Items filtered by date: November 2007

Before I set foot in the Goodman’s Owen Theatre to see the Chicago premier of Sarah DeLappe’s acclaimed play The Wolves, I tried not to read or hear or learn too much about it. I knew it had been a finalist for a Pulitzer, and won other awards. I knew it was about a girls’ high school soccer team. And that was about it.

The first tidbit informed my own expectations – this ought to be good, I figured. And the second informed who I’d bring along – my own 14-year-old soccer-playing daughter. I was excited that the subject matter might excite her, sure, but was more intent on using her as a litmus test for not just the play’s quality, but its authenticity. And boy, did we both find that it delivered on both counts.

While the play’s 20-something playwright and cast might seem like whippersnappers to an old dude like me, their ilk are positively elderly to a teen. After the play, my daughter admitted she’d been worried that the presentation would be the usual – what old people think young life is like these days. But The Wolves portrayed young life – the young life of today, of yesterday, of time eternal – in a way both dad and daughter found realistic. That is, the play portrayed life realistically.

Sarah DeLappe’s script sets up this portrayal like a champ. After the play, I read that DeLappe was influenced by old war movies – the kind where a gang of guys gain personal revelations in the face of greater situations – and I can see that. I also sensed the influence of 12 Angry Men or Tarantino’s Reservoir Dogs – art that finds greater truths by plopping a disparate troupe of characters into a script. But instead of machine guns and military rations, instead of a jury room or a bank heist, the troupe on the Goodman’s stage was armed with shin guards and phones and backpacks and headbands. But the idea was the same – flesh out a story by fleshing out the people telling it. DeLappe tells her story through her girls’ banter as they stretch and warmup before a series of soccer games. Her gift for said banter is something else – making it sound like how not just girls talk, but how people talk, as the characters flit from discussions of world events to feminine products, from hopes and dreams for the future to the sex and sexuality that seems so pressing in their present. Talk goes from Pol Pot to periods, from weirdoes who live in “yogurts” to punk rock chicks who lick coffeehouse microphones. The stuff real people talk about. And how real people talk about that stuff.

And, more than any play I can remember, director Vanessa Stalling’s production of a team shows it takes a team to pull it off. First off, the cast is great. Those grown-up ladies onstage could totally, like, pass as a gaggle of teen girls. And that’s not to belittle them or the material they’re working with. Most likely because I’m a nerd, myself, I connected with Sarah Price’s neurotic know-it-all, #11 (yes, the characters are only identified by jersey number, further enforcing the team concept, and further highlighting how both script and cast breathe life into these nameless roles). As the team captain, #25, Isa Arciniegas is – to continue the earlier war motif – Pattonesque in a Napoleanic package. Cydney Moody’s #8 is the moody one. Angela Alise’s #00 is the lonely goalkeeper. Erin O’Shea is the red-headed, homeschooled, yogurt-livin’ outsider (think Lindsay Lohan in Mean Girls, except with mad ball-handling skills). And the heart and soul of the team are Natalie Joyce and Aurora Real de Asua. Joyce’s #7 has the mouth of a sailor but the problems and insecurities of a girl, while #14 is the ego to 7’s adolescent id. The teammates kick around conversations as feverishly and randomly as they do their soccer balls, again making it sound not just like how high school girls talk, but how people interact.

The teamwork on display does not stop with the script and its interpreters, however. Collette Pollard’s set gave this soccer dad, who’s spent too much time hanging out at fields both outdoors and under domes, flashbacks. Lighting by Keith Parham is spot on, as are the musical choices by sound designer Mikhail Fiksel, both providing energy and intensity that match the actors’.

And so, this whole team comes together to not just tell a story of young girls, but of people. What starts as dissonant and diverse digressions between types and tropes turns into a realistic back-and-forth you’d hear not just on the field or in the mall or in a classroom, but at work, on the train, in the checkout line, on the street. Given great material to work with, the cast and crew of the Goodman Theatre’s production of Sarah DeLappe’s The Wolves give us something that’s funny, sad, uncomfortable, cute, ugly, and beautiful – that is, art that pulls off the rare feat of feeling like real life. And, like, my teen daughter seconds that!

*Extended through March 18th

Gone are the days of traditional theatre when actors and audience members were politely separated by at least an imaginary buffer zone. Enter Southern Gothic, written by Leslie Liautaud, created by Carl Menninger and Amy Rubenstein, and directed by David H. Bell, with its concept of “immersive theatre” where the audience members (only 25 are allowed per each show) are given an opportunity to be a “fly on the wall” at a birthday cocktail party in Ashland, Georgia in the summer of 1961.

