NOTE: Due to COVID, the Ubu’s Other Shoe presentation of Fortinbras and the 20th anniversary celebration of the staged reading series scheduled September 20-21 have been postponed. New dates will be announced when they become available.
Question: What’s been running for 20 years (and counting) at SLO Repertory Theatre? Answer: Ubu’s Other Shoe.
Whose other shoe?
This year, SLO REP celebrates the 20th anniversary of Ubu’s Other Shoe—it’s not the name of a play, but the groundbreaking series of staged readings that complement the theatre’s mainstage productions.
Staged readings are a form of theatre without sets or full costumes and with minimal stage movement. They can offer playwrights a test run for a new work before it goes on to become a full production. They also can provide audiences with the opportunity to see and enjoy some challenging, thought-provoking plays that are not usually produced outside of New York, Chicago, or Los Angeles.
Michael Siebrass, Ubu’s creator, named the series in honor of the 19th-century French writer Alfred Jarry, whose absurdist plays (which included Ubu Roi) were banned from the stage after they incited riots. Ubu’s Other Shoe pays homage to Jarry’s spirit, allowing actors, directors, and audience members to experience plays that push the boundaries of the art: dynamic, evocative works that don’t necessarily fit into SLO REP’s mainstage season.
“Theatre should not only entertain, but also edify and inspire audiences on a deeper level,” Siebrass says. “Ubu’s Other Shoe gives actors the chance to take on challenging roles, while audiences get to experience theatre that presents real-life problems, people working out familiar struggles in real time.”
Siebrass graduated from the University of Portland in the mid 1960s, intending to work as an actor and director. He co-founded an “after-hours theatre in the basement of a coffeehouse” that became a venue for experimental works by, among others, Samuel Beckett, Eugene Ionesco, and Edward Albee.
He continued his education at San Francisco State University, then went to Europe, where he worked as a schoolteacher before returning to the States to work in the computer industry. Since then, Siebrass has always maintained an espirit de corps with genre-bending, avant-garde playwrights.
Ubu, and Michael, have done more to widen the theatrical tastes of our region than anything else I can imagine.” — SLO REP Managing Artistic Director Kevin Harris
His association with SLO REP began when he answered a classified ad calling for a director at the San Luis Obispo Little Theatre (the name was changed to SLO REP in 2017). He wound up directing several mainstage shows and continues to direct staged readings for the Ubu series. He also has appeared as an actor in several SLO REP productions including When the Rain Stops Falling and Cabaret.
Judith Hemenway, a long-time SLO REP devotee who (along with her husband Jon Fellows) is sponsoring the staged reading of Lee Blessing’s Fortinbras in September, says that Ubu’s Other Shoe gives audiences the chance to make stronger connections with the story and the actors. “Staged readings tend to have a more emotional impact than mainstream shows,” she explains. “We love the sense of immediacy and intimacy you experience at an Ubu reading.”
Live theatre must survive. It offers human immediacy that evokes more compassion than movies and TV can offer.” — Michael Siebrass
Over the past 20 years, Siebrass has brought more than 120 staged readings to SLO REP. “I tend to choose plays that reflect my own passions and interests,” he says. These include politics (The Best Man, Frost/Nixon), history (The White Rose, Worse than Murder), women’s issues (Dollhouse, Boy Gets Girl), social issues (Flags, Nickle and Dimed), and science (Photograph 51, Copenhagen). Some of his own Ubu favorites? A Walk in the Woods, Girls Like That, and Red.
“Ubu’s Other Shoe, ambitiously curated by Michael Siebrass, has been one of the most important programs at SLO REP for the last two decades,” says Kevin Harris, SLO REP’s managing artistic director. “This staged-reading series has allowed us to introduce new, thought-provoking work to our community, and has paved the way for many of these incredible plays to be presented to our larger, more traditional mainstage audience.
“Ubu, and Michael, have done more to widen the theatrical tastes of our region than anything else I can imagine.”
By any measure, 20 years is a remarkable run. But Siebrass has no intention of taking a final bow. Going into Ubu’s 2024-25 season, he’s as passionate as ever about bringing exciting new works to SLO REP and the Central Coast under the Ubu mantle.
“I’m amazed that Ubu has continued for this long,” Siebrass says. “And I’m happy that it will continue for the foreseeable future. Live theatre must survive. It offers human immediacy that evokes more compassion than movies and TV can offer.”
Audiences will have plenty of chances to share that experience throughout the 2024-25 season of Ubu’s Other Shoe. Fortinbras, the first of five staged readings, will be presented September 20-21.