Simple, but Not Easy The Journey of CloseUp Theatre Troupe A play in four parts

by Leah Shutes

The story thus far: Since 1997, Eastern’s CloseUp Theatre Troupe has been pushing the envelope of traditional theatre entertainment. The Troupe puts on annual shows to challenge long-held notions, welcome students to college life, and draw emotions and deep thinking from the audience. CloseUp, now under the direction of Gayle Hurn, celebrated 15 years with a show called “Everything in Between” at the Student Center in March. The show included scenes like Real World Boot Camp, which put a fun spin on life after graduation, and Imagine It, asking the audience to consider body image and embrace who they are. We join some of CloseUp’s founding members 15 years later, as they revisit their experiences from their first show and ponder how it’s affected their lives and careers. We’ll learn how they came up with ideas, and some of the more challenging aspects of being in the Troupe. So sit back, relax and enjoy the show!

Characters:

Jessica “Decky” Alexander (BA91, MFA96). . . . . . . . . . . . . founding mother of CloseUp and currently a professor of theatre at EMU

Mary Larkin (BS01). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . LGBT Resource Center coordinator at EMU and original cast member of CloseUp

April Badon (BA06, MA10). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . teacher of cosmetology at the Aveda Institute of Ann Arbor, and original cast member of CloseUp

Derek McGill (BS99) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . CEO of The Gilbert Residence and original cast member of CloseUp.

 

SCENE I: GETTING STARTED

DECKY

At the time (1997) I was a lecturer here, and I was running a similar program at the University of Michigan. So some people from EMU asked me to launch a comparable program here. We set up at Snow Health Center; I thought a lot of the issues we were dealing with were health-related issues, social issues, personal wellness, things of that sort.

In starting CloseUp, we didn’t actually hold auditions. I went back to some students that I’d had over the years, went back to my connections from my classes. I taught CTAR 222 (Drama and Play in the Human Experience) for years and got a really fascinating cross-section of students there.

It was interesting to ask people to participate. There has to be a willingness to take a risk. They’re participating in an activity where people have strong opinions and belief systems. They need to be willing and able to listen to other people’s points of view. Another important thing was for the members to reflect the people of the community.

DEREK

She (Decky) called me and asked me to participate; I had no history in dramatic or theatrical activities. I was just your typical small-town sports kid. I only performed for one year. It was all I could handle.

APRIL

I got involved through CTAR 222, which was my first class as a freshman. I didn’t even know how to act; I just did what I did in her class, I didn’t know what I was going to be a part of, but if it was anything like her class, I was all in. And the class in itself taught us to think critically, and that there were no rights or wrongs.

MARY

We (the cast) were a diverse group of students who didn’t even know each other, people who had never been in a room together that had been charged with trying to represent the campus and send messages of unity and goodness.

DECKY

That was deliberate to some extent; on the same level, [there were different kinds of people who] thought my classes were interesting… I always liked energies. Everybody is a contributor and has a different story, and then of course different backgrounds.

SCENE II: THE EARLY DAYS

MARY

One of the most interesting points from the founding time is that we didn’t know what the product was going to be. We’d have conversations, but we hadn’t seen it, so we had to trust Decky’s vision. And at the (first) freshman orientation show there were 1,200 people and all the sudden, all this work we’d done… the whole thing came to fruition. I think after that, it was a much different culture and feeling. But for me, I was sort of riding out the summer like, “This is fun, talking about stuff and making jokes and we’re going to do a show…” And then all of a sudden it was, “OK. These shows are gonna do stuff.”

DEREK

I think that show was kind of a snapshot of what you’re going to encounter (on campus). What we were trying to do, at least from my viewpoint, was to provide somebody with kind of a quick snapshot of “Hey, you’re gonna encounter racial issues, gender issues.”

MARY

I really appreciated that even though we worked hard at something, we didn’t tell people how to feel, we didn’t tell people what was right or wrong, we asked them to question whatever the issue was. We didn’t expect people to land on the same side. We just expected them to figure it out for themselves.

