Martha Plimpton and Nick Stahl in Tim Blake Nelson's Eye of God
Eye of God by Tim Blake Nelson
January 13, 14, 15, 20, 21, 22, 27, 28, 29, February 3, 4, and 5, 2000 at the Jack Oakes Theatre in Portland, OR.
TOM SPENCER -- Bret Harrison
SHERIFF ROGERS -- Glenn Russell
AINSLEY DUPREE -- Ingrid Carlson
DOROTHY -- Rose Wilde
JACK STILLINGS -- Tom Moorman
LES -- J. Kenneth Johnson
GLEN -- Jonathan Bradley
WILL SPRAGUE -- Mark Friendly
JANICE -- Monica McPartland
LEE -- Tristan Cooley
DEL -- Geoff Bergman
SHERIFF'S DEPUTY -- Nicole TurleyASSISTANT DIRECTOR, STAGE MANAGER, and HOUSE MANAGER -- Nicole Turley
SOUND DESIGN AND OPERATION -- Matt Russell
LIGHTING DESIGN -- J. Kenneth Johnson
LIGHTING OPERATOR -- Melissa Johnson
PROPS, COSTUMES -- Nicole Turley; cast and crew
SET -- Cast and crew
ILLUSTRATION -- J. Kenneth Johnson
THANKS -- Guy Peter Oakes, Pablo Kennison, Sandy King, Rose City Cash Register Co., Judee Russell, Stanford's Restaurant and Bar, Jesse and Laura Welch.SYNOPSIS. Rural Oklahoma again, specifically Kingfisher. The story of a young woman's marriage to a "born again" ex-convict, who refuses to reveal the details of his troubled past. When things are finally brought to light, the relationship deteriorates, leading ultimately to a violent confrontation. Intertwined with this is another story of a young boy who has witnessed a crime so terrible that it has left him mute, as the police try to unravel what happened. As the play draws to its conclusion, the stories of the woman and the boy intersect in a vivid sequence that is both beautiful and horrifying.
WHAT BROUGHT ME TO THIS. The journey began in spring of 1997. I was searching the internet for information on my favorite actor, Nick Stahl. Of course I came upon the Internet Movie Database and scanned his filmography for unfamiliar titles. There was one I hadn't seen in which he co-starred with Martha Plimpton, called Eye of God. The excitement was overwhelming – a new Nick Stahl film that I had not yet seen. I knew that waiting for it would be difficult, but hopefully I wouldn't have to wait too long. Supposedly, it was scheduled to be released in the Fall of that year.
Though the film had not been released anywhere but Sundance, there were already a couple of newsgroup reviews. And something caught my attention right away. They described how the film opened: a blood-drenched Nick Stahl, walking down a country road, in shock of having witnessed something devastating.
This image kept me awake at night. Not having even seen the film or knowing exactly what was behind this trauma that Nick's character was facing, I couldn't get this image out of my head. Walking down the road, bloody and in shock. I could not sleep for a couple of nights, just thinking about it and wondering–dying to know–what happened to this character.
It would be a long time before I found out. The movie was released to select cities in October 1997, and it traveled around like these small scale pictures do, but it never reached Portland. It never played on the big screen here. It premiered on video in March 1998, and that's when I finally saw it. The film I had been waiting for–holding my breath in anticipation for–turned out to be the film that changed my life.
I know, I know...Sounds extremely melodramatic and insane, but yes a film can change your life. I watched it and afterwards, I walked in a daze into the living room where people asked me, "What happened to you?" and told me to take an extra dose of whatever antidepressant I was taking at the time (probably Remeron). And the insomnia returned, only worse. The night I first saw the film, I was up all night, pacing and writing poetry and my thoughts down on the computer, and even praying. The sun came up, I had a lite breakfast, and then sat on a chair and just cried for about a half hour. For the next few nights, I went to bed, slept for an hour or so, then got back up to stay up till morning and contemplate whatever it was I was supposed to be thinking about. I paced back and forth on the deck in the moonlight, thinking about the changes that had occurred within myself after watching the movie, and all the questions I now had about our place in the universe, why we're all here, and what do we really mean to God, if anything...Questions I never really concerned myself with before that point. I realized that it was going to be a long journey to get to the answers that I wanted. This journey would end with me directing my own production of Tim Blake Nelson's play.
