Forest Park Theatre will soon start its run of Molière’s comedy “The Misanthrope,” the group’s first indoor performance since it started annual summer Shakespeare in the Park productions in 2021.
“The Misanthrope” will run Oct. 11-13 and Oct. 18-20 at Madison Street Theater in Oak Park. It is a satire of 17th century French aristocracy, telling the story of Alceste, a man who’s furious about how people tell lies and behave inauthentically, though he does the same.
“In our political world right now, that’s a pretty relevant thing to be addressing,” said Richard Corley, founder and director of Forest Park Theatre. He added that, in the comedy, Molière critiques how extreme opinions are destructive.
“Human beings are flawed, human beings are complex, and human beings are prone to behaving in ways that are contradictory,” Corley said. “Unfortunately, human nature never goes out of style.”
The play is written in rhyming couplets, which Corley said has been exciting to see Forest Park Theatre actors rehearse.
“The ability to negotiate how to speak that language is very challenging for actors,” Corley said. “We have a great company who are really rising to the occasion.”
Opening night tickets for “The Misanthrope” are $80 and include food. The rest of the shows, Oct. 12 and 13, plus Oct. 18 through 20, are $35 for general admission tickets, $15 for students, and $30 for seniors and members of the Forest Park Arts Alliance.
Selling out the 40-seat theater on opening night would pay for the Forest Park Theatre’s rental of Madison Street Theater, Corley said.
“This opening night benefit is a way for the community to help us pay our bills,” Corley said. “Like any nonprofit, we’re trying to break even.”
The start of Forest Park Theatre
Corley founded Forest Park Theatre in the spring of 2021.
With a bachelor’s in acting and master’s degrees in theater history and directing, Corley started a theater in New York City in the 1980s. He and his wife moved to Forest Park nearly a decade ago and now teach at the University of Illinois Chicago’s theater program.
“When we moved to Forest Park, we noticed two things,” Corley told the Review in the past. First, they saw how diverse and welcoming the village is. “And we also noticed there was no theater.”
Corley founded Forest Park Theatre as the village’s first theater group, and as a way for UIC acting students to get experience outside of school.
Forest Park Theatre has held annual Shakespeare in the Park performances since 2021. This summer, the group performed “Pericles.”
While many of the actors in “The Misanthrope” will be the same as those who have performed in Shakespeare in the Park, there will be lighting and sound effects in the company’s first full indoor production, unlike when they perform outdoors.
Corley said he chose a Molière play as the company’s first indoor performance because both he and Shakespeare center language at the heart of their playwriting.
“The speaking of the words is the dramatic act. The event of the play is language,” Corley said. He added that he hopes “we bring our outside audience from the summers inside, and that we can grow an audience for year-round theater.”
Though Corley said he’s ultimately looking for a space dedicated to Forest Park Theatre so that the company can grow and host acting classes, he’s currently looking for donations for a place to rehearse and perform.
Last year, Forest Park Theatre started hosting events outside of its annual summer Shakespeare in the Park performances with year-round play readings at American Legion Post 414.
Now, Forest Park Theatre is expanding its official productions. The group will put on a version of “Electra” by Sophocles in the spring, also at Madison Street Theater.
Corley said his goals include building a strong theater company and developing an audience for professional theater in Forest Park.
“Any arts organization like this needs visionary community members who see … the value that it can add to the community,” Corley said.
“I think what people are going to see on the stage is a budding great professional company. I think people can get very excited about being in on the ground floor of something extraordinary that could be built here.”
Buy tickets to see “The Misanthrope” at Madison Street Theater at https://www.fptheatre.org/.
