Touching Virginia Woolf

Me, Harper and our gracious Steppenwolf hosts Hilary and Malcolm, on stage during the touch tour. Malcolm is holding one of the breakable prop bottles and a bouquet of the plastic snapdragons which figure prominently into the play.

I have a pass to swim laps at the Chicago Hilton pool on Michigan Avenue, and I wanted to swim Sunday morning. The lobby would be packed with fans partying before the afternoon game at Soldier Field, so Mike agreed to work out, too. That way he could walk Harper and me there. Along the way Mike described what he saw. Packer Bear fans tailgating outside in the 18 degree weather, a woman wearing a huge bright orange wig, a man dressed like a real live bear. “He’s even got a bear head!” Mike laughed.

It seemed so festive and fun. I wondered one last time whether I was doing the right thing, opting to go to the theatre that afternoon instead of watching the game. Steppenwolf Theatre Company was doing “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf,” and they happened to be offering a special touch tour before the matinee last Sunday, the very day the Bears were playing the Packers in the NFC championship.

I’d heard of these touch tours for people who are blind before but never thought I’d get much out of taking one. I tend to go to theater with friends who can see. Once we find our seats, they’re happy to let me know what’s up there on the stage. Who needs to touch the furniture? When I got the promotional stuff for this particular touch tour, however, two things caught my eye. Okay, my ear.

• We’d get to meet the actors and actresses before the play. I love meeting actors and actresses.
• Tickets for touch tour participants were half price.

Flo Finke didn’t raise no fool. I emailed Evan Hatfield, Front of House Manager at Steppenwolf, and signed up. Evan was there to greet me as we entered the lobby. “Here’s the playbill,” he said, pressing a CD in to my palm. Playbills are available in Braille, large print, or as an audio recording on CD to listen to at home. Staff member Hillary Odom-Kline led us to seats at the front of the theatre – she’d be my assistant throughout the entire play. There were about 20 or so of us there for the touch tour, and we were asked to introduce ourselves out loud.

Smart move. Gave us an idea of who to schmooze with during intermissions!

Once we were settled in our seats, Stage Manager Malcolm Ewen took the stage and described the set, with help from fellow staff members Robert Hines III and Rebecca Stevens. All of the action takes place in Martha and George’s living room, in a small college town somewhere in New England. The staff was familiar with the play, of course. They knew exactly which props were most vital to help us understand the action on stage. Doorbell chimes hanging by the entrance. A small photo of Martha’s father on the mantel. A toy gun with an umbrella that shoots out of the barrel. These explanations really helped. Example: Before the play, they pointed out an abstract 60s painting on the wall, towards the right, in George’s study. “It’s modern art,” they said. “Muddy blue swirls and brown tones. Not very interesting.” Later on in the play, when the actors are on the right side of the stage and someone asks about a painting, George says, “What it is, actually, is it’s a pictorial representation of the order of Martha’s mind.” Thanks to the presentation ahead of time, I understood how biting – and witty – George’s comment was. Which, in turn, helped me better understand the play.

The actors introduced themselves to us ahead of time, too.

Tracy Letts and Amy Morton as George and Martha in a scene from the play.

“My name is Tracy Letts, I’m 45 years old. That’s the same age as George, who I’ll be playing today.” Each actor described their physical characteristics — “I’m…well, a big guy. I’m six foot three inches tall, about 210 pounds. Stocky, I guess” – and what they’d be wearing on stage. When Amy Morton, who plays George’s wife Martha, told us she was five foot ten, I could picture her pairing up well with Tracy Letts’ George.

The actors were happy to answer any questions we had. We discovered this is the seventh time Tracy Letts and Amy Morton have played husband and wife on stage. They’ve known each other thirty years. Both won Tony awards for August: Osage County, and Tracy Letts won a Pulitzer Prize for writing that play. It was a thrill to have this private audience with them.

The Steppenwolf folks were happy to share fun facts from behind the scenes, too:

• They weren’t drinking liquor on stage. It was water. Or colored water. The ice was real, though!
• They had to learn to pace the way they sipped. That way their glass would be empty at the precise moment George asks if they want a refill.
• The glasses and bottles flung across the stage during arguments look real, but they’re special-ordered acrylic resin bottles designed to shatter realistically and safely – wouldn’t be cool to act on broken glass, or have shattered glass spray into the audience.
• Martha’s boobs weren’t entirely real, either. “Lots of cleavage,” Amy Morton said after being asked to describe her costuming. “Helped by padding.”
• The couch and comfy chair on stage were bought new, then sent to an upholsterer to cover them so they’d match, both in color and in the way they looked worn out.

These theatre–types had described the set so well that I really didn’t need to go up there and feel how books and journals had been strewn about on tables and bookshelves or fondle the glasses and bottles on the bar stand. But who could refuse a chance to stand on stage at the Steppenwolf? Harper and I stepped right up.

This was Harper’s first time attending a play, and Evan the front house manager thought my new dog would be most comfortable in the front row – plenty of room for him to stretch out. How. Cool. Steppenwolf offered headphones to wear — a narrator describes visual effects — but I don’t like those. I get a kick out of figuring it out for myself, and sitting so close made that easy to do. I felt like Harper and I were right there with George and Martha in their living room.

Hillary tapped me on the shoulder during the first intermission to ask if I needed anything. When I told her Harper needed to go outside, she didn’t flinch. She got her coat and guided us to a nearby tree. There we stood in the bitter cold, Harper circling to find just the right spot. “Not your typical day at the theatre, huh?” I laughed.

“No, not exactly,” Hillary admitted. “But I love it!”

Back inside, another staff member asked how my dog reacted to violence. I was happy to respond that I had no idea. The second act had a bit of physical violence, she said. “Maybe you’d like to sit further back?” We did, and while it was fun to experience the play from a different perspective, I missed being in George and Martha’s living room. We moved back to the front row for Act Three.

The play was fantastic, and it is getting glorious reviews. Even people who can see like it! Here’s one example, a snippet from the Chicago Sun Times :

Morton, with her sexy figure, proudly exhausted face and utterly fearless emotional abandon and vulnerability is a knockout. She has no match. And Letts, who nails every bristling, ironic line, every mournful bit of Latin, every stabbing pain of quiet desperation, is a stunning partner in despair. Both actors make you hear the play anew…

When I got home and heard how the Bears had fared against the Packers, I knew. No question. I’d seen the best performance in Chicago last Sunday.