Meet the Critics #13: Zac Thompson of the Reader

October 31, 8:02 AMChicago Theater ExaminerDavid Zak

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Zac Thompson

Zac Thompson

How did you get started in this part of the business? Do you have formal theater or criticism training?
A BRIEF CHRONOLOGY OF HOW I GOT STARTED IN THIS PART OF THE BUSINESS:
Aug. 1979: I am born.
1986: I make my acting debut in a play based on the fiery furnace episode from the Book of Daniel. The venue: Mrs. Lawrence's second-grade classroom at Shiloh Christian School in Springdale, Arkansas. My role: King Nebuchadnezzar. Both the character's hoity-toity accent and his costume (a red bathrobe) are my own contributions. [And yes, this is the sort of thing students at private Christian schools do in lieu of learning science.]
1987-c.1993: I become involved with the children's program at the Arts Center of the Ozarks, a local community theater, and appear in a string of unforgettable roles including Boy in The Chocolate Bunny and the Sweetmeat Chick, an uncomfortably miscast Prince in Cinderella, and Tiny Tim's Mostly Mute Older Brother in A Christmas Carol. I have better luck in character roles, such as that of Templeton the rat in Charlotte's Web.
1989-1993: I stage a series of living-room theatricals starring myself and, in smaller but no-less vital roles, my siblings. A significant number of productions fall apart due to the recalcitrance of my older sister Nicole.
1995-1997: I am not a drama geek in high school, but I do appear in the spring plays, which are always saccharine teeny-bopper comedies from the 1950s. They read like rejected scripts from Our Miss Brooks. Where do you even find crap like that?
1997-2001: I attend Northwestern University, where I major in theatre, studying acting and playwriting. I appear in a few productions (though not many because auditions terrify me) and write an overwrought coming-out play (Frankenstein's monster, the bearded lady, and my mother are among the characters).
2001-2004: I attend some classes at Chicago Dramatists, see lots of plays, start reviewing them on a now-defunct blog.
2005: I submit some reviews to Bill Williams at the Reader, he calls me back, and voila: I'm on my way.

What about the job makes you crazy with joy?
I don't know that I have ever felt crazy with joy while writing a theater review. Writing is hard.
I've felt awfully happy in the theater, though--and if we're talking pure, unadulterated joy, I must admit that nothing on this earth transports me like a big, well-executed production number. I also like verbal pyrotechnics, funny things, and those electric moments when a production hits on something true or beautiful or original. Oh, and Amy Morton. I love Amy Morton.

Can you write about a favorite moment that you will always remember from a Chicago production?
Plasticene Physical Theater had this show a few years ago called The Palmer Raids that ended with an actor waving a gigantic white flag over the heads of the audience. It's a quiet, serious moment, and rather beautiful, with the white billowing fabric and all. Except that my friend and I were sitting in the front row, so the flag kept slapping us in the face as it reached the trough of its wave. So we're sitting there, feeling all moved and sobered and everything, but this flag keeps hitting us in our faces and I think, "How insane that we're all pretending this isn't happening"--which gives me a case of the giggles requiring every ounce of strength I have to suppress it.
It really drove home how fragile the theatrical illusion is, you know?

What do you most dislike about doing this job?
I dislike being confronted by angry actors, writers, directors, or designers on social occasions. I don't really blame them 'cause, after all, they're defending something they spent a lot of time and effort on--but still. Awkward.

Any advice you would give to Chicago’s producing community – either the non-profit or for-profit side?
Please do not confront me on social occasions. I find it awkward.
Also: enough with The Glass Menagerie already. It feels like that play is revived every two minutes.

What do you want us to know about you as a person?
I don't have a pressing desire for you to know anything about me as a person.
Do you realize, though, that if you and I got married and I took your last name, I'd be Zac Zak? As a person, I find that amusing.

Anything else you want to mention?
I have a blog that no one reads. It is called Fool's Gold Coast for some reason. Here is a link: http://foolsgoldcoast.typepad.com/.