Leeann Zahrt, a Piccolo cast member, puts up a theater poster at the depot. David Klobucar/Chicago News Cooperative
It was 9:06 on a weeknight in early April, and the bell of an approaching commuter train clanged loudly. Brakes whining, the train came to a halt and passengers spilled onto the wooden platform of Main Street station in Evanston.
Inside the depot, a far different scene unfolded: The late wives of Henry VIII, spending eternity together in a giant bed, chatted about his shortcomings. He fell short as a lover, they said, ruled poorly and was a foul windbag.
With perfect timing, the train hissed loudly.
It was the preview night of “Six Dead Queens and an Inflatable Henry!” at the Piccolo Theater, a 16-member commedia dell’arte ensemble that operates and performs in the red brick station. The Union Pacific Railway’s Metra line runs on one side, and the Chicago Transportation Authority’s elevated Purple line runs on the other.
Lights in the theater dim at 8:03 p.m., right after the 8:00 Metra train is scheduled to leave the station.
The Piccolo was founded in 1999 by John Szostek, a teacher at Valparaiso University and an actor specializing in commedia dell’arte — an ancient Italian comedy style that demands physicality in its actors and is often performed in unusual settings. It moved into the station in 2004 after Mr. Szostek led a drive to renovate the deteriorating station.
Mr. Szostek believed the station, which was built in 1908 and is now called the Evanston Arts Depot, was the right setting for his performers.
“The good thing about always doing comedy, the train was not going to interrupt a serious, heavy moment,” Mr. Szostek said. “We’re not trying to hide the fact that we are in a train station and conceal our environment.
“In commedia dell’arte, the aesthetic is different in the way the actors interact with the audience. If a siren goes off, we work it in. Sound is energy, and you always want the energy circulating.”
The ensemble’s connection to the depot goes beyond its proximity to the platform: The Piccolo staff runs the station for Metra. Its 50-seat performance space is adjacent to the second-floor waiting room, and members frequently answer knocks on their office door from commuters.
Despite the unstable economy, Piccolo sells more than 95 percent of its seats, which cost $15 to $25. “What they do on stage in such a small space is remarkable,” said Alan Price of Evanston, who has seen several shows there. “It is not vaudeville, and it is not burlesque. The work is from a different time, and trains — it is one of the charms of the theater.”
Louisa Egan of Chicago saw “Six Dead Queens” on her first visit to the Piccolo.
“I heard the train during the play, and I felt like I was sharing a secret with the actors,” she said. “It made the experience very intimate.”
In the summer months, some audience members, like Doris Bell of Evanston, go outside for theater of a different sort.
“One of my favorite aspects is going out on the platform during intermission and watching the silver trains streak past with their windows lit in green, like a Toulouse Lautrec painting,” she said.