 For too many, and too often, our heroes are men. Women are left out of this mythology. Meet Cindy. Up close and personal. She won’t be on Dateline, 20/20, 60 Minutes, or any of today’s reality shows. She is the matriarch, for women who sit on their hands and put up with too much “crap.” She is salt of the earth, blue collar, mother, sister, daughter, housecleaner and no doubt, has never been given this much airtime. Who you’ll meet, is a comic guide into the dark side of poverty, pretension, and the pervasive annoyance of male chauvinism. Cindy may not have attained enlightenment, yet, but she’s kicking ass and taking names. Actress Daria Harper states, “It is my honor to bring Cindy’s story, feats and attitudes to the stage. Having spent hours with this very real and courageous woman and received her stories I still remain in awe. Cindy’s view is direct, she’s a straight shooter, and she’s seen things that, if you read the parenting guides, no one is supposed to see.” Don’t worry! This is not therapy! No one laughs harder and louder than Cindy. There will be no answers, religion, nor easy fixes. There will be the sacred space of telling an amazing true-life tale that reminds us again of the human pilgrimage toward progress. Production and Development History Daria's passion for theatre has led her to many great teachers and the study of a wide variety of theatre styles. Along the way she became aware of the work of Anna Devere Smith and through her inspiration and an auspicious meeting of Cindy, this piece was born. It had it’s first debut at the University of Virginia in 2011 as a thesis project, followed by a short run at the Earl Hamner Theatre, VA. Now, in development and under the skilled guidance of Mary Ann Thebus it is finding it’s second pair of “sea legs.” Why Redtwist? Devil in the Dirt is a true story that I hope fits snuggly with Redtwist’s goals which strives “to do white hot drama, from name-brand blockbusters, to risky new work, and obscure buried treasures, that pack emotional force, examine moral dilemmas, and reveal greater truths..." It is a unique examination into the world of moral dilemmas that attempts to reveal the truth of our humanity through the oddest mixture of living with the good, the bad and the ugly. Director Mary Ann Thebus is an actress who over the past 30 years has appeared on most local stages here in Chicago. She is a frequent Jeff nominee and the recipient of a 2002, After Dark Award. She was most recently seen in Elizabeth Rex at Chicago Shakespeare, After the Revolution at the Next Theatre and can be seen currently, in Three Sisters at Steppenwolf Theatre. She has multiple film and TV credits and is a teacher of acting both at The Artistic Home and privately. Mary Ann has ventured into this small but choice theatrical event because of the quality of the story, it’s potential for a stage-worthy life and her interest in expanding her directorial wings.  Actor/Writer Daria Harper
is new to the Chicago theatre scene. She moved here last fall from
Charlottesville, Virginia where she enjoyed many roles in local
theatres, such as Amanda in The Glass Menagerie, Stevie in The Goat, or Who Is Sylvia?, Mrs. Gottlieb in Dead Man's Cell Phone and Bella in Lost in Yonkers. Since here arrival, she has enjoyed performing for Rendition Theatre in Anna Christie, BoHo Theatre in Tartuffe and working for Redtwist Theatre in The Cripple of Inishmaan as understudy for Kate and with TimeLine in their upcoming production of 33 Variations,
understudying the roles of Katherine and Gertie. Daria is
also a certified Alexander Technique Teacher with a private
practice in Edgewater/Northside Chicago. She received her AT
certification in London in 1982 and has been a director of an AmSAT AT
Teacher's Training Course in Virginia for the past 24 years. She
obtained her MFA in Acting in 2011 from the University of Virginia and a
BFA in acting from Carnegie Mellon University in 1978. She will
open a Chicago based AT Teacher's Training Course (The ATTIC) this
September and is thrilled to be finding her place in the thriving acting
community of the great city of Chicago. Singer/Songwriter Sophia Okugawa hails from Charlottesville Virginia where she has been singing and writing for most of her life. She recently returned from a tour in Seattle and is currently playing and touring with “Beako” along side band member Danny Zezeski. Sophia’s music is featured in this production and a song entitled “Devil in the Dirt” inspired by the true events of this story has been written for the piece. CLICK PHOTOS BELOW TO DOWNLOAD HI-RES VERSIONS
photos by Jan Ellen Graves |