There’s really no stage, the entire set is a replica of a southern mid-century house; it is meticulously designed by Scott Davis and complete with the kitchen, dining room, living room, bathroom and a back porch. Every fabulously authentic detail of the house, including the furniture, dishes, the actors’ costumes, as well as the food and drinks, are spot on. And if going back in time sounds exciting, then being able to snoop around the house, open the kitchen cupboards and the fridge, and eavesdrop on intimate conversations is a dream come true!

And speaking of dream come true: just because the audience is “invisible”, doesn’t mean that they can’t sample that delightful mid-century American cocktail party fare: the spam-topped crackers, bright red jello dessert and the retro cocktails occasionally being passed around. All that is sure to put one in the mood for the unfolding drama; and there’s plenty of drama.

Four couples get together at Ellie and Beau Coutier’s house to celebrate Suzanne Wellington’s 40th birthday. Alcohol flows freely and guests are mostly enjoying themselves, when the good times turn sour once drunken guests start spilling their dirty secrets.

The hostess (beautifully played by Sarah Grant) is having an affair with one of the guests, Charles Lyon, a charming politician (Brian McCaskill), whose wife Lauren, a very wealthy woman with her own secret [or two] is pre-occupied with her problems. The birthday girl (a superbly colorful and lively Brianna Borger), whose reputation for being obnoxious precedes her… well, she is just very hungry because the party caterer was being held up and she’s reduced to dining on saltine crackers. It’s a very intimate play, made more so by being so physically close to the actors. There’re several plots going on, and as events intensify, it is virtually impossible to follow through on every one of them, which makes the entire experience sort of customizable. But as the sounds of crickets are heard outside the windows, cool 60’s vibes palpable throughout – it’s a good feeling to jump back to the simpler times. Just be sure not to bump into actors as you try to take it all in.

Opened in 2015, Windy City Playhouse prides itself on providing non-traditional high quality theater experience starting with a welcoming full-service bar in a luxurious lounge. Theatergoers are encouraged to stay after the show and mingle with the actors.

Southern Gothic is being performed as an open-ended run at Windy City Playhouse. For more show information visit http://windycityplayhouse.com.

*Now extended through July 29th

Cuban Jazz was the flavor at McAninch Arts Center (The MAC) this past weekend, but the band’s labeled genre might just be a bit misleading. In fact, I would describe the Cubanismo’s sound of as that more akin to Big Band first and foremost. Though high energy dance music with infectious grooves, it is heavily sprinkled with a touch of Havana and Latin Beats. Lively and catchy from beginning to end, let’s just say if audience members aren’t clapping or tapping their toes, someone in the medical profession needs to check them for a pulse.

Cubanismo founder and trumpeter, Jesus Alemany, led the ensemble through two sets of some very spicy music. Let me take a mental head count of musicians - four horns, three percussionists, three singers, bass, guitar, keys and Alemany complete the band’s line-up. That adds up to thirteen if I did the math correctly. Ricky Ricardo would have felt right at home with this combo.

They key word with music like this is rhythm. I mentioned in my review of Gipsy Kings last summer how that was a lesson in rhythm. This was a follow up to the learning I received that day. The reason why I don’t really consider this Jazz is due to the ability to dance to what was presented. I know Jazz has many sub categories. What this band really represents is the dance clubs of Pre-Castro Cuba - straight from the 1940’s – music with a serious spice to it. There also seemed to be far less emphasis on improvisation in this band’s set as opposed to the likes of Gipsy Kings. I think a good portion of the show may have been changed in slight ways from time to time, but unquestioned were its tight arrangements.

The band’s three singers took charge of their songs with serious support from the rest of the players. I wish my Spanish was better as far as understanding the lyrical content but that didn’t matter all that much, as music is the universal language. Cubanismo is all about getting their fans to move. Recently, a friend mentioned to me how there should be more room for dancing when going to see a band play. A larger dance area would have certainly helped the situation, especially when the band gave a mambo lesson on the final number. Cubanismo showed the moves while on stage and their fans followed. This was yet another reason I say it is not really Jazz per se. Nobody (particularly other musicians) was sitting around admiring the technical sophistication of the players. That being said, I am not at all saying the band members were not amazing. We just weren’t pelted with one self-indulgent solo after another in typical jazz fashion. It was truly an ensemble performance.

