NOW PLAYING: Drink the Past Dry

Chicago’s Ghostlight Ensemble Theatre Co. takes over Mrs. Murphy & Sons in the North Center neighborhood on weekends this month with a show “about the connections we have to the past and how sometimes to move forward, we have to go back.”

As in: there just might be a little bit of time travel involved.

We checked in with playwright & director Maria Burnham about the new play, which runs through June 1st.

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No Proscenium: Tell us a little bit about your experience! What’s it about? What makes it immersive?

Maria Burnham: Drink the Past Dry is vignette-style storytelling set in a bar with the conceit that people who come into the bar are able to travel in time, but only within the confines of Mrs. Murphy & Sons Irish pub.

Audience members have a choice when they enter. They are invited to pull up a chair at one of the various bar tables in the midst of the action where they can interact with the Bartender, the Regular and the Patrons that make up the stories, where they can eat the bar snacks on their table, where they can serve themselves water from the bar’s water pitchers. Or, if they have less of a stomach for that sort of action, but are coming because they are intrigued by the idea of being immersed in the environment of a play, they can sit in the back section that is still very much a part of the bar with open sight lines for all the action, but set back so they do not have to interact with anyone from the show.

NP: What was the inspiration for your upcoming experience?

MB: We originally started building this experience for a different bar, whose owner has supported our theatre company for years. We had done some one-night-only events in his establishment over that time, but he and we were interested in creating something long-running that could evolve and change to bring audiences (and bar patrons) back over and over again. However, he wound up selling the bar before we finished creating the piece, and so we transferred it to a different location (and rebuilt it to serve the new space).

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Story-wise, I (Maria) have always been interested in telling very human stories through the lens of science fiction and where else do you get the most human stories than in a bar? There is also something very science-fiction-y to me about immersive storytelling. It has that same magic that you feel in the very best of the genre. So these ideas came together naturally to me.

NP: What do you think fans of immersive will find most interesting about this latest experience?

MB: I would rate this as an intro course to immersive experiences. While Chicago is not new to immersive performances, there are only a handful of companies doing that work here — crafting immersive stories that aren’t based around Halloween and haunts. And while Ghostlight has curated intensely immersive shows, we also have a large audience pool that is not as familiar with immersive works, who are curious but also a little nervous to dip their toes in. With this show we’re hoping to invite those folks in, make them comfortable and invite them to share in the wonderful world that we’re all creating together.

NP: Once you started designing and testing what did you discover about this experience that was unexpected?

MB: People REALLY do not understand that they are meant to SIT IN THE BAR. They keep looking for the theatre seats and asking, “and where will the actors be performing?”

NP: What can fans who are coming to this, or thinking about coming to this, do to get into the mood of the experience?

MB: Go to your local watering hole, grab a pint and listen to the stories going on around you — you’ll be amazed at the fanciful tales you’ll hear. Then come to Mrs. Murphy & Sons, grab a pint (possibly a sausage roll or two) and take part in the fanciful tales going on around you.

Also watch the final episode of the original Quantum Leap and maybe read Landline by Rainbow Rowell and This Time Tomorrow by Emma Straub, which are stories that aren’t really about time travel just like Drink the Past Dry.

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