Out and proud writer Philip Dawkins is bringing laughter to the Raven Theatre with his work The Comedians. It’s a romantic comedy conveyed through separate standup sets rotated between Chauncy (Bill Larkin) and Nsaku (Terry Guest).
The show was originally released on Amazon’s podcast service Audible and has now been retooled for a modern production.
Dawkins is currently based in Arizona after leaving Chicago but has returned to understudy the role of Chauncy and assist in the revamp of The Comedians.
His resume is impressive, and he has earned several Jeff Awards in Windy City. Theater companies have gravitated to his scripts over the years including About Face Theater, Steppenwolf and Northlight, among many others.
He met for coffee to discuss his history and current work with Raven Theatre The Comedians.
JN: (Jerry Nunn) Begin by describing what inspired you as a playwright in the first place.
PD: (Philip Dawkins) I was an only child so I had to come up with my own fun. My parents took me to the theater at a young age. My mom was a teacher and would take me to the plays at school.
I started writing plays with my toys. I did write a Troll screenplay so they owe me money now and it’s all written on yellow legal pads! [laughs] I used to have a record player that I made a set on to have a revolving stage.
JN: Did you act out the plays as well?
PD: I was a child actor and did that until I was 25 years old. As a kid, it was really difficult to find monologues for auditions because this was before the Internet. There was just one book with the Neil Simon monologue book at the local library so I started writing my own material.
JN: Tell the readers about your latest work The Comedians.
PD: It’s a queer romantic comedy told entirely through standup. It was commissioned first through audible.com on day one of the pandemic. I wasn’t sure we would all be able to be in the same room again and there was an overall feeling of isolation. I wanted to tell a story about connection and romance between two people without them being in the same room. This is accomplished through standup comedy where a relationship could be built with the audience.
The formula was made in case the performers couldn’t be together and it was created on two different sets spanning over several years. The audience follows them through their careers, but they are only seen onstage. There is a lot of piecing together the story of their relationship.
JN: That sounds like this situation makes the play unique.
PD: Yes and very Greek in a way because the action happens offstage. I am very proud of it.
JN: The show has a short run doesn’t it?
PD: Yes and I almost titled A Limited Engagement.
JN: Are there comedians you modeled the characters after?
PD: Not a single comedian, but there are several influences. The actors and I talked about who they were channeling and whose work would be helpful to look at. There are quite a few comedians but each character had basically three ghosts of past, present and future for influences.
I won’t say who they are because I don’t want the actors to feel pressure to be compared to a specific comedian. Followers of comedy might recognize them though.
JN: I have really enjoyed interviewing many female comedians over the years.
PD: Well you will like this show then as female comedians were my inspirations for these two roles. One thing we are doing is having a different, queer comedian opening each night before the show starts.
JN: That is brilliant.
PD: It’s what is so great about Sarah Slight who is the artistic director at Raven. She is very community minded and from the start, she wanted to make it a queer comedy event.
Manny Petty is curating the standup list for us with a local comedian opening the show.
JN: So every show is different?
PD: Every night will be new to the audience including myself. We found some of the comedians from when they auditioned for the roles. With two roles we had to say no to many people, but then we could offer this part to showcase their material.
I am hoping this will bring in people who might not normally see a play and will come for the standup. I also hope that those who come to see a play will discover a comic and go see them perform elsewhere. Hopefully, we can cross-pollinate between the two genres of comedy and theater.
JN: Are you continuing to bike and raise funds for HIV?
PD: Yes, I used to be a daily urban cyclist, but now it is more destination cycling. I biked from Flagstaff to Albuquerque on my birthday. It has become adventure-based instead of going to the grocery store.
JN: What prompted your advocacy for HIV?
PD: I’m queer and grew up in the ‘80s and ‘90s. It’s my community and I am baffled by queer people who are not concerned with what AIDS does across the globe. I lost many friends and there is a whole generation of mentors that I don’t have.
It’s always been something very important to me and close to me. I love biking so it’s a way for me to do that while raising money and awareness for a cause I care about. I ride with a group of over a hundred people sometimes and we bike through small towns on the route. It’s like a giant red ribbon parading through communities.
JN: What are you working on next?
PD: Recently I held a reading for my work Light Rock at The Understudy Coffee and Books venue and we all laughed so much. I would love it if a theater company would produce the play.
There was wall-to-wall laughter in that space and I think we all needed it. I am drawn to laughter now to find joy during a challenging time in the world!
The Comedians brings the laughs to Raven Theatre, 6157 N. Clark St., from Nov. 14-24, 2024. Fly over to raventheatre.com for tickets today.