Looking to celebrate Women’s History Month in an artistic way rooted in community?
Forest Theatre Company, previously Forest Park Theatre, is showing eight performances of “On the Verge” at the Madison Street Theater in Oak Park the weekends of March 14 and March 21.
Richard Corley, who founded Forest Park Theatre in 2021, chose to produce “On the Verge” for Women’s History Month. The play features three women who are 19th-century explorers and travel across the world, and time.
“It’s an extremely optimistic play about science and exploration and women and curiosity,” Corley said. “The message of the play is that the future is women. Another [message] is our desire for imagining the future will win out over cynicism and the sense that our best is behind us.”
The play also aligns with Forest Theatre Company’s goals.
“What the play is really about, at its heart, is the evolution of language, the way that language changes over time, and the strangeness of American language,” Corley said. “We’re devoted to language centered-plays, classic plays that still feel contemporary, and plays that play around with time and space.”
“On the Verge” features Elizabeth Hope Nahulak, Angelina Davila and Raquel “Rocky” Nguyen, who never leave the stage. Avery-Slade Fountain is the production’s only male role, playing seven characters, from a yeti to a cannibal.
Corley said he’s most looking forward to hearing a lot of laughter from the audience, but also “the acrobatic skill level of our actors” who create distinct characters.
“I’m looking forward to talking to people about how they respond to this weird, wonderful ride,” Corley said. “I’m hoping that this will be a play where people walk away from it and say, ‘I’ve never seen anything like this.’”
The future of Forest Theatre Company
Earlier this year, Forest Park resident Corley changed the name of Forest Park Theatre to Forest Theatre Company so that the group could expand beyond Forest Park.
Though Corley launched Forest Theatre Company because there were no theater companies in town, such groups are also few and far between in surrounding municipalities.
“It needs to feel like it’s not limited to this village,” Corley said of his theater company. It’s “an invitation for more involvement in what we hope will be a regional theater to attract from all these areas.”
While the group started with Shakespeare in the Park, it expanded to year-round readings of plays at American Legion Post 414. Last fall, “The Misanthrope” marked the company’s first indoor performance, which was held at Madison Street Theater and sold out.
Now, Forest Theatre Company is in residence at Madison Street Theater. Corley said he’s planning three plays for this year – “The Two Noble Kinsmen” for Shakespeare in the Park, likely Sophocles’ “Electra” in the fall, and possibly co-producing “The Skin of Our Teeth” with Madison Street Theater.
The theater has a 40-seat Black Box Theater, where Forest Park Theatre put on “The Misanthrope” and will house “On the Verge.” There’s also the Main Stage Theater nearly five times that size, where Corley’s company has never performed, but hopes to soon.
“I want to work up to filling that 190-seat theater next year,” Corley said.
As Forest Theatre Company and Madison Street Theater collaborate, they aim to find the resources to write and develop new plays.
“This is something every theater should be investing in,” Corley said. “It’s something a lot of theaters can’t do because they have to have funding.”
As Corley looks forward to the goal of producing original plays, right now he’s focused on putting on those that speak to the time we live in.
“It’s a fundamental belief of mine that you don’t do any piece of art because it’s a ‘classic,’” he said. “You do it because it’s a piece of art that speaks to now.”
Corley said people can look at a play that shows how history repeats itself in two ways.
“One is ‘Oh my god, do things ever change?’ I think a more meaningful way to look at it as an artist is ‘You are not alone across time.’”
“Art from the past provides a great deal of solace,” he added. “Sometimes people don’t realize what art is really for.”
While the art of Netflix TV shows and movies exist, “This play wouldn’t make any sense on television or in a movie theater,” Corley said. “Sometimes it’s really important to sit in a space with other people, breathe the same air, and go through something together.”
“On the Verge” will show at Madison Street Theater, 1010 Madison St. in Oak Park, from March 14 to 23. Tickets at $15 to $35 and can be purchased at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/on-the-verge-march-14th-23rd-tickets-1231687974889