The relationship of two tormented lovers who inexorably continue their dysfunctional hookup is at the core of a production from Chicago Street Theatre of Valparaiso.
Sam Shepard’s “Fool for Love” runs May 25-June 9.
Performances are set for 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, 2:30 p.m. June 3 and 7:30 p.m. June 7.
“This is the show that made me want to do theater in college,” co-director Mary A. Bird Matern said. “Sam Shepard is my favorite playwright.”
She cited the responsibility she feels to “do the work justice.”
A seedy motel room on the edge of the Mojave Desert provides a setting for the tumultuous tale of May and Eddie, two intertwined beings who can’t live with or without each other, according to Chicago Street Theatre.
“It’s a story about a 15-year relationship; it’s two people that started dating in high school,” Matern related. “We see them 15 years later, and kind of get their backstory and why they are the way they are, and why they can’t stay away from each other, even though it’s not good for them.
“I would classify it as a drama with comedic parts. It’s definitely more of a drama.”
Lisa Zandy, who portrays May, has the task of fleshing out a character with opposing personality traits.
“I have to try to get into the mindset of somebody who has been hurt over and over again, but isn’t breaking free from that toxic relationship,” Zandy, a Winfield resident, said. “There’s this dynamic between my character being vulnerable at times, but also being very headstrong at times. So it’s very up and down.”
Zandy believes May’s propensity for sinking into such a romantic morass creates an acting challenge because it is not relatable for most of us.
“I can relate with bad relationships, of course; I think everybody has had a couple bad relationships,” the 26-year-old actress said. “But this one is very disturbing at times. Her relationship with Eddie is very messed up in a lot of ways.
“I feel honored to have gotten his role. May has so many emotions during the show, and I really wanted the opportunity to be able to bring them to life. Sam Shepard is an incredible writer.”
Matern said “Fool for Love” marks the third Sam Shepard play she has co-directed for Chicago Street Theatre.
Her husband, Dan, portrays the Old Man in “Fool for Love.”
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Eddie is played by Rodney Thornton, a Hobart resident, while Terry Hines of Valparaiso portrays Martin.
Auriel Lark Felsecker of Gary is co-director.
Peppered with dark humor, “Fool for Love” premiered in San Francisco in February 1983, and debuted in New York City later that same year.
In the play, the cowboy-like Eddie, who is May’s old flame, finds her at an old motel and seems intent on pulling back her back into a life from which she had escaped.
Shepard, a Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright, died in 2017 at the age of 73.
He starred, along with Kim Basinger, in the 1985 film version of his play that was directed by Robert Altman.
“There is no intermission in this show; it is written without an intermission,” Matern, a Chesterton resident, said. “I try to respect the playwright’s wishes as often as humanly possible.”
Matern said that in “Fool for Love,” the “action starts and doesn’t stop.”
She also noted “Fool for Love” has adult material.
‘Fool for Love’
When: May 25-June 9; 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, 2:30 p.m. June 3, 7:30 p.m. June 7
Where: Chicago Street Theatre, 154 W. Chicago St., Valparaiso
Tickets: $17, $20, $30
Information: 219-464-1636, ext. 1; www.chicagostreet.org
Bob Kostanczuk is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.