‘Laugh, Cry, Sweat’ with New Theater Company Eclipse Productions And keep up to date with other area theater

Bloomington theater continues to move in new directions in 2024. Konnor Graber, Kate Weber, and Jeremy J Weber lead Eclipse Productions Company, Bloomington’s newest theater company. Their goal is to provide additional opportunities for local actors and enable affordable, high-quality theater experiences in Bloomington.

Following the company’s first production, True West (1980) by Sam Shepard, Eclipse will present the 1948 Pulitzer Prize–winner A Streetcar Named Desire, by Tennessee Williams, directed by Kate Weber, and featuring Dania Leova (Blanche), Graber (Stanley), Shayna Survil (Stella), and Jeremy Weber (Mitch). 

[Editor’s note: Find info about other area theater companies at the end of this article.]

Co-founders of Eclipse Productions (l-r): Konnor Graber, Kate Weber, and Jeremy J Weber. | Courtesy photos

Konnor Graber

Eclipse co-founder and actor Konnor Graber has been engaged in theater since he was a high schooler. At first, he accepted a scholarship to attend the American Musical and Dramatic Arts Academy in New York City. As an Indiana 21st Century Scholarship winner, however, he decided to attend Indiana University in Bloomington instead. There, he double majored in theater and history before earning a Master of Arts degree in applied behavior analysis from Ball State University. 

The sudden friendship that he struck up with Kate and Jeremy Weber would lead to the formation of Eclipse Productions in 2023. After an acting hiatus of nearly nine years, Graber decided to audition for the role of Robert in Boeing Boeing by Marc Camoletti at Brown County Playhouse. He recalls the audition as his best ever, and as the experience that led to his encounter with director Kate Weber. 

Konnor Graber: “I want my hair, my beard, my voice, my clothes, my props, my physicality to completely change for each role.” | Photo provided

“I could tell from the start that she was serious about her work and wanted the highest quality acting and production. I highly respected this and craved this,” says Graber. “My love and passion for theater was reignited and I am so thankful for that. I completely forgot what I was missing. Theater, to this day, continues to change my life for the better.” 

When discussing with her the idea of co-producing theater, Graber says they agreed that their staged works should be “raw, authentic, and as real as it gets.” That was their rationale for the selection of True West and A Streetcar Named Desire (opening May 9) for their first two productions. 

“We want people to feel all of the emotions. We want them to laugh, cry, sweat, feel uncomfortable, get wet, smell toast [a True West reference], and be completely immersed in the production,” says Graber. 

He also wants to select plays “that have deep meaning and that can inspire change.” For Graber, Streetcar has the potential to do just that, as a classic that continues to move theatergoers nearly 80 years after its first performance on Broadway. “We want to highlight issues within our society and promote discussion for a deeper understanding and change,” he says.

Since starting Eclipse Productions, Graber has enjoyed post-show audience feedback. Such were the gut reactions to Lee, the character he played in True West: “I felt so uncomfortable, but I loved it!” said one fan. “I hated your character so much, but I was rooting for you!” said another.

While the True West production last fall was personally rewarding for Graber, community outreach and financial development were challenging for his new theater company, now a nonprofit eligible for grants. Calling their first production “a truly incredible show,” he marvels that they presented it on a limited budget. “I strongly believe that the community knows us now and are excited to see what we do next! We set the bar really high and now we have to match it with Streetcar.”

Graber will play Stanley Kowalski in Eclipse’s production of Streetcar this spring. He sees Stanley as “an incredibly complex character” whose multiple facets would be challenging to present within a single scene. Says Graber, “The most important thing to note for me is that he is just a human being. He is not a villain, but he does villainous things at times. He is full of love, but he is also full of jealousy and hate.”

Identification with Stanley was a struggle for Graber till he understood that the character is “a product of his relationships.” His objective is to humanize Stanley by bringing him to life “in the most authentic way possible,” says Graber. “He is a soldier, a husband, a friend, an abuser, an alcoholic, and a businessman all at the same time.” As Stanley, he wants to provoke multiple reactions on the ambivalence spectrum: sympathy, hatred, love, revulsion. He wants his audience to “see the deep love [and] compassion and even root for a character like Stanley, who is lashing out due to deep, unhealed wounds.”