To give readers a brief history of the band, Alemañy was a child prodigy in Cuba before joining Sierra Maestra when he was just 16. After more than a decade of playing with that group, he moved to London to pursue his own career. There he met a fellow Cuban, pianist Alfredo Rodriguez, and the two musicians organized a jam session in Paris in 1994. It was there that record producer and head of Hannibal Records Joe Boyd heard the group play and suggested the pair organize another descarga (or improvised jazz session) in Cuba with all-star musicians from all over the country and record it. The recording was such a success that the group formed a band and toured extensively.

The band played selected tunes from their hit albums “Melembe”, “Reencarnación” and “Greetings from Havana” along with many other up-tempo, cha-cha-driven favorites.

The music of Cubanismo is straight from an era of Cuba long since gone. The tradition does live on through the music of this particular band that has received critical acclaim. Supporting this music is what keeps it alive and I hope to see more of that. Jesus Alemany should be proud of what he has assembled. If you get a chance to see them live, I am sure you will not walk away disappointed. In fact, you will not walk at all…you will dance.

www.cubanismo.org

The Burn, a lively tale of a high school drama class putting on Arthur Miller’s The Crucible, is spectacularly good. The script by Philip Dawkins was commissioned for the Steppenwolf’s Theatre’s Young Adult Theater Program. But this in no way diminishes it as a creative work – it is far, far more than an educational theater program.

Dawkins brings us four students and a teacher, introducing at first just the social surface, gradually individualizing them, and masterfully drilling down into the characters to reveal what makes each of them tick.

The Burn operates on several levels at once. It provides a portrait of the battleground educators face in classes of students with limited attention spans – a contemporary Blackboard Jungle. These young people display the confidence spawned by that thin yet wide breadth of knowledge so readily garnered online.

The Burn also addresses the perpetual condition of student social strata, amped up these days through social media platforms that can at times feed an unfortunate frenzy of bullying.

And finally, its story parallels the drama of the Miller’s masterwork, The Crucible, a dissection of the violence unleashed when a 17^th Century Puritanical community’s dark forces are unconstrained. Miller’s dramatization of  the actual 1692 Salem witch trials in the Massachusetts Bay Colony is now an essential per of our cultural literacy. (Steppenwolf produced The Crucible earlier this season - read our review by John Accrocco.) But the play can be impenetrable. This new take by Dawkins illuminates Miller’s story, and will undoubtedly be produced widely at schools.

In The Burn, Tara, the social standard setter and bully (Birgundi Baker) hangs out with a dumbed-down girls’ basketball team member Andi (Nina Ganet) and with Shauna (Dyllan Rodrigues-Miller), who straddles the respectable world of accomplished student, while also following Tara as a member of her “mean girls” clique. Transfer student Mercedes (Phoebe González) is never admitted to the group, and in fact is harassed in person and on line. Mercedes carries a lot of baggage from a violent event that caused her to change schools, finding comfort by becoming a born-again Christian in the process.

We first meet the students as their good-natured teacher, Erik (Erik Hellman, who also starred in The Crucible) struggles to engage the class in diagramming a sentence. He finally gets their attention by using a more personal sentence about Tara, and thereby hints at the increasingly personal encounters that are to follow. 

A high school, or any theater production, for that matter, is also an intensely powerful emotional experience for the players involved. As The Burn progresses, the students rehearse and play their roles, and must learn to perform as a unit. This shifts the emotional dynamics, and the dynamic of the group begins to shift. Tension mounts as Tara’s hold on the group is threatened, and Erik confronts her bullying behavior.

Dawkins is an accomplished playwright, as well as teaching the art at Northwestern, Loyola and Victory Gardens – and demonstrates the high level of craft he has attained from that background. Like Snap Chat, Messenger and Twitter, the play’s delivery runs at an almost breakneck pace – and in that sense is very fitting for its target audience. But the older crowd should not miss it. I laughed and cried and wanted to stand up and cheer when it was done. So yes, it’s highly recommended! Catch it at Steppenwolf Theatre through March 10.

“No woman ever died for love” says Despina in Mozart’s charming little opera ‘Cosi fan tutte’. There may not be any deaths from love but, maybe a few tickled funny bones in this revival going on now at the Lyric Opera of Chicago. Originally conceived by John Cox about ten years ago, this version of ‘Cosi fan tutte’ moves the setting to WWI, or 1914. This seasons’ production is largely the same with direction by Bruno Ravella.

