing for the Infinite Wrench, which is our ongoing, ever-changing show that happens 49 weeks a year. This show is in the Neo-Futurist aesthetic as well. It’s autobiographical theater that spans several different genres.
You used a term that some readers may not be familiar with. Devised theater?
S: Yeah, devised theater is really big in Chicago. It basically means any theater that is created outside of the traditional form. Traditionally, there’s a playwright who gives the script to a director, and the director casts the show, and the cast puts on the show. Devised theater doesn’t follow that same script, so it can look a million different ways. It could be devised by an ensemble or, in the case of Annie and me, we sat down and started in conversation with one another. We wrote the show and created every element of the show together. Devised theater usually implies more collaboration in the creative process rather than just one playwright.
Are there other theater-makers or projects that you admire right now? What are some things that y’all are looking at and inspiring your work?
S: Definitely one really big inspiration for a lot of our work in the show is Manual Cinema. They do really interesting stuff with shadow puppetry and multi-media forms of puppetry. Other than that, I am personally inspired by a playwright in Chicago, Terry Guest, who I know through some of my teaching artist work at the Chicago Children’s Theatre. He writes a lot of plays that are really magical and beautiful, but deep down, some of them have an autobiographical perspective.
A: My friends’ art is my favorite art. We’re so lucky to live in a city where it feels somewhat livable to be a working artist. I feel like everyone I know is constantly creating new work and trying new things, which is really inspiring to be part of.
Are there any projects that y’all have worked on in the past that inspired Switchboard and contributed to that project?
A: My work in the Infinite Wrench has definitely contributed to the script and overall vision for Switchboard. I draw from a lot of themes and images I’ve explored in the Wrench and dive deeper in this project.
S: I think what’s really cool about this show, at least from our perspectives as artists, is that we both took a step into each other’s artistic realms. Annie took a step into puppetry and I took a step into the Neo-Futurist aesthetic. Part of the reason why we decided to collaborate was because we made a big puppet together for a previous show and we had a lot of fun doing that. We wanted to do that again! So that piece of work, even though it was completely unrelated in terms of content, was a big inspiration for wanting to make more big puppets.
That’s so cool! Where did Switchboard come from?
A: I originally learned about the Eastland when I was a Segway tour guide downtown. The Eastland Disaster was a horrific incident–a gruesome piece of Chicago history that very few people on my tours had ever heard about. Even many of my friends who had lived here for their entire lives were unfamiliar, and so was Sivan. We’re both history nerds and we love Chicago, so it felt like a ripe story to entrench ourselves in. We both became a bit obsessed with the archival materials and even more obsessed with what we imagine to be missing. We also thought a lot about how to best blend our unique artistic practices together in order to make the world on stage more expansive. We wanted to find a way to include figures from the disaster without pretending to be them, which is how we landed on using puppets to depict them.
S: We did a bunch of research before we even started writing or before we even knew the shape of the show. We found that there was so much information to work with from the Eastland disaster, the trial afterwards, and the history leading up to it. A lot of it was really mysterious, which inspired us to dive more into the Neo-Futurist aesthetic. We made our own connections to the content and the ways in which our lives are affected by similar themes.
I know there are puppets in it, but there are also a lot of other elements to it as well. I’m curious about your creative process and how structural decisions were made. What was that process like?
A: Our director Anna Gelman was really inspiring and collaborative in creating the shape of the show, as well as our composer and designer, Spencer Meeks. Beyond the text, something we talk about in relation to the Neo-Futurist aesthetic is “task.” What are tasks or physical components–things we literally do on stage–that heighten or theatricalize the language? How can we show and not just tell? You’ll also notice there are a lot of images and recurring motifs. Apples, lightbulbs, water… We try to explore each of these elements in depth. How many different ways can we use an apple? How many surprising ways can this image return? How can we make new meaning each time it reappears?
S: I think that some of the images came to us right away when we started - especially thinking about the puppets that we wanted to use. Then, when we tried to make those puppets and failed, we pivoted towards other images or better versions of what we planned. We then went back into the narrative asking ourselves where else could weave the thread of those images in. Our process has been really collaborative. We talk everything out, even down to the smallest decisions, we argue over them! In a good way, I think that’s how we flow.
A: There was a puppet that I was too scared to cut in half, so we needed to look at it together to actually do it.
S: I’ll hold one part of the scissors and Annie will hold the other!
What does Switchboard mean to you?
S: It’s so hard to say.
A: I think that answer changes every day.
S: Yeah. In a way. I think–I’ll speak for myself–sometimes it feels like a love letter from me to the people that I’ve lost. Whether by death or rupture in relationship.
A: I think for me it's in part a love letter to Chicago. One of the goals of this show is to take this largely forgotten piece of history and establish a renewed point of connection. We hope to bring the memory of the Eastland back to life by creating new memories through our personal stories.
Kind of related, how has the show impacted the community?
S: We got a lot of archival material from the Eastland Disaster Historical Society. One of the founders is a historian and his wife is the granddaughter of someone who was a 12-year-old child during the disaster–she treaded water for hours and survived, it’s a really amazing story. They were so nice and supportive from the very beginning. We had a talk-back with them after our previous performance, which went really well. They mentioned that they do a lot of community events at libraries and they noticed that our show drew out the youngest audience they had ever seen. That was really cool to reflect on, bringing this historical content to a new audience who hadn’t known about it before. We’re actually planning another talk-back after the December 8th matinee.
A: Time will tell, I guess.
How does this project reflect your hopes and dreams for the theater community here in Chicago?
A: Again, something I love about Chicago is that it feels like a place where it’s possible to actualize artistic ideas in ways that feel less tangible in other cities. Switchboard started as the seedling of an idea that we committed to. Anyone can make any show happen. We’re so grateful for all the help that we’ve received from the Neo-Futurists and friends who’ve helped us with hours of crafting. We’ve felt very loved and cared for in this process. People are eager to show up for their friends and we both reciprocate that back into our community. Everyone should make their weirdo play ideas!
S: I definitely second that! I also hope it inspires curiosity around Chicago’s history. Both Annie and I aren’t from here. In making this city my home, I feel so much curiosity about this city. Any theater that draws from the real world just makes us more aware of our presence in it.
Are y’all working on any other projects currently or is anything coming up in the future?
S: Forthcoming, we’re doing another Purim Spiel. We’ve done a radical queer Purim Spiel for the last several years and, this year, it’ll be even bigger and better than ever before.
When’s that happening?
S: Purim is celebrated in March.
A: I’m just helping. I think we’re kind of immersed in Switchboard, so who knows?
Quick pitch! Why should someone go see Switchboard?
S: It’s a chance to live for an hour and ten minutes in a world where anything could happen and everything is real.
A: I think Switchboard is reflective of many components of humanity.
S: And many questions, about technology, love, loss, universal themes.
A: And we’re going to have a signature cocktail! It will involve Malört.
Are there any other details people should be aware of?
A: Yes, we have an ASL-interpreted performance on December 5. The December 8 performance will be followed by a talkback with the Eastland Disaster Historical Society, and tickets are going really fast for that show. December 12 will be a mask-required performance. The show will be on from November 22 through December 14, but we’re off over the weekend of Thanksgiving. It’s three weekends and 10 performances.
Switchboard will be performed at Steppenwolf’s 1700 Theater Friday, November 22, through December 14. Running time is 75 minutes. Performances are Thursday-Saturday at 8pm and Sunday at 3:30pm. No performances Thanksgiving weekend, November 28-December 1. Tickets are $15-$25.
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