BWW Interviews: Q & A with MYTHICAL PROPORTION's Nora Dunn

Chicago native Nora Dunn is currently wowing audiences and critics alike in her new one-woman show, "Mythical Proportions" (recently extended through October 20th). Best known for her years on "Saturday Night Live", the writer/comedian/actress chatted with BWW about her current show, her time on SNL, and more:

How does the process of writing for a group as opposed to writing for one person differ? Do you prefer one to the other?

The idea of writing is to write about something. I cannot say I have ever written for groups. I write monologues in character, and for characters, and often in those monologues other characters emerge. I have written stories, screenplays, and poems for many years, and I write for the enjoyment of it and, obviously, I perform some of the things I write. I don't prefer any one form over another. I like writing screenplays but you have to turn those over to the authorities and let them go. I love writing cinematically, but it's so hard to get a movie made and that process doesn't thrill me. I know others it does thrill, but for me it's over when the screenplay is finished.

What made you return to Chicago?

I never really left Chicago, though I lived in other cities for over twenty years. But Chicago remained my most enduring relationship and the place I most identify with. I grew up in the city in a tough, working class neighborhood. Nobody was spoiled. I loved it but I also was driven to get away from it. I love California, and without my years there, in San Francisco especially, I never would have found myself. I started performing theater in San Francisco, and then as a comedian, though I always performed monologues in character and told stories. I opened up there.

What inspired you to write "Mythical Proportions"?

Mythical Proportions came about because of the writing of one character, a bookkeeper named Fern. For years she had no place in anything, she was just a monologue. But that piece got me thinking about the idea of myth, and about the real pieces of my life, or anyone's life, that begin to explain how you got from there to here. About a year and a half ago I started writing more monologues and putting them together as a thematic story about my life. I performed it in salons and on stages and eventually shaped it into what I felt was one cohesive story.

How did you decide on Theatre Wit as the place to produce your show?

I saw a play at Theater Wit and I loved the space and feel of the place. I wanted to work in an intimate space, and I wanted to be able to run the show for longer than six weeks. My last one woman show ran for several months in Los Angeles, so I wanted to find a space where that was possible.

What's the most essential thing you learned from your time on SNL?

Well, if there was an essential thing learned while I was on Saturday Night Live it was how to edit. And fast. Because if you had a piece that was going from dress rehearsal to the air show, you had to cut it and get it to the cue card department and you usually had about fifteen minutes to do that. And also, you've got to have grace under pressure. It's live and it moves really fast, but you can't let the TV audience see that.

Do you watch SNL now? If so, what do you think about the direction it has gone in?

I do watch Saturday Night Live but not religiously. It hasn't changed. It's the same format, and I suppose Lorne Michaels sees no need to change that. And I think that's why it has endured. Things change now simply for the sake of it. But SNL is like a favorite restaurant you go to because they will never change the menu and the food will always be good. The best recipes are simple, with fresh ingredients.

As you are the director of your one-woman show, what was your rehearsal process like? Did you invite people in often to watch you rehearse or was it a very solo process?

I am not the director of my show really. It's my own work but I worked with a navigator all along, and I got feedback from other performers and then just from people I trust. And you have to have another perspective while you work. Inventing things in front of an audience is essential and they will tell you a lot. And you have to learn to let go of some things you like because once the theme starts to develop, not everything you do applies to it.

How do you feel the audience reception has been?

My audiences have been very appreciative. They get the show and they want to talk to me about it afterwards. I've gotten nice letters from people, people I don't know, saying that they talked about it a lot afterwards, and that is what every performer is after. Certainly I am. I'm driven by that.

Do you plan to take "Mythical Proportions" to other cities after its run in Chicago?

I did not make plans for Mythical Proportions beyond opening it as a finished piece. I wanted to perform it in Chicago, not because it's about Chicago, but because Chicago is where I started to really read, and then to write. I decided to be a writer when I was in high school, but that later morphed into performing what I wrote. And Chicago is a town where people come out to theater.

Which entertainment vehicle do you prefer: theatre or film?

I love movies. I love being in movies and I love watching movies. I love shooting on location and getting to know a place that way for the first time. It's like falling in love. I did a series on the Warner Brothers lot years ago, and I was so happy there. I worked on that lot for three years. It's a world unto itself. You live there in this little trailer home and there is all this activity around you. I love peering in on other sound stages and going to the commissary and seeing Diane Keaton. It's a bit rarified. But theater is a live dream. It happens in sequence, not in bits and pieces. There's an urgency to theater. You can't stop and do it over. You have to be focused and live in the moment. That teaches me a lot. On stage you must live in moment or you'll get lost. It's a lesson I try to carry into my life.

What's next for you?

I have trained myself never to think about what's next and that has always worked for me, but in my head is a play. So I think I am going to try writing one.

"Mythical Proportions" runs through October 20th at Theatre Wit, 1229 W. Belmont Ave., Chicago. Tickets can be purchased at TheatreWit.org or by calling (773) 975-8150. Tickets range from $30-$36. Performances run Fridays at 8:00 PM, Saturdays at 7:00 PM, and Sundays at 3:00 PM, with a running time of 1 hour, 10 minutes.

Photo Credit: Chuck Osgood

Test and expand your Broadway knowledge with our new game - The Broadway Match-Up! How well do you know your Broadway casting trivia?	Play the Daily Game, explore current shows, and delve into past decades like the 2000s, 80s, and the Golden Age. Challenge your friends and see where you rank!
How well do you know your Tony Awards history? Take our never-ending quiz of nominations and winner history and challenge your friends.	Can you beat your friends? Play today’s daily Broadway word game, featuring a new theatrically inspired word or phrase every day!