DEREK

I still think the first show was one of the most monumental moments of my life, standing in front of that crowd. And just scared out of my mind, but not realizing, not seeing the impact that it would have on people… not just at that orientation show.

APRIL

For a lot of people, it was an escape from class and just from the day-to-day. Just to be able to see into other people’s lives, like, “Why do you think the way that you think?” And for somebody to actually say, “Well, I believe this way just because I believe this way…” or “This is the way I was brought up.”

MARY

You get to see people; not only the folks in the Troupe, but also the folks in the audience, and the conversations afterward that we got to participate in… changing the culture on a micro and a macro level. I’ve been here for 18 years. And I honestly can say that CloseUp changed the culture of Eastern with that orientation show.

SCENE III: FORM FOLLOWS FUNCTION

DECKY

The framework (for scenes and shows) went from questioning to ideas to maybe a personal story. We would address ideas. The University might want us to address something, too, if there was something that was a big issue, like parking.

MARY

We’d lay down hot topics, stuff that’s going on, a question. What’s astonishing or uncharted? And what is the best format for the message? Is “privilege” best represented in a game show? Maybe! If you wanted people to laugh at it because it’s so intense that you can’t get it across any other way, then maybe that’s the way to do it. Or, is it a monologue when we’re talking about something like body image?

MARY

Everything we did was true. Very rarely would we ever stand there and say “I” or do something if that was not the experience of someone in the Troupe. So everything that happened—like doctor visits or body changes or struggling with drugs and alcohol, eating disorders, sexual orientation—was all based on actual experience.

DECKY

With this kind of theatre, when you talk about the process, it’s really okay to just be ambiguous and contradictory… that’s where art is. Also, I think that’s critical in this kind of theatre to be able to speak honestly and authentically. If you’re going to perform and your audience and your players are the same people, you’d better be honest. So, there’s awareness and then there’s information, and I think that there are ways to disseminate it differently. It builds all those ways. It could come from a spark, a lot of times we’ll do spark stories like body image. We unpack them.

MARY

One of the questions on the table now, 15 years later, is “Is CloseUp still relevant?” And I think for the orientation show, people say, “Absolutely. Hands down, still absolutely strong and relevant.” But for some of our smaller shows, like the residence hall shows, not so much. Some of the conversations taking place now ask why we think that is. It’s because students have access to this information now. The Student Affairs and multicultural competency work on campus is very different than it was when we started CloseUp. But it still does what it’s supposed to do.

SCENE IV: NO CAKE WALK

APRIL

Even with the smaller shows, I feel like I bared my soul.

MARY

Even if it’s just a little seed that gets planted, you have an entire first-year class, and some of them are really into it, and others don’t like it, others find it a little challenging, you’ll hear hissing from the audience. You’re hearing it while it’s happening, but when you get into those smaller facilitation sessions, you realize that CloseUp did really challenge people on their very first stint on campus. And this is what college is about.

DEREK

For me personally, just being part of the Troupe was like that (challenging). I don’t think I appreciated it at the time, but it put me in an uncomfortable situation and allowed me to be friends with people that I was not allowed to be friends with. It allowed me an opportunity to see people as they truly are. Which helps me especially in my professional life, because I’ve managed thousands of people now, of all different backgrounds.

MARY

I think that absolutely the most important thing I ever got out of CloseUp is that if I ever expect people to listen to me, I have to listen to them. And that’s not something I ever understood before that. And people sat in that audience and didn’t want to hear some of the things we had to say, and attendance was mandatory for them.

DECKY

If people are a little uncomfortable (at the shows), they’re present in the moment. There’s also the idea of reciprocity, so in order for them to cultivate discomfort in the audience, they have to be uncomfortable themselves, right? So, those moments of discomfort… those are moments of wide-awakeness. There’s a difference between alienation and shocking them… it’s not crazy like that. It’s not threatening to them, it’s just uncomfortable. Life is like that. And if you can have those moments where you can navigate and negotiate those feelings in a relatively safe space, it’s much better than out there, in the world around us.