‘Cosi fan tutte’ is a lighter work by opera standards. It’s basically a rom-com sung in Italian. Written in 1790, Mozart would only see this opera performed five times in his life, as he died the following year. Mozart operas are typically upbeat with plenty of repeated phrasing. There’s no shortage of beauty pouring out of the pit conducted by James Gaffigan. This is a very accessible piece in both music and performances.

The plot is fairly uncomplicated. Two men Ferrando (Andrew Stenson) and Guglielmo (Joshua Hopkins) question the fidelity of their fiances Fiordiligi (Ana Maria Martinez) and Dorabella (Marianne Crebassa). With the help of Don Alfonso (Alessandro Corbelli) and sexy maid Despina (Elena Tsallagova), the two men pretend to go off to war. They return to their future wives in disguise and each attempts to seduce the other’s fiancé. If it sounds familiar, it is. This opera is loosely inspired by Shakespeare’s ‘Twelfth Night’.

Few people attend an opera for the dramatic chops of the performers. Opera is about beautiful music first and foremost. That said, these two fantastic sopranos are also gifted comedic actresses. The over-the-top emotions of these two characters makes for some really great physical humor. The projected dialogue is almost as ridiculous as the plot itself. Martinez takes up the pious role, making her seduction all the more fun to watch. Crebassa is the goofball and her performance radiates joy even as she’s cheating on her fiance. Though, it’s really Tsallagova who runs away with the laughs in her performance as Despina. This is also her US debut. A talent we’ll hopefully see more of in coming seasons.

As always, the set and costumes are sumptuous. Setting this piece in 1914 gives costume and set designer Robert Perdziola a lot to work with. It’s not terribly often you seen somewhat modern fashion at the Lyric. There are some lovely flapper-flavored looks going on. Nothing quite compares to the second act opening though. A background of venetian boats adorned with twinkling lights opens up to reveal the imposter suitors sailing in to claim their respective victories. The visual against the lovely Mozart music is one of the most arresting moments of the evening.

‘Cosi fan tutte’ is not an opera you’ll find on any before-you-die lists, but it’s an opera worth seeing. While it’s not the shortest show of Lyric’s season, clocking in at just under four hours, it’s definitely the easiest to get into. The music is for everyone, and will leave you feeling warm and tingly.

Through March 16th at Lyric Opera of Chicago. 20 N Wacker Drive. 312-827-5600

If you are a passionate fan of the original "Phantom of the Opera" musical, its sequel "Love Never Dies" will surely peak your curiosity and is a 'must see'.

The continuation to one of the greatest love stories of our time takes place in 1907, ten years later after the Paris Opera House fire. The Phantom fled at that time, escaping tragedy, but not before releasing Christine and Raoul, so moved by his love for her. Christine now resurfaces after receiving an invitation to travel from Paris to make her singing debut in New York and the Phantom is determined to win back her love. After so many years have gone by, we finally see a life changing reunion between the Phantom, Christine and other ghosts from the past.

Magnificently directed by Simon Phillips, the stunning musical includes a new set and costume designs by Gabriela Tylesova, choreography by 2011 Astaire Awards winner Graeme Murphy, lighting design by Nick Schlieper and sound design by Mick Potter. Together they produce what can be described no less than an enchanting theatre experience that is as haunting as it is seductive.

A handful of characters return from the first musical, including the Phantom portrayed with fierceness by Cardar Thor Cortes who was born in Iceland and is making his debut in the United States in this performance. Cardar Thor Cortes comes directly off the heels of a successful run of Love Never Dies in Hamburg, Germany. Christine is beautifully acted by Chicago native Meghan Picerno. The music and lyrics created by Andrew-Lloyd-Webber and Glenn Slater seem personally written for these two amazing singers who held the audience in awe.  Other return characters were Raoul (Sean Thompson), Madame Giry (Karen Mason) and Meg Giry (Mary Patterson).

The musical number impress one after another and are in many ways as powerful than those in the original “Phantom”. "Once Upon Another Time" will touch your heart while offering meaning to the story line of this play. Meghan Picerno, (Christine) and Gardar Cortes mesmerize the audience singing beautifully together, their words enhanced by every powerful note. "Love Never Dies", without question reveals Meghan's emotionally charged and extremely talented voice.  

Applause, applause and more applause...

