A Conversation with Director Guillermo Cienfuegos, "Evanston Salt Costs Climbing", Rogue Machine Theatre, by James Scarborough

In Will Arbery's "Evanston Salt Costs Climbing," the mundane task of salting icy roads becomes a metaphor for our complex relationship with environmental change and technological progress. Director Guillermo Cienfuegos brings a compelling touch to this meditation on existential dread, crafting a production that balances humor with underlying tension.

The play transforms everyday municipal workers into prophetic figures. Through the interactions of salt truck drivers Peter and Basil, we witness the human cost of progress as they face potential obsolescence from green technology. Their boss Maiworm's environmental vision creates a compelling conflict between ecological responsibility and economic survival.

Cienfuegos, known for his nuanced direction of challenging works, draws out the play's deeper resonances while maintaining its surface-level charm. His previous experience with Arbery's work (having directed "Heroes of the Fourth Turning") informs his understanding of the playwright's ability to weave complex themes into seemingly simple narratives.

The production's success hinges on its ability to make the specific universal - turning the story of Evanston's salt truck drivers into a broader commentary on climate change, job security, and human connection in an increasingly uncertain world. Under Cienfuegos's direction, these elements coalesce into a powerful exploration of contemporary anxieties.

Below follows an email conversation with Guillermo Cienfuegos.

JS: Your production marks the Southern California premiere of "Evanston Salt Costs Climbing." What drew you to Will Arbery's text, especially its exploration of climate change through the lens of municipal workers?

GC: I was drawn to the play because of my love for the work of Will Arbery. I had such a wonderful time directing ‘Heroes of the Fourth Turning,’ and Rogue Machine was so greatly benefited by being allowed to produce it, that taking on another of Will’s plays was a no brainer. Although they’re both extremely intimidating - ‘Evanston’ even more so. I barely came out of it alive! Fortunately, I’m surrounded by some deeply talented and dedicated actors, designers and support staff that made it actually possible. But the climate change element of it wasn’t what really drew me - I see that as mostly a metaphor for that which we can’t control. A metaphor that became very real during our rehearsals when Los Angeles was engulfed by wildfires. What resonates most for me is the nature of connection - true connection between people. How terrifying it can be and how it takes real courage to let oneself become vulnerable enough to actually do it.

JS: The play balances humor with an undercurrent of existential dread. How did you work with your cast to achieve this delicate equilibrium?

GC: This is precisely the combination that I love most - a deep and powerful theme delivered within the framework of a hilarious, sometimes absurd, comedy. Comedy is the best way to expose these truths - get the audience laughing, and while their mouths are open, pour in the medicine. It’s a sometimes difficult and delicate balance. The key here is really casting - if you get the right actors in the room who understand this instinctively and have the chops to pull it off, the rest is just making a mess in rehearsal every day and finding it. I’m quite fortunate to have had Michael, Lesley, Hugo, Kaia (and Paige) on this journey.

JS: Mark Mendelson's scenic design plays a crucial role in establishing the winter atmosphere of Evanston. Discuss your collaborative process in creating the visual world of the play.

GC: I don’t think this production reaches nearly the level of success we’re fortunate enough to be enjoying without the astounding set design delivered by Mark. He and I had the benefit of more time than usual to discuss what the play needed and how we were going to accomplish it all in our small space. In a few cases, I just asked for things that I wasn’t at all sure were possible and he figured it out. As for the cold, from the beginning Mark had a strong attack on how to establish this unforgiving environment. We planned especially for the fact that this production would be taking place in Los Angeles, an environment about as far from that kind of cold as could be. So, it would be crucial to make an LA audience feel as though they’d truly entered a different climate. Basically, make them visually (and otherwise) actually feel cold. Mark is also an exceptionally talented scenic painter and he brought that skill to bear to further pull us into the world of these salt truck drivers and what their work is like. The design encompasses so many elements - the interiors and exteriors -the cold and industrial work environment, the warm home that serves as a literal shelter from the storm, the whimsical way he presents the truck that two of the main characters spend so much of their lives in, the very center of the polar vortex, even what Will calls “the invisible world.” All with such specificity and feeling. And he designed this set to work collaboratively with other elements as Michelle Hanzelova-Bierbauer’s projections of the ever-worsening snow storm, Dan Weingarten’s lighting both on and under the set, Christine Cover-Ferro’s costumes with their punches of color and Jenine MacDonald’s set decoration to tell the full story. Also, the way the set is laid out made it possible for me to create some transitions from scene to scene that would not only keep the play moving efficiently but allow for opportunities to underscore the play’s magical realism moments. He honestly should not have been able to make it all happen but he did. And I'm so grateful.

JS: The sound design by Chris Moscatiello is integral to building tension. How did you approach the auditory landscape of the production?

