ML - Michigan Avenue

2014 - Issue 4 - Summer

Michigan Avenue - Niche Media - Michigan Avenue magazine is a luxury lifestyle magazine centered around Chicago’s finest people, events, fashion, health & beauty, fine dining & more!

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photography by Ivor KarabatKovIc P aul Oakley Stovall has loved the spotlight ever since his turn as the title character in a kindergarten production of Jack in the Box. These days, the South Side native and ensemble member of About Face Theatre is popping up all over: in Pulitzer Prize winner Bruce Norris's latest world-premiere play at Steppenwolf, The Qualms; in an upcoming produc- tion of his own play Immediate Family (to be directed by Phylicia Rashad at LA's Mark Taper Forum); and in two cabaret shows in Charlotte, North Carolina. His new musical Clear is also heading to the stage. As he prepared for the opening of The Qualms, the multitasking artist chatted with Michigan Avenue about his creative inspirations and his love for Chicago's arts scene. The Qualms opens July 3. What excites you about the play? The frank talk about racial and sexual politics in America. It's bold; people are going to have a hard time with it. You talk about the state of marriage… and this play tears it all down—fidelity, monogamy, what marriage means— in a wonderful way. It blows it all to smithereens. What inspired you to start writing your own plays? About Face was planning a new-works festival, and they thought I might sing a song or host the evening, and I told a complete lie. I said, "I want to present my play." I made something up on the spot and had to ultimately create it, which oddly enough became Immediate Family. You t ravel reg ularly to perform, but Chicago is st ill your home. What about the city feeds your creativity? There is something about living in a place where we have extreme sea- sons. You're tough. All that aside, the artistic scene is second to none. Where do you find inspiration? From the people around me. That sounds trite, but it's true. Someone will pass me a book—Neil Patrick Harris gave me A Confederacy of Dunces for opening night of Rent when we were doing that [in LA in 1997], and it inter- ested me in that style of storytelling. Is there a performer whose career you see as a model? I'd love to have the courage to say my truth the way James Baldwin did, and the energy and wherewithal to put it out there the way Paul Robeson did. Where do you see yourself in 10 years? I hope to be happily busy, as I am now. I believe that the best life is one where it's only at the end when you look back and say, "Oh—all those things I did." I don't want to be like, "Oh, I didn't do that." I want to be ready when it's time to go. Steppenwolf Theatre's premiere production of The Qualms runs July 3–August 31. 1650 N. Halsted St., 312-335-1650; steppenwolf.org MA a Life on Stage From a role at SteppenwolF to multiple productionS oF hiS own playS, chicago'S Paul Oakley StOvall iS emerging aS a creative Force to be reckoned with. by j.p. anderson paul oakley stovall's play Immediate Family will be directed by phylicia rashad at La's Mark Taper Forum in early 2015. 60 mIchIganavemag.com dynamo

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