Graber’s favorite theater roles include Sky Masterson in Guys and Dolls, The Captain in Mister Roberts, Horatio in Hamlet, Robert in Boeing Boeing, and Lee in True West. But his ultimate objective is complete self-transformation for all his roles. He says, “I want my hair, my beard, my voice, my clothes, my props, my physicality to completely change for each role. My ultimate goal is to always be ‘unrecognizable’ to anyone that has seen me in a previous role or who may know me personally.” Theatergoers who saw him as Lee in True West might be interested in observing his self-transformation into his own version of Stanley in Streetcar.

Graber tells emerging actors and theater producers: “Do what you love, believe in, and are passionate about”; and “Don’t let that ‘typical,’ ‘ordinary,’ ‘expected,’ ‘safe,’ or ‘popular’ way of doing things change you.” After all, his passion for theater and his willingness to take risks have brought him to the helm of Eclipse Productions. “If you truly believe in yourself, you have already succeeded,” he says.

Kate Weber

Born in St. Petersburg, Russia, of actor parents, Kate Weber was constantly surrounded by history, art, and theater. She would spend time in her crib while her mother worked the lighting board at a theater. She recalls that after she had outgrown the crib, she ran onto a stage during a performance, and the director yelled into the headset, “Whose kid is in my Shakespeare production right now?”

After earning a B.A. in theater and communication at Temple University, Weber spent more than fifteen years hitting the theater circuit in New York City. At that time, she lived in a shoebox apartment while working as a server. That was also when she met Jeremy Weber, whom she married. Since then, their move to Bloomington would lead to Kate Weber’s appointment as director of Brown County Playhouse, and they would co-found Eclipse Productions Company with Konnor Graber. 

Kate Weber: “I like that we are not scared to take chances and to push the boundaries of the craft.” | Photo provided

Kate and Jeremy Weber always knew they wanted to start up their own theater company. That plan became viable after their encounter with Graber in the summer of 2023. Kate Weber says she was “automatically highly impressed” when Graber went to the audition with his lines already memorized. “He was always the first person there and the last to leave. Jeremy and I saw how talented he was from the beginning and his willingness to grow.”

Since then, Kate Weber sees Graber as the missing “last piece of the puzzle” that was needed to complete the founding team of a startup theater company. She recalls the moment Graber had simply looked at her and Jeremy Weber, and said, “Let’s do this. I got us,” when they were concerned that their dream of a startup would be financially unfeasible. 

Whenever the three convened, they would “just geek out on theater” and discuss characters, scripts, and sets for hours, says Kate Weber. “The best part about all of this is that there is no ego and that this is a truly equitable partnership, and we hope to bring that into the way we run our productions and this company.”

After the challenge of producing True West, which Weber calls “a very masculine play, dealing with family issues and relationships,” they selected Streetcar for Eclipse’s second production. Selection was due, in part, to the play’s similar family issues that assume “a more feminine approach,” she says. “We honestly choose the plays by how much they inspire us, the elaborate characters, and incredible writing and storytelling. My philosophy is, if it inspires, it gets created.”

Weber’s best experience as Eclipse co-founder is the chance to work with many talented people, while the greatest challenge is financial development. Collaboration and outreach from the Bloomington community have been strong, however, and the Eclipse co-founders “work hard and stay positive and keep on pushing through,” Weber says. “I like that we are not scared to take chances and to push the boundaries of the craft.” 

She also likes that their creative collaboration is mutually elevating. “We knew that we wanted to bring that same energy to the Bloomington art scene,” she says. “We saw the hunger that exists here and we wanted to be a part of it and grow within it.” 

Weber wanted to become a theater director from the outset. But to do so, she felt the need to take acting classes first. Bringing her acting experience into her directing, she aims to be “a true actors director,” she says, and would not ask an actor to do anything she herself had not already done or would be unwilling to do. 

When directing a play, she approaches the process “completely blind.” She does her own historical research but does not watch other productions of that play. This approach enables her to discover for herself the playwright’s intentions. 

Weber will direct Eclipse’s production of Streetcar. Her approach to the play is to tell the stories of each character, no matter how small the role. “My goal is to fully immerse the audience in the individual lives,” she says, and “to tell the human experience, no matter how vilified the characters are.” 

Because she wanted to work with Dania Leova again after their collaboration on Boeing Boeing in 2023, Leova was cast as Blanche in Streetcar. “It’s such a popular play and Blanche is such an iconic character,” says Weber. 

