This March, a sexy, energetic and poignant triumph of a show is soon to inundate the Goodman Theatre. The DePaulia had the opportunity to speak with cast-member Amanda Drinkall, as well as stage manager Alden Vasquez, in order to gain greater insight into “Venus in Fur.”
“It’s a two-person play,” Drinkall said. “It starts with this guy who is a playwright, and he is at the end of his day full of auditions and he has seen a bunch of women and none of them have been good enough. He is kind of on a tirade, and then I barge in and I’m way late for my audition. It looks like I’m going to be just about the same as everybody else, but then we start reading through the play and it kind of unravels from there.”
Drinkall has taken on the role of the powerful protagonist in the production.
“I am playing Vanda, and when you first meet her she is kind of a hot mess,” Drinkall said, laughing. “It’s pouring rain outside, so she is drenched and a little scatterbrained, but she knows that she is perfect for this role, so she has high hopes for this audition. Once she starts reading you realize that she is not quite as scatterbrained as you think. She’s got a lot more up her sleeve.”
Drinkall has deeply admired every aspect of her involvement in this show and the story it has to tell.
“I have loved working with Joanie Shultz, the director,” Drinkall said. “I haven’t worked with very many female directors in my career thus far because most of them are guys, and there is something about working with another woman that is awesome and you don’t get that on a regular basis, I guess. That is something that I was really looking forward to before we even started. I had heard so many good things about Joanie and I was so excited to work with her. Now that we’ve actually done it, I love her. She is fantastic and she has been a pleasure to work with.”
Drinkall has also enjoyed the technical aspects of the production, as well.
“As far as the show itself goes, I really actually like the costumes that I’m in, which are not very many, which is something that I was nervous about,” she said. “Being a girl, we all have body issues, but there is something really powerful about running around in your underwear in front of people. It makes me feel better about myself. Granted, I have been working out a lot, but it’s a good kind of scary.”
Alden Vasquez is the production stage manager for “Venus in Fur.“Intuitively, Vasquez has always been drawn towards stage-management.
“I started off as an actor, and I couldn’t concentrate on what was going on on-stage because I was worrying about what was going on off stage,” he said. “I think that let me know that I was more interested in making sure things were there and supporting the production than being on stage. That’s where all of my focus went, and today, I am still all about supporting what is on stage. I’m a nuts and bolts guy. I want to make sure that everyone is happy, comfortable, doing their work and telling a story. I try to keep it that simple.”
Vasquez has truly enjoyed working on this production and regards the tight-knit approach that spans from its creation to rehearsal to performance.
“My favorite part of it is the intimacy,” he said. “Also, because of the way the script is written, there is a lot of research that is done to make the story interesting. I think the story is my favorite and the intrigue and the writing and the acting and directing. It is very specific directing and what I like about it is that I can watch two actors making choices and changes and adapting and also working together as the team to make the story even clearer.”
Along with his career as a stage manager, Vasquez is also a professor at DePaul University. Both of these roles are symbiotic in his life and in his work.
“My work as a stage manager influences my teaching because how I teach is based on my experience in the professional field,” he said. “I don’t really teach out of a book. I base a lot of my lectures on my experiences and what I observe in a rehearsal room and how I run rehearsals, so I basically pass that experience on to them.”
Vasquez explained that, conversely, his students also teach him a lot about technology that can be incorporated into the productions that he works on.
“Sometimes I take that back to the theater and go to the other stage managers and ask them if they all know about this and we discuss it and sometimes implement it,” he said. “It’s a two-way street with me. I never went to school for stage management so that’s all I know is what I’ve been doing for 30 years, and I try to impart that to the kids. So that is how I teach and how I stage-manage. Stage management is about sharing information and sharing experiences.”
Individuals like Drinkall and Vasquez bring the Goodman’s newest show to life. “Venus in Fur” is intimate in size and enormous in energy.
“Expect the unexpected,” Drinkall said. “Have a cold shower ready for you when you get home. It gets pretty steamy.”
“Venus in Fur”will be at the Goodman Theatre from March 8 to April 13.