Falling out with one theater opened door at another

Change happens. And that's not always bad. Just ask Downers Grove-based Ray Frewen, director of "A Bench in the Sun," opening Saturday at Highland Park's Apple Tree Theatre.

In 2005 Frewen and Drury Lane Oakbook, the theater he had worked at for 14 years, the last seven as artistic director, parted ways.

"It was a disagreement over compensation," Frewen says. "Money I was supposed to be getting that the theater didn't want to pay me. But it was really a lot of little things and that was the straw that broke the camel's back."

So Frewen, who was living the whole suburban dream, the house and wife, "two dogs, two cats and four kids," suddenly found himself without a steady job. Frewen went through a period of soul searching.

"The funny thing is that within six weeks this job opened up at Roosevelt University's theater department," Frewen says. "The clouds opened up and I was suddenly a teacher. It was not something I planned to do, but once I started I realized I love it. And I realize it was something I was meant to do."

Frewen adds that he has his summers free "where he is free to do as (he) will" to pursue other creative projects, like, for example, directing the current show at Apple Tree Theatre, a three-person comedy called "A Bench in the Sun."

"The play is about two men in their late 70s in a retirement community," Frewen says, "They have known each other for their entire lives. Then a former actress steps into their lives and that changes everything."

Frewen got the gig directing the play because he has a reputation in the Chicago theater scene as someone who gets comedy, who knows how to direct it and get the laughs. And as soon as Frewen read the script he knew he wanted to direct it.

"I read it over and over again," Frewen says, "The comic rhythms in the piece are amazing, but there is a real heart underneath. I knew if I could get the right people, it would be exciting. And I could see in my head which actors I might want for the roles. I had a teacher in college tell me that 85 percent of directing is casting. Once I knew for sure which actors were going to be in the show, I read the play again this time I tried to hear how things were going to work with the cast."

Now that "A Bench in the Sun" is about to open Frewen wonders if the drama at Drury Lane Oakbrook wasn't a good thing. It certain made Frewen entertain options he never would have before.

"The whole thing with Drury Lane Oakbrook was unfortunate at the time," Frewen says, "But I am on good terms now with the theater. I love what they have been doing this season.

And we are talking about going back there to do a little work. I think everything happens for a reason."

"A Bench in the Sun" opens Saturday and runs through June 25 at Apple Tree Theatre, 1859 Greenbay Road, Highland Park. For tickets, call (847) 432-4335.