Through the upcoming Eclipse production, Weber wants to emphasize the traumas that evolved from the Second World War, and their effects on both women and men. She says, “As opposed to True West, I am taking a much more ethereal approach. True West focused on a lot of the wounded masculine, and Streetcar deals more with the wounded feminine.” 

For Weber, the most rewarding aspect of directing Streetcar is watching the actors settle into their roles and realizing her personal vision. She says, “I enjoy the layers that we create together and the through line of the entire play.” The most challenging aspect of directing the play is practicing clinical detachment toward the physical and mental abuse of the characters. “This is a very heavy play,” she says, but one that has the potential to “promote conversations outside of the productions, to question these characters’ lives, and force people to get off their phones and discuss something that was truly meaningful and impactful to them.”

Weber tells emerging directors, “Don’t ask your actors to do something that you yourself haven’t done or wouldn’t do.” And “When you choose a show, choose it meticulously and wisely and see if it truly resonates with who it is that you are, and what it is you’re trying to convey.” 

Jeremy Weber

Jeremy J Weber: “Choosing these plays allows us to present themes and stories that will fit into our company mission to make our audiences question what it means to be an observer of these moments of life.” (Above, left, with Dania Leova during a rehearsal) | Photo provided

Jeremy Weber’s interest in theater started with his first role, the King, in his 8th grade production of The Ugly Duckling by A. A. Milne. After performing various roles in high school, he moved to New York City, where he attended The American Musical and Dramatic Academy. After graduating from there, he acted in numerous Broadway, off-Broadway, and off-off-Broadway productions. 

Some roles he played are Iago in Othello, The Player King in Rosencranz and Guildenstern are Dead, Hal in Proof, Bradley in Buried Child, Irvin in Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, Algernon in The Importance of Being Earnest, and Austin in True West.

Of the instant camaraderie between himself, Kate Weber, and Konnor Graber, he says, “We started Eclipse Productions because we were fortunate to meet each other at the right time and the right place.” He also says, “We recognized in each other a talent that could bring a higher level of art to Bloomington.”

After Boeing Boeing closed in June 2023, they formed Eclipse with the goal of bringing “high quality, talented, and motivational art to the Bloomington community,” he says. “We want to put up productions that our community has never seen before, because previous theaters thought it would be too risky or cost prohibitive.”

According to Weber, True West and Streetcar were selected for Eclipse’s first two productions due to their potential to promote the company’s mission to “bring Bloomington high-quality theater.” He says, “Choosing these plays allows us to present themes and stories that will fit into our company mission to make our audiences question what it means to be an observer of these moments of life.” 

Benjamin Loudermilk (left) and Connie Shakalis rehearse for “A Streetcar Named Desire.” | Photo provided

Weber will play Mitch in Eclipse’s Streetcar. The greatest challenge for playing that role is “balancing all the different levels in his personality,” he says. He sees in Mitch the extremes of being, on the one hand, “the sweet good-natured boy next door,” and on the other, “the war veteran who has killed in the heat of battle.”

“Creating a character where both of those aspects of his personality can breathe and exist alongside all the in-between levels is, for me, the greatest challenge,” he says.

When asked if there are any similarities between his own personality and Mitch’s, he says, “There is a tenderness and a romanticism in Mitch that I also share. However, Mitch is a veteran and has all the life experiences that go along with that, while I have never served in the military.”

While Weber’s most rewarding experience since the formation of Eclipse has been working with Graber, Kate Weber, Connie Shakalis, and Pete Law to produce True West, the greatest challenge is finding ways to enable the company to move forward financially. He says, “We want to provide a culture where we are able to adequately pay our artists to create these amazing pieces of theatrical art.” 

“After graduating, and spending decades trying to make theater work in New York City, I came to the realization that the only way to produce theater that I was proud of was to produce it myself,” he says. Even so, he advises emerging theater producers to “make sure this is really what you want out of life. Ask yourself if you are willing to sacrifice financial security to do the art that you feel needs to be seen.”

Shayna Survil

Shayna Survil has always loved entertaining others. Since around the age of 8, she knew she wanted to be on stage. Watching Disney and Nickelodeon, she caught herself thinking, “I want to do that. I want to be like that!” 

After attending a theater camp in her senior year of high school, Survil went on to major in theater at the University of Southern Indiana. There, she played the role of Sara in USI Theatre’s February 2022 production of Stop Kiss, by Diana Son, and contributed to The College Memoir, USI’s senior Theatre Capstone Project. She also acted in USI Theatre’s The Dog in the Manger, and A Midsummer Night’s Dream. 

