(top) Andy Lutz (bottom) Allie Long and Justin James Farley
If you have seen documentaries that reveal undercover factory farming footage, you may have wondered how someone could be mentally strong enough to be in a factory farming environment and see animal suffering firsthand. Playwright Laura Jacqmin explores this very issue in her play Dead Pile, currently showing in Chicago. Director Megan Shuchman presents the complexities of the characters and the factory farming issue without forcing a message on the audience. Instead, the audience is left sincerely questioning their dietary habits and wanting to learn more about where their food is coming from.
Vegan Mainstream: Tell us a little about your play Dead Pile.
Laura: The play follows a young black undercover investigator named Jeremy who is doing an exposé on a southern Indiana dairy farm. Part of the play is about the investigation itself and another part is him figuring out whether this is conceivable for him to do. He quickly realizes he has to lie to everyone, and he finds himself becoming close to some of the farm employees. He discovers it’s a lot more difficult than when it first appears. And it will continue to be very difficult.
VM: Why did you choose to write this particular script about factory farming?
Laura: Years ago, I visited an open, sustainable farm, and it was just a gorgeous farm. I found myself thinking about the work itself [undercover investigation] as well as the people who do the work, particularly workers on factory farms, which is the worst of the worst. For people who choose to go behind the scenes at these places, you have to blend in with everyone on the farm. So if they serve chicken for lunch, you have to eat chicken for lunch. I found myself very fascinated with picking apart what the kind of person who can do this is.
VM: What has been the audience’s reaction to the play thus far?
Laura: Last week, we had an event that was part of the League of Chicago Theater’s Theater Thursdays event. It was catered [with] vegan treats and [there was] a discussion by myself, our dramaturg/vegan chef Caitlin McGlone and Daniel Hauff, Director of Investigations for Mercy for Animals. After the show, Daniel talked a lot more about what he does and the challenges he faces. I think for regular, theater-going people who are not exposed to this information all the time, they found it very informative. They were really excited to find out that there were more aspects to factory farming than just this one we presented.
Megan: What I love about the play is that it presents all sides of this complicated issue very well. It’s not polarizing either to farmers, activists or people involved in the animal rights community. It’s a fair glance at why the issue is so complicated and takes a stance to show multiple sides. I think most important to us is that the play will get people wanting to talk and investigate further. As artists, the greatest thing we can do is contribute to the conversation. By and large, the response has been wonderful and I think it is because it’s a very thought provoking project.
VM: Is that the message you want to get across to your audience?
Megan: Yes, as a director that was certainly the case– to provide conversation.
Laura: I wanted to explore five flawed, well-rounded people who are all interesting in very different ways. In the play, we see a couple months in their lives and how the experience changes them, for better or for worse. A lot of people are saying this is a really important play to see if you eat. We had several people in the audience last night who were saying they had considered vegetarianism and veganism before but doubted the difference that going vegan or vegetarian would make. Our dramaturg answered that all it takes is one person. You cannot ignore your own impact. Don’t be put off by factory farms and how large they are. Vote with your consumer dollars. People won’t come out of the theater feeling like they had a message crammed down their throats. They will come out of the theater thinking about something they may never have thought about before.
(left to right) Allie Long, Andy Lutz, Justin James Farley (center), Mark Minton and Chip Davis
VM: In the play, how did you visually depict a factory farm?
Megan: It was a challenge. What we’ve done is used sort of a metaphor. What our set designer, Mike Mroch, did is design his own version of a dead pile of things that are representative of the farm and layered them throughout the foreground and background. We even use set pieces to create different locations on stage to move the play from beginning to end. We focused less on what looks naturalistic and instead looked at what can be representational of a factory farm.
VM: What do you both enjoy about theater? How long have you been working in theater?
Laura: I didn’t really come to playwriting until I was in high school, and since then its really been my main focus. I did my undergrad at Yale then grad school to get an MFA in playwriting. So I’ve been involved for 14 years or so and in the professional world for five or six years. I think there’s a lot to be said for live drama and the fact that anything can happen…things can be different every night.
Megan: I work in theatre during the day, primarily Steppenwolf Theatre Company where I am the Human Resources and Diversity Programs Coordinator. My life is kind of theater all the time. It’s exhausting at times, but I can’t imagine a life other than this. I find that I am one of the really blessed people in the world in that something I love is my day job and also my hobby. I’m interested in what is the political story in addition to what is the rich story that is worth telling on stage and I’m always interested in where the human connections are. I really see live performance as one of our society’s greatest ways to make change and have conversations that we don’t just go about having with strangers every single day. With Dead Pile we get to exemplify that kind of work.
Dead Pile is a XIII Pocket Production and is playing at Stage 773 located at 1225 W. Belmont Ave., Chicago, Illinois. The play runs February 3 to February 27, 2011. Purchase tickets or read more about the play on XIII Pocket Production’s website.
All photos by Michael Litchfield, shot on location at Gene’s Sausage Shop and Delicatessen in Lincoln Square
