Jerry Spivack

The Third Coast Comedy ⋄ Drama The Third Coast takes place in Chicago in the late 1980s. Four boys straight out of Normal. Normal Illinois, the home of Illinois State University. Their apartment overlooks Wrigley Field (although from their rooftop you can only see the left field warning track.) You could hear the roar of the crowd from the apartment. But, if you wanted to see any part of the game, you went across the street and bought a ticket for the bleachers. Tickets were three dollars and seventy five cents and a cold beer was already four dollars. The late 1980s. The Reagan Years-Pro Ultra Capitalism/Trickle Down Economics/Cold War/Greed is Good vs apathy. AIDS reared its ugly head and friends and acquaintances were dying. The similarities between the AIDS Epidemic and the current Coronavirus Pandemic and the communities which are affected hardest are impossible to ignore. Institutional racism and sexism were rampant. You were either on the ‘Make Money Train’ or nothing. Political correctness and the Me Too movement were still a generation or two away. As we know, Chicago is known as The Second City. But in the 1980s it suffered from a ‘Third City Syndrome’ compared to NYC or Los Angeles when it came to the ‘arts’. A choice needed to be made as where to move after college if you were an actor, Chicago was the path of least resistance. While the TC boys were ‘In the middle’ of all of this. They existed in a ZEN-LIKE state of drinking and carelessness. They cared about their art/craft but never took it too seriously...especially if it got in the way of drinking, sex or a game. THE THIRD COAST The TC boys were NOT homophobic, but rather passive-aggressive and certainly tone deaf to how they spoke to each other because of the ‘GAY-ADJACENT’ world of theatre, restaurants and bars which were heavily populated by gay men and women. Ironically, The TC boys were ‘in between’ the Straight and Gay world because of their involvement in the theatre. They often heard it from both sides. The TC boys treatment of women would be one of saying that ‘we are equal’ but you’re prettier, sexier and infinitely better people. A woman could be one of the group and were certainly not passive bystanders. This isn’t the age of MADMEN, but there was an unspoken ‘boys club’ mentality when it came to making a choice in whether to hang with the boys or go on date with your girlfriend. It was kind of a GOODFELLAS thing but without the killing. There certainly is a lack of ‘WOKENESS’ which prevails in every episode and it is uncomfortable and it should be. While the TC Boys are victims of their own making. They are also guilty of sitting on the sidelines lost in their world as the drumbeat of ‘evolving’ towards being ‘woke’ gets louder. THE THIRD COAST The TC boys aren’t ‘navigating’ through this particular period of life to gain knowledge but often learn life’s lessons by hammer and anvil. They simply exist in the moment when they are together. They are like passive sharks wandering the city WAITING for nothing more than the next thing be it a job, career or relationship. As long as it didn’t interfere with their enjoyment. It isn’t until they are confronted with something/conflict they: Joke their way out of it Drink their way out of it Try to have sex with it Run away from it When will they learn from it? TTC does not have a traditional story arc from the pilot episode to episode VII. Each episode stands on its own and while the connection between episodes are simply the characters within...we can jump from one day or week, or year to another within the season. There is not now or ever been a show set in the 1980’s which illustrates the 20-something post college malaise as does The Third Coast...and it is a true story. Mostly.THE THIRD COAST THE ARC Season One of The Third Coast “The Boys of Sheffield” begins with Jerry, Mark, Daryl and Dan living their most ‘Perfect Day’ followed by Mark’s hard earned lesson on what ‘Luck’ means. Jerry learns about guns and privilege in ‘Kids With Guns/White Privilege’. In ‘He Who Gets Slapped’ Dan is given a ‘tough acting lesson’ by Daryl and Mark, while Mark and Daryl acknowledge Dan’s demons. Jerry and Mark begin to come to terms with art and commerce in ‘Paint Job’. Jerry learns from a friend about the fragility of life and isolation of death in ‘Song to the Siren’. Finally in ‘Sophistication’ growing up becomes an option for Jerry. Mostly.