HUNDRED DAYS is an uncensored, exhilarating and heartrending true story about embracing uncertainty, taking a leap, and loving as if you only had 100 days to live. We caught up with director Lucky Stiff (they/them) to learn more about the show, their style, and why audiences should join us more than once…
Hey Lucky, tell us all about you!
I’m just a clown for the people trying to tell stories about rage and hope with song and dance!
Everyone is asking about your name. What’s the story?
I’m a Drag performer in addition to being a director and one of the hallmarks of being a Drag person is you have to come up with a witty name so people can remember you. The phrase “Lucky Stiff” is generally used to describe someone who has great things happen to them despite just being an ordinary schlub – so it’s both a hopeful name (please let great things happen to me) and a reminder to stay humble. Although it started out as a Drag name, I’ve adopted it in the rest of my artistic life as a way of validating being gender-nonconforming.
I’m not going to lie though, the name came to me in a bar when the DJ played Britney Spears’ “Lucky.”
What drew you to Hundred Days?
Hundred Days uses musical storytelling in a concert style, and I tend to direct plays that feel like experiences more than direct narratives so it felt like a good fit. It’s also a story (in the words of one of our performers) about “how punk it is to love someone knowing we’re all going to eventually die,” which is a fun way of saying it encourages us to radically believe in Love. And I work hard every day at believing that so it helps to know we’re all going through it.
Is there anything about Hundred Days that you’re most excited about?
Getting to watch people watching it once we open. Also I could listen to these songs a million times and not get tired of them – I think people are going to want to come twice.
Why should people see the show?
The music will take you to another place and the story will bring you Home. It’s joyful and sweet and nostalgic, and sad all at the same time. And it all really happened.
Describe yourself in three words…
Hopeful Bog Creature.
Describe Hundred Days in one…
Ecstatic.
Ready to see Lucky’s work? Be sure to join us at the Chopin Theatre for the Chicago premiere of Hundred Days! Performances begin on Thursday, March 6. Tickets available here.
