This winter, LiveWire Chicago Theatre, in association with the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events, is bringing joy to this neverending weather with a hilarious and poignant new production. “Assistance,” written by Leslye Headland and directed by Joshua Aaron Weinstein, explores the repetition of a nine-to-five job and the novelty that often arises in the midst of its monotony. The DePaulia spoke with cast member and DePaul alumnus Brian Crawford to learn more about the production.

The DePaulia: Can you tell me a little bit about the production in general? Does it vary in any ways from other shows that you have been a part of?

Brian Crawford: Sure! The production is an office comedy that has a little bit of romance to it and has a little bit of a darker side as well, which is really fun. It is about millennials that are kind of stuck in a job that they don’t really want. They are trying to find what their true direction is and discovering that maybe that might lay outside of professional success and maybe a little bit more in interpersonal success and the relationships that you build along the way. As far as how this compares to other productions, it’s really challenging because it has such a specific physical life to it. These characters live and work in an office that they have been at for several years and they are kind of nonstop with their actions, sending faxes and things like that. They are all connecting to each other or decidedly not connecting to each other in relationship to all of this physical work that they are doing.

DP: That’s so interesting! The work place environment isn’t portrayed in theater very often.

BC: Yeah, and it is super specific. You know, a lot of people can relate to that, and it is a really cool challenge for us as performers to make that physical life true. It becomes kind of mindless after a while. Not the work itself, but the tasks. That becomes second nature but this play is not a play about phone calls and faxes but about people who are trying to connect to each other in the middle of that.

DP: Can you tell me about the character that you portray within the show?

BC: I play Nick. When we meet him at the top of the show he has been working there for probably about a year and a half and he is being promoted to first assistant and he is kind of a little bit of a Peter Pan. He is in his late 20s, early 30s, and he doesn’t really know where he is headed quite yet. He has this job, and he does it, but he doesn’t really have any vision beyond this job. Then into the world comes Nora and there is a little bit of a spark between Nick and Nora and you kind of see over the course of the play how they help each other. Nick is definitely a funny, goofy guy.

DP: If you had to pick one favorite aspect of this production, what would it be?

BC: There is so much playing going on. These characters are in a world where they know the routine so well that it becomes second nature, which allows them to play with each other all the time. As actors it is just a really great, wonderful balance between scripted work but also improv, because we are allowed to react to each other and throw jokes to each other constantly. You can be on the phone with the boss character but you’re writing post-its and drawing little pictures and making faces at the team that are in the room with you. There is just so much room to play. Especially in Chicago where improv is such a core essential of what theater is, it’s kind of fun to have a script that balances the scripted and the improv world.

DP: I noticed that you received your MFA from the DePaul Theatre School. Are there any ways in which this has affected your experience in the theater world?

BC: One of the really wonderful things about spending three years in a conservatory program is that you are allowed to full-time invest in your craft and not really worry about anything else. You don’t have time to worry about anything else so you get to really throw yourself wholly into that. In that world, I was just given so many wonderful mentors that really drilled in the importance of preparation and hard work and specificity and making choices. When you go into a rehearsal room you are so prepared and find yourself really diligent outside of the rehearsal room about doing your homework and prepping. That way, when you get into the room you can just play and you can kind of ease in all of the work that you have done and that kind of becomes a structure for you to bounce around in. There has also been a wonderful focus in the MFA program recently about the idea of creating your own work, and giving voice to that is something that has been really rewarding from that program.

DP: If you could tell your audience one thing before they see the show, what would you tell them?

BC: There is a definite heart to it. It comes across as a comedy but there are definitely serious and darker aspects to it. That is really rewarding to work on and, hopefully, to see.

“Assistance” will be at the DCASE Storefront Theater Feb. 9 to March 16.