PRODUCTION NOTES. It took over a year to find a space. I must admit I wasn't looking that hard. I didn't know anyone in the theatre community, really, except my friend Dan Cook. And it was mainly through him that I met the infamous Guy Peter Oakes. Dan had worked with him a few times and was set to direct Ibsen's epic, Peer Gynt in the fall of 1999. Eventually, I got up the nerve to ask Mr. Oakes if I could do Eye of God there. He said yes.
But it wasn't without a price. Both Dan and I were expected to help out with Guy's production of The Seagull. This was not a bad experience, though, as I met a lot of fine people. Following that, I was Dan's AD and tech nerd for Peer. The pretense was that I was doing it as a favor for him, but I also wanted to see how well Dan did in the space, and learn from his fuck-ups, learn how not to piss off Guy, etc, so that Eye of God would go as smoothly as possible.
Of course, nothing really goes smoothly in the Jack Oakes Theater. One of the things I learned from Dan's experience was that the Producer was not the easiest person to get along with. You had to learn to speak his language, how to show respect, even if you think he's wrong. For this show, my respect was both sincere and naive.
The strongest element of the production was its cast. I do believe it was destiny (or the will of the All Mighty God Himself) that Ingrid and Tom be cast in these roles, as they were so perfect. These are two of the most bright and hard working actors I've ever known. They owned their characters from day one, and if you asked them anything about Ainsley and Jack, they would know the answer. And you think, "Well, of course, that's their job", but it's amazing how many don't do it.
One of the most important roles in the play and the hardest one to cast was of course the character of Tom Spencer. It's hard to find teenage boys for a play. I wanted to cast someone close to the age he was supposed to be (14), but the only actor who qualified for the part was 17-year-old Bret. He is an amazing talent, whose only drawback was his typical teenage short attention span. Once he outgrows that, I believe he's got a very bright future ahead. It was a challenge for me to let Bret go in his own direction with Tom. Since it was Nick Stahl's quiet, subdued interpretation of the character that so mesmerized me in the film, I was tempted at times to say, "Do it like in the movie." But Bret, like any good actor, had his own ideas, and they paid off.
Mark and Rose beautifully captured the play's central themes of loneliness and desperation. Monica found enormous meaning and depth in what could have been a bit part, while Tristan and Geoff added much-needed comic relief. My father, who used to be a reserve sherif's deputy, lent a lot of his own wisdom and compassion to the role of Rogers. It was also fun directing newbie Jon Bradley in his first play. What was so impressive about him was his eagerness to contribute to all aspects of the production. In addition to Ken's sober performance as Les, he did an impressive job with his premier lighting design, and Melissa saved our asses by running it from the booth. And Nicole...well, there are never enough great things to say about Nicole. She was the backbone of everything; she made it run like it should.
This group became my family and I grew to love them that much. When it ended, I was more sad than any other theatre ending.
There were disappointments. As it turned out, the Jack Oakes Theater was not the place to stage a show like this with so many quick scene changes. Tim Blake Nelson notes in the Dramatists edition of his play that it should be staged like Out Town...in other words, minimalist. Well, foolish me, having never been much of a fan of minimalism and having just done the most minimalist play of my life (Peer Gynt), I tried to stray from that a little bit. The problem is, the "stage" at the Jack Oakes is so small that if you try to put more than a table and some chairs down, you've already got a problem with crowding. You could only have one scene set up at a time (otherwise, furniture from the upcoming scene would be distracting from the current scene), so each scene change that was supposed to be rapid, instead took a long time. This affected the whole pacing and mood of the piece. And we were bashed for it in the reviews. That hurt.
I had waited to do this play for so long and wanted it to be perfect, my crowning achievement for all time. But the fact is, my directing skills were a bit rusty after years of inactivity. I wish I had had patience to wait a bit longer before doing this production, finding a better space, etc., but I felt I had to take the opportunity that was presented to me. Theatre Vertigo had planned a staged reading of Eye of God to go along with their fall production of Nelson's The Grey Zone. And the company was actually considering doing a full scale production down the road. Desperate to make sure they didn't "steal my thunder", as they say, I went ahead and did my production, though the circumstances were not the best. And I have regrets, and a determination to do the play again someday, but it still manages to be one the greatest memories of my life.
To see pictures from this production, click here.
To see my review of Tim Blake Nelson's film version, click here (external link).
To see my Eye of God poem, click here (external link).