photos by Indy Ghostlight

You are not alone — even among us theater geeks — if you’ve never heard of, let alone seen, William Inge’s play “Natural Affection,” which I had the pleasure of seeing over the weekend courtesy of American Lives Theatre.

“Natural Affection” isn’t a play that’s anywhere near the annual list of most produced plays in the U.S.

It’s not a play that showed up in an ALT audience want-to-see survey.

In fact, it hasn’t even been produced at the annual Inge Festival in Independence, Kansas, since, well, I’m still waiting to hear back if it ever was.

So why would American Lives Theatre devote time, talent, resources, and a spot on its schedule to “Natural Affection” when even Inge’s biggest hits (including “Bus Stop” and “Come Back, Little Sheba,” rarely get the kind of revivals scored by his peers Tennessee Williams and Arthur Miller.

Because ALT Artistic Director Chris Saunders, wanted to, that’s why. He had a burn to do it. And he did.

And I applaud him for that.

I applaud him in the same way that I applaud Casey Ross of Catalyst Rep for staging “Starmites” in 2023.

There was no clamor for a revival of this science fiction comic book musical oddity that somehow had a Broadway run during that strange theatrical period known as the 1980s. (It lasted 60 performances.)

But Ross wanted it to happen. So it did.

I fully realize that theater companies, large and small, face great challenges when trying to decide what to produce. Compounding the challenge is the fact that we exist in a world where critical coverage — and even a lot of non-critical coverage — has disappeared from local media, making it more difficult even for people who might be interested in catching a show to know what’s happening where and when. (Side note: I miss Nuvo Newsweekly for, among many things, its calendar listings.)

Since performing to empty houses is no artist’s idea of a good time, theater companies artistic directors often put their dream shows on hold (or indefinite suspension) as they try to stay solvent by picking more marketable, familiar choices.

So when a curiosity — a “Natural Affection” or a “Starmites” — shows up on a schedule, I’m going to go out of my way to make time for it.

Because there’s a different kind of excitement and a better chance of something special happening, when a show is fueled by passion rather than calculation.