From Bed to Page to Stage

Naked boys parade their ribbon-wrapped penises; a trans-man gets between some gay girls; Rebekah Walendzak believes that "Life is a big, gay soap opera ... Weddings, babies, lesbian hot tub-ing and a group orgasm."

The co-artistic director of Bare Boned Theatre is talking about season one, and the upcoming second season, of her company's live-action soap series, "The Ville." Conceptually geared to "[realistically] represent Chicago in accordance with BBT's vision," "The Ville's" storyline is set in, and based upon the population of, present-day Andersonville. Performed in Mary's Attic, at 5400 N. Clark St., the second-story venue's arched floor-to-ceiling windows offer a partially panoramic view of the surrounding area-—the show's even back-dropped by Andersonville. Thus, in realistic residential representation of Chicago's historically Swedish-but-going-gay region, the sordid soap features multiple LGBT characters and their issues. Walendzak is the show's head writer.

Walendzak's résumé bullet-points a huge background with The Bard, comedic writing and improvisation study at Second City, numerous playwright, stage performance and directing credits as well as a part in the foundation of Jazz Hands Across America. However, she says transitioning her artistic and administrative vision into her own experimental theatre company wasn't always in her sights, until circumstance forced her sights to change.

Walendzak was diagnosed with Stage Three Hodgkin's Lymphoma in 2003. She was 29. Six months of chemotherapy, a short-lived remission, the discovery of another tumor and a relapse in 2004, Walendzak received a life-saving autologous stem-cell transplant in 2005. Had it not been for that experience, she says Bare Boned may never have been founded.

"When I was sick," Walendzak recounts, "just getting out of bed was hard ... I couldn't get through the day without vomiting, feared catching something from someone else and always needed to sit or lie down."

Having endured that hardship, the inherent challenges in forming her own company paled in comparison. Facilitating production meetings from her bed, with a mission in part "to present dynamic work through [perception] as opposed to preconceived notions of type," Walendzak co-founded Bare Boned Theatre with Jeffrey Bouthiette in January 2007.

"I might not have been saved because I have something to say," she asserts. "But I'm still here; so why don't I fucking say something?"

"The Ville" opens 7 p.m. Tuesday, March 25, at Mary's Attic with a first season recap show and "lots of gay love." Season two, episode one, "airs" April 7. www.myspace.com/barebonedtheatre