WIND PHONE Playwright Madelyn Sergel – Interview

Editor’s Note: While most theater artists found themselves stalled by the pandemic, playwright Madelyn Sergel took some creative leaps forward. Conversations with an Empty Suit opened at Three Brothers Theatre in Waukegan, Illinois, on March 13, 2020 – and closed two days later when Governor J.B. Pritzker locked down all non-essential businesses. Undaunted, Sergel wrote a brand new play, I’m Right Here; received online productions for two recent works, Spin and The Air, the Water and the Space in Between; and was offered a full production of play written a few years ago, The Wind Phone, with the expectation that live theater would return this fall. And so it has: The Wind Phone opens on Friday, November 5^th, at The Skokie Theatre.

Madelyn Sergel (MS) talks with Picture This Post (PTP) about her play that depicts two middle-aged sisters and their elderly mother who dig for truth after their father’s death.

(PTP) What is a wind phone?

(MS) NPR’s This American Life had a segment about a coastal town in Japan which was severely impacted by the 2011 tsunami.  Over fourteen hundred were confirmed dead and many people’s bodies were never even found. A local man had an old-style phone booth in his backyard which he invited people to use it to call anyone they lost in the tsunami. People now come from all over to talk to their dads, their moms, their husbands, whoever was lost in the tsunami. This telephone was eventually nicknamed the wind phone.

What lit the flame of inspiration that led to a play on this topic? 

(MS) I was driving through a mall parking lot during This American Life, and I actually pulled over to finish listening to the segment. I was moved by the story but also fascinated by the dramatic nature of the act of calling someone who was dead. On a more technical note, it can be challenging as a playwright to fashion important monologues which are both organic within the reality of the play and are compelling. An adult character speaking to a long dead parent? It has conflict and universality baked into its core.

You wrote this play a few years ago. Then you lost several loved ones during the pandemic. Did those events affect your rewrites on the script? 

I certainly have been thinking a great deal about life, death, grief, and loss. More than rewriting anything, I believe I was driven to be more precise in telling this story. There is not a person alive who will not have to navigate the difficult terrain of loss, even more so these past two years. I wanted to make sure this play is a satisfying and meaningful journey for the audience.

This play also explores the dynamics of sisterhood. Can you talk a little bit about that?

One of my favorite quotes is “Of course your family pushes your buttons. They’re the ones who installed them.”  Putting two sisters on a stage with decades of baggage between them was great fun to dig into, as a writer and as a sister. Anyone who has a sibling will recognize that particular way a family member can make you absolutely nuts with just a glance.

How does it feel to be in a room with human beings making theater again?

It is beyond divine! Theater is a collaborative process so most theater folk have been crawling the walls. Zoom performances and readings have been fine but sort of like fat free ice cream. It puts off the craving for a while, but everyone knows it’s not the real thing. To be in rehearsals is the real thing.

WHEN:

November 5 – 21
Fridays & Saturdays at 7:30pm
Sundays at 2:00pm
Wednesday matinee at 1:30pm on November 10

WHERE:

Skokie Theatre
7924 Lincoln Ave.
Skokie, IL

TICKETS:

$34+

To purchase tickets, go to The Skokie Theatre website or call 847-677-7761

Images courtesy of Madelyn Sergel