MNfusion: Jungle Theater Closes 25th Season With 'The Night Alive'

How do we connect to art?

It's a question that literary scholars and artists have been pondering for years.

Some argue we use art to escape the problems of every day life. Others say we use it as a mirror to see what is wrong with society.

Playwright Conor McPherson uses his works of art in both ways. McPherson tells stories that shock and awe audiences but feature human characters that are flawed and real.

His latest work is closing out the 25th season at the Jungle Theater in Minneapolis' Lyn-Lake neighborhood.

Long-time Twin Cities actor Stephen Yoakam appears for a third time in a work by McPherson as he takes to the stage as Tommy in "The Night Alive." The play revolves around Tommy, a down-on-his-luck man living in Dublin, Ireland just trying to get by when his life is altered by one small encounter.

Yoakam took some time to speak with me about the show and why Minnesota audiences will feel connected to the characters and the story.

You appeared in McPherson's Seafarer in 2009, so this performance will mark the third time you've appeared in McPherson's work. What is it about McPherson's work that keeps you returning?

Yoakam: He's a playwright that I really, really enjoy. It's really exciting to watch him grow as a writer because none of us would be anywhere without the writers. He's already got a backlog of a lot of really great plays but he's still got a lot more to say, so it's really exciting to follow along with his path and work on his work.

How has your relationship with him grown?

Yoakam: It's grown because I think he really appreciates repeat customers so to speak, in terms of the actors who are working on his pieces. Also, I've been able to actually work with him in the room. A few years ago at the Guthrie, he did an adaptation of the Daphne Du Maurier short story called "The Birds," the story the Hitchcock movie was based off of. His play was based more on the short story not he Hitchcock version. He came over from Ireland and he was with us in the rehearsal room for three or four days. It was really great to get to know him on a personal basis as well.

Aside from knowing him personally, and working in previous pieces of his, why do you think his work is so compelling?

Yoakam: I think that he has a great sense of poetry. There's a great sense of poetry from a common man's perspective [which he offers.] Then he also has these bites of sort of mystical stuff in his plays, too. Both Seafarer and The Night Alive take place around Christmas, and while in his writing he may not be an overtly religious man, there's a deep sense of faith from an individual perspective in his work.

I think many people can connect with the idea of spirituality in the common man. The play takes place in Dublin, Ireland, so aside from the idea of spirituality in human beings, how will Minnesota audiences be able to connect to the show?

Yoakam: Theater audiences in the Twin Cities are steeped in world literature and world theater. I think that there's always been a great connection with Irish playwrights and Irish works [in particular.] There's a long history from the beginning of theater in Minnesota – the Guthrie first got started by an Irishman – that's carried through all the way up to today. Twin Cities audiences can relate to that.

Speaking of the Guthrie, you've worked in a number of different theater houses throughout the metro area. What do you like about preforming in the Jungle Theater Space?

Yoakam: I love that space because its very intimate but it also feels larger than it is. That's a strange contradiction, but it always feels when I'm working at the Jungle that the experience of the theater that night is a larger scale than the space may feel when you walk in there.

That's very special. You've also worked in various places across the Midwest, included Chicago houses. How do you think the Twin Cities and Chicago compare when it comes to theater?

Yoakam: I think the parallels are very close. A lot of the mid-sized [and] smaller theaters [in the Twin Cities] started around the same time that the theaters in Chicago did. Mixed Blood and Steppenwolf started around the same time, for example. I also think the work ethic in Chicago and Minneapolis are very similar. I know when people come from other parts of the country to the Twin Cities and Chicago to work, like New York actors or whoever, they always make a comment that Minnesotans come to work. We're not coming to be star, if that happens that's wonderful, but the people in the Twin Cities and Chicago go to work to make great theater and work hard at it. There's a very strong work ethic that sometimes surprises people from the outside.

I think that is a true statement in many other industries and aspects of life as well! So, you play Tommy, the lead in the show, a man struggling to just get by. What do you like about playing this character?

Yoakam: I like Tommy because he's very flawed. He's very optimistic but he's very flawed. He can't always seem to get it all together.

It sounds like he is a very human character then. What is your favorite scene in the show?

Yoakam: I think maybe my favorite scene is the scene where there's a cutoff of a deep, long relationship with a close friend in a not so nice way. Either that or the final scene of the play when things are resolved.

If you could play any other character in the show aside from Tommy, who would it be?

Yoakam: I don't have an answer because I wanted to play Tommy! (laughs)

Well that worked out very well then! So, tell me, why should audiences come see this show?

Yoakam: The thing that is always true about Connor's work, almost always, is there's a sense of redemption at the end. There's also always a grace note at the end. [He doesn't] wrap it up in a sugar coated way, but there's always a human grace note at the end that makes things very interesting. Audiences should see his work because of the richness of story telling and the richness of human foibles. It's also very, very funny among the dark moments. He sort of takes you on a rollercoaster and you're always wondering what will happen next.

"The Night Alive" is playing now through Dec. 20. Tickets cost $28 - $48. For more information, or to purchase tickets, visit the Jungle Theater online.