WORTH THE WAIT. Longtime actor and familiar local theater member Susie Draeger says folks looking to gain a glimpse into the heart of the theater community should snag their tickets to "Waiting Room." "This is the one," she said. (Submitted photo)

There are few spaces which evoke and encompass the wide stretch of emotions a hospital waiting room does. Certainly, anxiety and fear dance together there; relief and happiness stand opposite. Everything in between lives there too, ready for an inevitable turn at centerstage.

It’s high time someone just laid it all out there – the fear and relief and boredom and adrenaline – and local playwright Reid Sollberger is just that person. “Waiting Room,” an original play and Sollberger’s directorial debut, will land at The Grand Theatre the first week of October.

“In hospital waiting rooms, just because there’s all kinds of different moods and emotions, I wasn’t quite sure how to do that,” Sollberger said of his writing process. “I kept the idea in the back of my mind. Then I went to see the Guild’s show 'Dating Games' last year, and that show was a series of little vignettes about different types of love.

“Something in my brain clicked; 'Waiting Room' should be a series of vignettes too because of all the different emotions you can feel there.”

And a range of emotions, it will deliver. Without shedding too much light on what to expect from “Waiting Room,” Sollberger did name some of the situations and potential feelings each of the play’s vignettes will explore: the “meet cute” moment between two young people, a mother-son duo, an opposite-ends discussion about faith and religion, and more.

With six total vignettes – and six main characters, who will never collectively share the stage – explored in one setting, movement and passage of time will be communicated through use of set and seasonal decor.

"The other neat thing about it is, waiting rooms can be boring, but there's so much juice in this. Because of the vignettes, people don't get bored. You get a powerful snippet and then it's on to the next."

SUSIE DRAEGER

CAST MEMBER, "WAITING ROOM"

Performance Anxiety, Inc. – the local theater company presenting "Waiting Room" – has been introducing its cast online ahead of its opening weekend. (Photos via Facebook, left to right: Aiden (played by Tyrone Green), Nell (played by Sinead Dolan-Neill), and Carol (played by Cindy Fahser). 

Notably, locals are likely to have “ah-ha” moments during the play as well, related to its setting.

“As far as its setting in Eau Claire, when I sat down and started to write, I needed some type of reference,” Sollberger said. “A thought just burst into my head of, if it was set in Eau Claire, it could be fun to throw in references to this or that, giving it a unique experience (for locals who) come to see it.”

Susie Draeger, starring as a character decades her senior, is uniquely qualified to act in an emotionally expansion production such as this one – she directed “Dating Games,” the play which inspired Sollbergers’ structuring of “Waiting Room.”

With a degree in fine arts for acting, both starring in and directing a number of productions and community theater plays (including several alongside Sollberger), Draeger said “Waiting Room” is likely the best play Sollberger has written yet.

“I think people will have that full gamut of emotions,” Draeger said. “The other neat thing about it is, waiting rooms can be boring, but there’s so much juice in this. Because of the vignettes, people don’t get to be bored. You get a powerful snippet and then it’s on to the next.”

Both Sollberger and Draeger dipped further into the Eau Claire community theater scene within the last decade, each citing their own reasons for doing so. For Draeger, this production – and its director and playwright – perhaps embodies the scene’s draw best.

“It’s the heart that people have (in theater),” Draeger said. “The time commitment that Reid has put in, both to directing and also writing, choosing the right people, giving actors chances… Reid and I have huge hearts for this medium and what it does for people.

“If you want to see a group of people who really, really care, then this is the one.”

Presented by Performance Anxiety, Inc., “Waiting Room” will show at The Grand Theatre (102 W. Grand St., Eau Claire) on Oct. 3-4 at 7:30pm and on Oct. 5 at 1:30pm. Tickets will be available at the door of each show, $20/person. The production will run around two hours and will have a 15-minute intermission.