Inside the Servi-Sure titanium factory in Bowmanville sits equipment and work benches and clouds of dust. It currently looks like the working factory it is, not a theater set.<\/p>\n
But the factory has served as a dramatic backdrop, courtesy of local theater maker Spencer Huffman.<\/p>\n
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Last winter, curious audiences arrived at the address to see an unusual staging of the classic Anton Chekhov play \u201cUncle Vanya,\u201d by his New Theatre Project.<\/p>\n
On a recent visit, Huffman, who met me here to talk about his latest project, sidestepped what appears to be a man-sized drill.<\/p>\n
\u201cSome days we\u2019d walk in here and there\u2019s a giant piece of an airplane that they\u2019re building or a forklift,\u201d he recalled of the \u201cUncle Vanya\u201d project. \u201cOur stage management team would strike everything else then replace it at the end of each day.\u201d<\/p>\n
Huffman, 30, who was born and raised in Portland, Oregon, is in many ways, an outsider breaking into Chicago\u2019s close-knit theater community. He first made a name for himself staging shows in nontraditional spaces, like the factory. He coached sports, including varsity baseball at the Latin School of Chicago, to make enough money to stage plays and pay actors.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was coaching basketball, I was coaching baseball, I was coaching flag football,\u201d Huffman said. \u201cI ran an athletic program at the Orthodox Jewish Community Center.\u201d<\/p>\n
Now, for the first time, his company is staging a play in a traditional theater. \u201cThe Shape of the Bones,\u201d which Huffman wrote, runs at Theater Wit through March 22.<\/p>\n
The fact that Huffman has been able to stage shows and recruit top tier actors proves Chicago\u2019s reputation as a city where you can bootstrap your way to success in theater is still intact \u2014 despite credible fears that the arts scene has contracted post COVID-19.<\/p>\n
\u201cI didn\u2019t think I was going to pursue theater,\u201d said Huffman. \u201cI realized that I struggled to connect with a lot of theater people. I still do. And think that in college and high school that made me think theater was not an industry I could get into.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\""Uncle](\"https:\/\/cst.brightspotcdn.com\/dims4\/default\/d864386\/2147483647\/strip\/true\/crop\/2560x2036+0+0\/resize\/840x668!\/quality\/90\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fchorus-production-cst-web.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com%2Fbrightspot%2F3a%2F00%2Fb0fb394248de8f34caae4a2a3e30%2Fvanya-production-shots-13-scaled.jpg\")
<\/p>\n<\/picture>\n\u201cSome days we\u2019d walk in here and there\u2019s a giant piece of an airplane that they\u2019re building or a forklift,\u201d Huffman recalled of the \u201cUncle Vanya\u201d project.<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/p>\n Courtesy of George Hudson<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n Growing up in Portland, Huffman wasn\u2019t a theater kid \u2014 he was an athlete. He played basketball, and loved baseball. A back injury in high school deterred him from continuing the sport in college.<\/p>\n In 2018, after graduating from Kenyon College in Ohio, Huffman moved to Chicago. \u201cI\u2019d never been to Chicago, I didn\u2019t know anyone in the city,\u201d he said. But he had heard about the city\u2019s reputation for being a theater hub from professors and classmates, so he made the trip.<\/p>\n His first place was a windowless apartment in Lake View he found on Airbnb.<\/p>\n To scrape up the rent, he took on gig sports jobs until he could meet more theater people..<\/p>\n Baseball, it turned out, helped get his theater company off the ground. Through a connection of a friend, he secured the Servi-Sure factory free-of-charge for his plays. He used money earned from coaching to pay actors.<\/p>\n \u201cThe first production was $3,000 of my own money,\u201d he said. \u201cI made that money back, which was great.\u201d<\/p>\n He admits that not being charged a fee for the venue was a game changer. For the production of \u201cUncle Vanya,\u201d for example, he cast Larry Grimm, a co-founding ensemble member of A Red Orchid Theatre who\u2019s a well known and respected veteran Chicago actor. He also hired Richard Esteras, a recurring cast member in \u201cThe Bear.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cSpencer\u2019s got a multi-hyphenate,\u201d said Grimm, who played the role of Uncle Vanya in Huffman\u2019s production. \u201cHe\u2019s a producer, he\u2019s a director, he\u2019s an actor, and he\u2019s a writer. But watching him seamlessly go between his producer hat and his director hat, was for someone of my age, jaw dropping. Because I remember being his age and hustling just just to play one role, either as an actor or a director.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"Spencer](\"https:\/\/cst.brightspotcdn.com\/dims4\/default\/1299f87\/2147483647\/strip\/true\/crop\/2500x1667+0+0\/resize\/840x560!\/quality\/90\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fchorus-production-cst-web.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com%2Fbrightspot%2Faf%2Ff0%2Fb6f181c24348bc44099f09d3c8bf%2Fspencerhuffman-260218-06.jpg\")
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