Q & A with Mark Lococo; Directing Educating Rita at Citadel

Q&A with Loyola University Theatre Director and Professor Mark Lococo

Lake Forest - Currently occupying the post of Theatre Director at Loyola University in Chicago, Professor Mark Lococo is directing Willy Russell’s Educating Rita at Citadel Theatre in Lake Forest. An equity production, Educating Rita stars 1992 Jeff Award-winning Actor Si Osborne as Professor Frank Bryant and Jess Thigpen as the title character. The play is about a hairdresser that wants to break out of her blue collar world and make something more of herself – and the down on his luck collegiate professor that initially wants to use the tutoring money to pick up his bar tabs. As the relationship between Frank and Jess progresses he relearns from her the joy in teaching and she starts to take on the airs of the ivory tower class he has grown to despise. Citadel sat down with Professor Lococo to ask him more about his show, opening next Friday.

Citadel: Mark, how did you come to direct this play?

Mark Lococo: After working on Other Desert Cities last year, Scott (Citadel Artistic Director Scott Phelps) offered me this piece in the season. I accepted based on my desire to work at Citadel again, as well as my basic knowledge of the show and film. Upon working on it more closely, I saw how appropriate a piece it was and how much it spoke to my other life as a university professor.

C: And in this play one of the characters is a University professor, as you are. Do your experiences as an educator inform your direction of this play?

ML: All the time. I became aware in rehearsals that much of the rhetoric Frank uses when he’s in “lesson mode” with Rita is exactly the same kind I use when lecturing—establish a premise, then ask guiding questions to help the student come to a discovery or conclusion on their own, and finish with a re-statement of the premise as confirmed by support. Even when he’s just in front of an audience of one, he still relies on this tried and true structure.

C: Do you see yourself at all in the character of Frank Bryant?

ML: Just the good things, naturally. I am at a point in my career where I’m still able to experience the joy and excitement of watching my students discover things for the first time. Poor Frank has reached that state of burnout that often plagues educators—and I hope I can continue to keep that at bay.

C: And, of course, Educating Rita is a play about a student that has a real impact on her instructor, changes him really, and who definitely throws him a lot of curveballs. Do you have a story about a student that taught you something or that may have been particularly difficult?

ML: I learn from my students all the time. I just finished working with an incredibly smart, talented student. But his inability to “read the room” and synthesize all his researched information interfered with his ability to communicate effectively and bond with the ensemble. It required a good deal of creative problem solving to help him get past these challenges, and it often took him out of his comfort zone—which was much larger by the time we went into production. This was a success story for him, and gave our department (and me) a lesson in patience, tolerance and perspective.

C: Wow, see that’s the kind of lesson I think that theatregoers will appreciate in this show. And, as you went about directing Educating Rita, were there any teaching moments during rehearsal or funny moments that you can share?

ML: We laugh a lot in rehearsal—most often at our own clumsy attempts to work on and retain those moments when the language becomes highly circular or elliptical—and places where that “teacher’s rhetoric” gets out of hand. I have shared with Si and Jessica an experience I once had—I used to run the Cherub program at Northwestern (the National High School Institute)—160 high school juniors from across the country converged on the campus for six weeks each summer to get a taste of college training. Once, I was addressing a class on the stage of the Louis Theatre, finishing with a pompous statement to the effect of “…and that, you’ll find, is the secret to believable acting.” Whereupon I dramatically turned away from them and fell off the edge of the stage.

C: Haha, oh my! Well, that must certainly have been a shock and a surprise. You know, one man that a lot of people really believe holds the secret to acting is Michael Caine who played the professor in the 1983 film version. Educating Rita nearly won Best Picture at the Academy Awards. Are there any surprises in store for an audience member that may have already seen the film?

ML: Well, for sure Jessica Thigpen and Si Osborne are very different actors from Julie Walters and Michael Caine. The story is the same, but the journey that each character makes during the course of the play will be considerably different. The play digs a little deeper, teases out some of the basic ideas more fully than does the film version.

C: We are certainly hoping that people that saw the film, or that didn’t, will take you up on this offer to dig a little deeper with this fun dramatic comedy. Thank you so much for you time.

Educating Rita will play on the Citadel Theatre stage from February 12 through March 13. Performances are held Thursdays at 7:30pm, Fridays and Saturdays at 8pm, and Sundays at 3pm and take place on the Citadel Main Stage at 300 S Waukegan Rd in Lake Forest, IL. Tickets are regularly $35-$37.50. Discounts are available for students, seniors and groups. Tickets may be purchased online at www.citadeltheatre.org or over the phone at 847.735.8554.

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Citadel Theatre is one of Chicagoland’s premier live theatres, producing hundreds of performances annually and inspiring audiences for neigh on 13 years. Founded by Scott and Ellen Phelps in 2002, Citadel Theatre is comprised of its Main Stage performances, its On Tour programs, and its conservatory-style Education program. A proud member of the League of Chicago Theatres and the Lake Forest/Lake Bluff ArtsLink, Citadel Theatre offers a unique intimate theatre experience that transports you to another setting and leaves you feeling exhilarated and wanting more. A recognized 501(c)3 non-profit organization, Citadel can accept tax-deductible donations. For more information, ticketing, and to make a donation, please visit Citadel online at www.CitadelTheatre.org or call 847.735.8554.