When Andie Arthur was still in her hometown of Chicago, she noticed her friends and their relationships crumbling around her. “A lot of hearts were broken during time when the last Harry Potter book came out,” she said, “Seems like it was time to talk about it.” This was the arc that fleshed out A Girls Guide to Saving the Universe, Arthur’s new work that will have a reading this Monday.
Girl’s Guide focuses on a student named Penny, whose boyfriend is the savior of a country located under a Chicago El train station. Penny’s beau has disappeared and she is trying to find him; what she finds is that her man is not the person she thought he was. “It’s a story about a young woman figuring out that she can stand on her own,” says Arthur, “Penny finds out what happens to him and realizes that this wasn’t the person she knew.”
With her BFA degree in playwriting, this DePaul graduate migrated from the Windy City to reside in South Florida. “It was too cold; besides my family lives here, so it made sense to move.” Her transition has given her good dividends: Arthur has been appointed as Executive Director of the Theatre League of South Florida, a network organization of theatre artists and companies in this specific region.
Along with her duties as an administrator, Arthur has been looking for connections to hone her craft as a writer. She seems to have found it with the Naked Stage, a company that will present Girls’ Guide on Monday. This will be the second time Arthur has collaborated with the Naked Stage: she contributed a short piece for their 24-Hour Theatre project late October. “I felt that (Naked Stage)’s mission to stretch boundaries of theatre related to what was going on back in my hometown, so that’s what drew me to them.”
But just because her piece is getting a public read doesn’t mean that her work is complete; Arthur is still busy rewriting and probably will be tooling afterwards: “I come from the Chicago style of writing” Arthur explains, “Part of the process of creating a great play is keep at it until you get it right.”
Maybe that’s why Tracy Letts brought the Pulitzer back to the Second City with his acclaimed work, August: Osage County. “It’s an exciting time for Chicago writers”, says Arthur, “With Steppenwolf and House Theatre of Chicago providing places for local writers to branch out, it makes me feel good about where I’m from.”
Now Andie Arthur will bring that spirit here and put it to good use. The reading of Girls’ Guide will be presented on Monday, April 21st, 7:30pm at the Pelican Theatre on the campus of Barry University in Miami Shores. For more information, please call 954-261-1785 or visit our website at www.5minstocurtain.com.
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