“I have the great joy of being able to say that I think this production is probably the finest one I could ever, ever hope for,” said Andrew Lloyd Webber just minutes after seeing the musical’s first run through.

One of the play’s nice surprises was 13-year-old Casey Lyons native of Lake Forest who was a joy to watch sing and perform. Casey is a natural and has a wonderful gift of song.  

The Coney Island atmosphere freed the stage up to every kind of performer singing and dancing together to present a mystical, delightful and creative wonderland. The fluid stage changes were excellently done and the orchestra gets an A-plus in every way.

Not to give the plot away, I can say the story line is unique, a little unexpected, and keeps you wondering until the very end. "Love Never Dies" is well worth attending.  

“Love Never Dies” has a running time of two hours and twenty-five minutes with one intermission and is being performed at Cadillac Palace Theatre through March 4th. For tickets and/or more show information, visit www.BroadwayInChicago.com.

As the era of streaming entertainment and sweatpants-clad binge watching continues, you have to applaud those who attend the performing arts. It’s certainly not an easier medium to consume, but some would argue it’s much more rewarding. Unfortunately, ballet and opera are struggling to attract a millennial audience. 

The Joffrey Ballet, however, opened its Modern Masters to no lack of enthusiasm. The massive Auditorium Theater was packed with audiences of all ages. Modern Masters is a four-piece show featuring the works of four different choreographers including the popular George Balanchine. Modern Masters is presented as part of the Ashley Anniversary, celebrating Ashley Wheater’s 10th season as artistic director of the Joffrey. 

They begin with Balanchine’s ‘Four Temperaments’, a visual take on the ancient belief that the body is influenced by four humors. This piece is the most traditional and lengthy of the four. The costumes and staging are sparse. Music by Paul Hindemith is soft but stirring. 

After a brief intermission, they return with Myles Thatcher’s ‘Body of Your Dreams’. The energy picks up here. With colorful 80s-flavored workout inspired costumes, 'Body of Your Dreams' is a cheeky take on fitness. It's a little ironic for a stage full of perfectly sculpted dancers to slightly criticize the "perfect body" obsession. The steps are fun, and the music is catchy. 

Next is the world premiere of Nicolas Blanc's multi-part piece 'Beyond the Shore'. This one is more similar in style to Balanchine's. The staging is as sparse, but the choreography is visually stunning. Music by Mason Bates is intricate with a cinematic scope. Think John Williams. 

The final piece is the Chicago premiere of 'Glass Pieces' by legendary choreographer Jerome Robbins. This is the piece to come for. Ballet fans of Chicago have been waiting for this one. It's well worth the hype. The set and costumes are striking. Philip Glass' music really shines in this meticulously choreographed number. The dance begins chaotic and busy but comes full circle to inspire the movement of a busy city. Bright and thrilling, 'Glass Pieces' is the strongest of the four. 

Modern Masters is a perfect evening for those looking to touch their toe into the waters of modern dance. Tread without fear of boredom for this highly engrossing show. Joffrey has a great way of being accessible to all audiences despite familiarity with the art of dance. 

Through February 18th at Joffrey Ballet. 50 E Congress Parkway. 312-386-8905

Millennial angst is in the air, and never better captured than in Clare Barron’s autobiographical “You Got Older.” You will laugh at its depictions of a young woman less-than-dexterously navigating her way through the trials of reaching a grown-up state in this first-rate production at Steppenwolf Theatre.

Mae, a 27-year-old unemployed lawyer (dumped, then fired, by her boyfriend and boss) is played by Caroline Neff. Back home in Seattle to nurse her dad through an episode of throat cancer, Mae carries most of the load for the play, a self-portrait of Barron that the author put together a few years ago to clear her writer’s block. Such works risk veering toward a self-indulgent exercise, but You Got Older largely avoids this.

It is true that in “You Got Older” we get more of a slice-of-life than a play with a plot. But most of the scenes - some real, others imagined - are hilariously funny or touchingly insightful (with maybe a couple clunkers). Awesomely fun is a recurring erotic fantasy, which arrives in the form of intermittent scenes with the hyper-masculine, bearded Cowboy in leather vest and chaps, lasso at the ready, who plays out Mae’s deep-seated desires. Gabriel Ruiz is over the top good as Cowboy.

The manly Cowboy contrasts with scenes with a real-life bar pick-up, the inept Mac, whose fetishes dovetail perfectly with Mae’s insecurities. Glenn Davis is comically nerdy, climbing clumsily into her bedroom window, then falling asleep before the tryst even gets started.