Shayna Survil: “It’s not only acceptable but necessary to rely on others in the world of theater. Theater is collaboration.” | Photo provided

Survil will play Stella Kowalski in Eclipse’s Streetcar. The challenge of playing that role, she says, would be to communicate to theatergoers the Kowalskis’ love for each other. She says, “I think, as an audience member, it’s easy to misread that love as convenience, or manipulation, or desire — which admittedly, there is an excess of — or anything other than love.”

Survil plans to bring strength to her interpretation of Stella. She says, “I think it’s easy for a lesser director to cast Stella as a weak woman. Torn between her husband and her sister, with no drive or direction of her own. But Stella isn’t weak. She is a product of her time.”

Streetcar effectively presents the reality of women’s lives in the 1940s and 1950s, Survil says. According to her, the home was the primary space that women were expected to inhabit during those decades. She says, “Stella is doing her best to not only survive in these circumstances, but thrive. I want the audience to see that Stella is doing her best to make a place for herself in a world that wasn’t made for her and doesn’t care about her.”

Comparing her own personality with Stella’s, she says, “We both love a thrill and struggle to draw a line between good fun and genuine danger.” She and Stella love to take care of others, she says, and tend to “dive into decisions head first and deal with consequences later, sometimes to disastrous effect.” Above all, they “love to love and be loved,” even if such tendencies inspire questionable decisions. 

Survil tells emerging actors, “Surround yourself with people that share your passion. Theater does not exist in a vacuum.” She also says, “Take some time to reflect on not only the skills that you bring to the table, but the skills that you lack. It’s not only acceptable but necessary to rely on others in the world of theater. Theater is collaboration.”

Dania Leova

Dania Leova: “Identifying with Blanche is a complicated, delicate thing. I feel that most people would look at this role and be horrified at her habits and where her life has gone, and instantly reject any kind of familiarity.” | Photo provided

Dania Leova always knew she wanted to be an actress. When she was a child, she would act out scenes from her favorite movies and enlist her younger sister’s help to produce homemade plays. She was active in the drama department of her middle and high schools before she earned her degree in theater, with a concentration in performance and directing, from Northwestern State University of Louisiana.

Leova played Corie Bratter in the 2022 Brown County Playhouse production of Barefoot in the Park by Neil Simon. She also wrote and directed its adaptation of A Christmas Carol for presentation in December 2022.

Leova will play Blanche DuBois in Eclipse’s Streetcar. For her, the greatest challenge of playing that role is honoring and shedding light on all facets of the character. She says, “She’s a complicated woman. All humans are multifaceted, but Blanche has had some unique situations that really pull out some interesting dynamics within one human being.”

Like Shayna Survil in her role with Stella, Leova plans to bring strength to her role. Blanche’s strength is “often overlooked,” Leova says. Because Blanche is a survivor, Leova believes that the multifaceted character should be elevated. She says, “Identifying with Blanche is a complicated, delicate thing. I feel that most people would look at this role and be horrified at her habits and where her life has gone, and instantly reject any kind of familiarity.”

Even so, Leova believes that ambivalence about playing Blanche is manageable. She says, “I think that there is a deep and incredibly relatable energy of the idea of being safe. Safe to be soft, safe to love and be loved.” That desire for safety is universal, she says, and Blanche “gives a voice to that.” 

Comparing her own personality to Blanche’s, Leova says, “Her romanticization of life is something I find myself doing quite often. Obviously we know there can be romanticization to the point of delusion, but on just a day-to-day basis of finding joy in small things — that’s a really beautiful quality that I see in both her and myself.”

While Blanche’s love of poetry and “her drive to make things more gentle” are additional similarities, Leova sees the character as a cautionary embodiment of the need for balance: “Balance in your life, in your habits, in your thoughts.”

Leova tells emerging actors to continue their engagement with theater for the sheer love of it. She says, “Obviously, pursue your career with drive and ambition. But if it ever gets to the point that this job feels heavy and draining, give it a rest. You can’t pour from an empty cup.”

Nearly a year since Eclipse Productions started up, there are additional opportunities for actors and other theater production staff in Bloomington. For local theatergoers, there is also the enticement of affordable Broadway-quality shows.