'Escape' finds Greek drama in Chicago cops

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
(Free-Press-Release.com) May 4, 2007 -- As the artistic director of Live Bait Theater, she has for the last eight years run the Police-Teen Link, a program that brings together police officers and teens through improv and creative writing. Last year, she was hired by the Chicago Police Department to create a series of youth forums. Now Evans has written "Escape," a drama that looks at how policemen and women cope with the pressures of the job.

The idea

"Escape" is not a torn-from-the-headlines cop drama. Instead, Evans was interested in the bonds that exist between officers and how police work is a life filled with gray areas that are hard to navigate. She believes the play is "female-oriented." "I was really impressed with all the female officers I met over the years; they're tough, professional, interesting women. I learned that police work changes men and women in different ways."

The play

"Escape" debuts at Live Bait, the North Side theater founded in 1987 by Evans and her husband, John Ragir. There are crimes involved in the plot but the central story is more about how the job affects the people who do it and how they find ways to cope and how they escape. One takes up tango dancing; another compulsively plans parties, and another is obsessed with a squirrel in a nearby tree. As for gaining the trust of the officers over the years, Evans says: "I think they know I have empathy for their position but I also can be critical, too. They work within a distinct culture, and I feel I've caught that in the play."

The twist
And then, in a nod to Greek drama, the Furies arrive. The Furies are goddesses of vengeance in Greek drama that plagued Orestes with their decisions over right and wrong. Evans says some of the stories the cops told her seemed right out of Greek drama. "I knew if I was going to write about police officers, I just had to find an area that had not been examined or do it in a way that was interesting. So I brought in the Furies as part of the process of determining what is just and what is not."

The writer

Two of Evans' previous plays, "Blind Tasting," about wine enthusiasts," and "Starving Artists," about a group of painters sharing a loft, also were set in Chicago. "I think Chicago has an interesting, unique narrative that I've enjoyed capturing over the years," Evans said. "When you get out of your neighborhood and your peer group, there are great people out there to meet. And artists definitely need to do that often to remain.

Source: http://movies.yahoo.com

     artistic director     Chicago     drama     greek     police