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 RECOMMENDED Reviewed by Johnny Oleksinski Summertime has been christened Chicago’s favorite season, not only for muddy music festivals and boozy street fairs, but also for those elusive one-person shows. In putting up the physically modest productions in the height of July and August, perhaps companies are conserving their already scant resources for the hurly-burly of fall and winter. Or maybe the oppressive temperatures are nudging the theaters against packing their stuffy stages from wall to wall with perspiring bodies trapped under the gaze of hot lights. No matter the justification, the trend is a welcome and colorful shift away from the usual weighty ensemble fare that resumes in full force come September. I say, “Bring on these singular sensations!” In the eye of Redtwist Theatre’s concurrent production of “The Glass Menagerie,” comes the company’s off-night, three-performance presentation of Daria Harper’s one-woman show, “The Devil In the Dirt.” The play, created and performed by Harper and directed by Mary Ann Thebus, cleverly exists as a subtle, contemporary companion piece to “Menagerie,” both united by themes of isolation, family ties and abandonment. In Williams’ play, the ominous, hovering portrait of Laura and Tom’s father hangs over the Wingfield’s living room, acting as the “fifth character” and taking a fair chunk of responsibility for his family’s silent desperation. Comparably for Harper, the titular “Devil” refers to her main character Cindy’s own father, and the tarnished legacy he left behind above ground. While developing “The Devil In the Dirt,” Harper was inspired by the work of fellow solo artist Anna Deavere Smith. Both women re-enact interviews with their main subjects, though Deavere Smith, in her documentary-style “Fires in the Mirror” and “Twilight: Los Angeles,” does so with more detailed meticulousness and topical relevance than does Harper. Harper held interviews with the charismatic Cindy and the other Stokes sisters to weave a cohesive theatrical experience from those talks. And, in so doing, Harper has surely honored Cindy and her courageous, unbelievable life. But theatrically, in sewing together a compilation of first-person stories, the performer meets resistance in establishing sustainable conflict and purposeful narrative. Why this story at this moment? I was often enthralled by Cindy’s anecdotes as separate morsels, but their gradual accumulation felt, at times, cobbled together and unnaturally forced into place. Appending each story Harper spins is some derivation of “and that reminds me of another time…” And then the next tale commences just as the one that preceded it. The structural spine becomes an exercise in one-upmanship, which proves disparate and frenetic as a theatrical whole. However the vibrance of the Cindy character and the undeniable soul of the material contained within the slippery frame is absolutely engrossing and deserving of a future life. Atop “Menagerie”‘s skeletal, splintery set, “The Devil In the Dirt” begins with hip and folksy music of a corrupt tenor composed and performed by Sophia Okugawa alongside band member Danny Zezeski. They return at the forty-five minute play’s end to perform the title song, but as their preshow gig comes to a trickling close, Cindy jettisons onto the stage. On her person are only an unassuming box of cigarettes and a can of Diet Coke. Cindy cracks open the Coke and begins to sip. She smokes not one of the cigarettes, but they remain quietly perched on the table–Cindy’s emotional crutch. As Cindy rattles off her stories, they are initially charming and curious, but gradually corrode exposing decades of unfathomable household horrors. Cindy shyly reveals that her father had sexually abused her and his other daughters as children, and threatened their physical safety on many occasions thereafter. However, despite his wrongdoings, Cindy maintains a conflicted reverence and respect for her dad. Her tone is never snide or acrimonious, but constantly giggly—a perpetual life of the party upholding a bold exterior with infectious, booming laughter. Harper is a deeply personable performer who is very much alive and present in the room with her audience. At the opening performance, the theater’s lights extinguished briefly, and as we sat there in pitch darkness, Harper continued on, telling us, “This is just like the story I just told you!” Though undoubtedly accidental, that shadowy deluge transported the audience into Cindy’s personal space through a shared experience. Fearless and gung-ho, Harper grabbed a hold of the gaffe with a campfire’s twinkle in her eye, and reformed that unlikely error as an enchanting twist of fate. It is the performer’s brimming vitality that takes this flawed drama to a higher level. Back to top  Recommended Reviewed by Justin Hayford Last year Daria Harper was a student at the University of Virginia, desperate to find a subject for her MFA acting thesis. Then she struck up a conversation with Cindy Stokes, her housecleaner, who recounted burying her father—a task that involved one plastic bag full of ashes; several carloads of women, children, dogs, and bicycles; and a grotesque, defiant, ineffably poignant act of grave desecration. Harper had found her subject. The graveyard story concludes this astonishing one-woman show, expanded from Harper's original thesis project and directed with inconspicuous precision by Mary Ann Thebus. Working from transcripts of interviews with Stokes, Harper tells horrific tales of a father's decades-long assault on his wife and daughters while bearing joyous witness to one woman's instinct for survival. Back to top |
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