Evanston native James Vincent Meredith is performing in his favorite play at Steppenwolf Theatre, “Describe the Night.”
That’s because the Steppenwolf Ensemble Member since 2007, who has appeared in 15 productions with the company, admitted, “I always feel like my favorite is the one I’m doing.”
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There’s no denying that this play is a worthy successor to Meredith’s other roles with the company. It’s the Chicago premiere of ensemble member Rajiv Joseph’s mystery, that bounces back and forth between 1920 and ninety years later.
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Oak Park resident Meredith plays Isaac Babel, a Jewish writer who keeps a journal in 1920 chronicling the war. That journal reappears 90 years later in the wreckage of a plane crash.
Meredith said the play addresses “What is true and who gets to determine what is true? And are there degrees of truth?” According to Meredith, that honor seems to fall to the most powerful people and countries.
“They’re the ones who are kind of the writers of history so they get to determine what it is,” he said. “That conversation certainly is valuable in our current time.”
He noted that actors are always taught to be truthful onstage so the play’s discussion of truth “is very appealing to me.”
It comes to the forefront because Meredith’s character is searching for and shaping the truth through his writing.
Meredith said that Isaac is an interesting character to play because “he has a strong belief in the ability that he can get out of anything. He also has this thirst for danger to a degree. He finds himself in situations where he could take the easy way out — the sensible path — but he often opts for the more challenging way.”
Even though Meredith has been a Steppenwolf Ensemble Member for 16 years, he admitted that he often feels relatively new because so many other ensemble members have been there so much longer.
“It’s a great responsibility,” Meredith said about being a Steppenwolf ensemble member. “I’ve traveled and done work elsewhere and the name carries great weight. The artists are incredible and I’m honored when I get the chance to be on the stage.”
Meredith is also pleased to be performing in the company’s new Ensemble Theater in Honor of Helen Zell. He particularly likes the fact that it is an in-the-round theater because, “The audience is super, super close” that reminds him of the cozy storefront spaces he used to perform at.
He has many great Steppenwolf memories, though, including performing in “The Crucible,” his first show after becoming an ensemble member, for which he received critical acclaim.
Meredith’s theater roots go back to the years he was growing up in Evanston.
“I did work at the high school,” he said. “But I started at Piven Theatre at the Noyes Cultural Arts Center, working with Joyce and Berne Piven. That’s where I got the idea that I could actually do this. They were really supportive and amazing teachers.”
Meredith moved to his wife’s hometown of Oak Park in 2002, shortly after getting married, saying, “There’s kind of an ingrained comfort level that I felt there that reminded me in many ways of Evanston.”
Next up on Meredith’s schedule is his plan to do “what actors do — audition.”
“Describe the Night” runs through April 9 in Steppenwolf’s new Ensemble Theater in Honor of Helen Zell, at 1646 N. Halsted St. Tickets are $20-$86. For reservations, visit Steppenwolf.org.
Myrna Petlicki is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.