GC: I’ve worked with Chris many many times and I’m never disappointed with what he’s able to deliver. There’s a need to believe we’re in an industrial setting which he lays out beautifully. And he’s once again delivered another set of other-worldly elements for the parts of the play that need that, which I feel viscerally, in my heart. But maybe most importantly, he helps put us in a climate environment that takes us out of our reality in LA and drops us in a place that seems so cold and out of our control that you wonder why humans try to inhabit it. Particularly the way he slowly increases the sound and force of the wind as the play’s story progresses to its climax. All in support of the text. 

JS: Having previously directed Arbery's "Heroes of the Fourth Turning," how do you see these works connecting thematically?

GC: In tone, setting and the drawing of characters, these two plays couldn’t be more different. Yet, they both contain Will’s characteristic sharp and precise dialogue that is somehow also grounded and totally truthful. They’re both so compassionate and heartfelt. Thematically, these two plays also share this looming undercurrent of dread over the uncertainty and anxiety of our current world, which really resonates with me. He uses natural elements (like the Solar Eclipse in ‘Heroes' and the Polar Vortex in ‘Evanston’) and what seems like supernatural elements (the mysterious screech in ‘Heroes’ and "the thing underneath everything” in ‘Evanston’) indicating how powerless we all are in comparison. 

JS: Discuss the significance of the movement direction by Myrna Gawryn in portraying the physical demands of the characters' work.

GC: In addition to working as our intimacy director, choreographing the dance that Jane Jr. is practicing in the play - and another couple of elements I won’t spoil here - Myrna (whom I’ve also worked with many times) is very good with helping actors isolate and refine how their character’s states manifest themselves physically. The play in my view needs to be delivered with theatrical and magical flourish, which she helped with greatly.

JS: The play touches on technological obsolescence. How does this theme resonate with contemporary theater-making?

GC: Well, in the theatre we’re always facing the prospect of not existing anymore. Although I wouldn’t use the word obsolete. On the contrary, I’d say the real, in person, analog experience of live theatre, particularly theatre as intimate as what we present at Rogue Machine, has never been more necessary. Our technologically super advanced world offers tons of methods and tools designed for us to escape intimacy and connection and avoid being present in a moment. But in the theatre, live humans gathering together in a room for the purpose of experiencing a story being shared by other live humans with their voices and bodies, is the exact opposite. Being present together for an experience that will happen only right then and there and never again in exactly that form - that’s not obsolete. That matters.

JS: Dan Weingarten's lighting design plays with both naturalistic and symbolic elements. Elaborate on these choices.

GC: As always, the challenge is to serve the play, and that’s something that Dan holds very dear philosophically. He is extremely talented and experienced and I leaned on him a great deal. We talked a lot about the juxtaposition of the cold and the warm and he knew just how to make that happen in each case. The rest was working together to determine the degrees to which the audience should experience that as the play hurls forward.

JS: The character of Maiworm represents a complex perspective on environmental progress. How did you and actress Lesley Fera develop this role?

GC: Maiworm is the character I relate to the most in the entire play. The way she attempts to deal with her fear and anxiety and her sense of isolation by just putting her head down and focusing on accomplishing tasks - to the betterment of some parts of her life and the detriment of others - is very personal to me. There’s no other actor I trust more with the job of being this play’s engine than Lesley. She understands who Maiworm is in her bones and possesses all the technical skill to present Maiworm the way she wants to be seen by the world and her coworkers. As well as the soulful depth to let us see what she’s really going through. Of course, it begins and ends with the text. We worked together to try to serve the play and be as true to the character as possible. But it’s Lesley who is actually out there doing it. Living it.

JS: The play's ending leaves certain questions unanswered. What were your intentions regarding this ambiguity?

GC: You put your finger on one of the more intimidating parts of working on this play: the ending - as well as the momentum building up to it. How to land the story for the audience in an emotional way if not an entirely logical one. For me, I think the enigmatic way Will ends this play reflects our experience of life. We don’t often know why things happen or don’t happen. Plans don’t work out as we thought, expectations are not met, people we love and need suddenly leave us with no warning. We’re left to come to terms not with what we want or wish for - but what actually is. I hope people walk away from this play with a feeling that while life might be scary and uncertain - we’re not alone.

Performances are 8pm Fridays, Saturdays, Mondays; 3pm Sundays; 2pm Saturdays, March 1 and March 8, through March 9, 2025. Tickets are $60 Fridays and Saturdays for general seating; $45 Sundays and Mondays; Seniors: $35; Students with ID: $25. Rogue Machine at the Matrix Theatre is located at 7657 Melrose Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90046. For more information, click here or call 855-585-5185.

Hugo Armstrong & Michael Redfield (Courtesy of Jeff Lorch)