In the background, serious life issues play out. Mae’s Dad (Francis Guinan) has throat cancer, and its uncertain what outcome he will have. In Dad’s hospital room we meet Mae’s family following the surgery – two sisters and a brother – with an extended exposure to family culture. This perhaps overly long scene includes a humorous “picnic” (avocados and grapefruit), a peculiar “sniff-out” as the siblings try to determine “the family smell,” and the revelation that the family likes to dance together.

Another scene plays out somewhat gratuitously, as Mae and Dad listen to a four-minute recording of Regina Spekter's Firewood, played on an unamplified iPhone at a level where lyrics are barely audible. Dad has declared it the "theme song" of his illness. The sentimental concept of sharing a meaningful song is conveyed; but the dramatic impact is questionable. A closing dance scene with the four siblings is likewise more important to the author than the audience.  

In one scene of serious emotion, Mae argues with her father over how to approach a job interview. Mae plans to Skype it in; Dad advises going in person. When Mae out-argues him on which approach is better, Dad declares, “This conversation is over,” and withdraws, closing the door in her face.  Mae shouts at the door to no avail, “Admit it, Dad. You’re wrong!”

Neff’s performance is a standout, lacing with dry ironic tone the world weariness that captures the essence of the “generation next’s” view of its forbears, and her own struggles as life turns out to be far less than originally advertised.

Barron won a 2015 Obie Award for the play, and it is easy to see why. Jonathan Berry has pulled a well-crafted ensemble performance by  Audrey Francis and Emjoy Gavino (Mae’s sisters Hannah and Jenny), and David Lind (brother Matthew). The production runs through March 11 at www.steppenwolf.org.

You Got Older’s production team has perhaps even exceeded the script in excellence: Meghan Raham (scenic design), Alison Siple (costume design), Marcus Doshi (lighting design), Matt Chapman (sound design & original music), Rasean Davonte Johnson (projection design), Gigi Buffington (company vocal coach) and Sasha Smith (intimacy choreography). Casting director JC Clementz deserves special acknowledgement for the great chemistry on stage.  

In Skeleton Crew, playwright Dominique Morisseau hits close to home, presenting an event that still profoundly impacts America: the 2008 economic meltdown. It is captured here in the form of an imminent Detroit car plant closure.

Our memories are still fresh from that time, and wounds to our social fabric not fully healed from a period when millions lost their homes and savings, and we careened to the brink of a global depression, nearly bankrupting U.S. auto makers.

As Skeleton Crew opens, this tumultuous crash is still unfolding and American were living through early phases of what would befall us. At the plant, management has been whittling away at the employee headcount, raising workloads for those remaining, even as rumors abound that this auto body metal stamping plant may close.

The action plays out entirely in the break room, from which massive industrial gantries and cranes are visible overhead. The clamor of the production line permeates the set as we meet Faye, a senior factory veteran and United Auto Workers Union steward (Jacqueline Williams delivers a dynamic performance); Dez, an aspiring young entrepreneur just finding his in life and work (Bernard Gilbert is excellent); and Shanita, an expectant mom who is also model employee. (AnJi White offers a richly textured performance). A supervisor, Reggie (Kelvin Rolston, Jr.) who has risen through the ranks, represents management in the unfolding drama.

I suspect these characters also stand as archetypes, symbolizing familiar types and generational shifts – each carries also a large measure of personal baggage and backstory. We learn that Reggie’s late mom was very close to Faye, and that Faye was like a second mother to him. We see Dez mapping out plans to open a small business – a car repair and restoration shop - but sense the incursions of rising crime and social dissolution. Dez is jumped by two thugs at a convenience store, and with the perspective of today's #BlackLivesMatter sensibilities, see another young black male at risk. Dez begins to carry a gun, and perhaps Morisseau means to foreshadow the tribulation of inner city violence today.   

The more circumspect Shanita represents self-reliance and maturity. Perhaps just a little older than Dez, she fends off his less-than-serious amorous advances, until shifting gears when she becomes pregnant. Faye is the establishment, the UAW go-between to management negotiating secretly with Reggie over how workers will be affected by the shutdown. We learn the circumstances of her personal life are crumbling - as is the auto industry, and perhaps Morisseau is suggesting, social norms.

Morisseau’s earlier installments in her trilogy of plays, Detroit 67 (at Northlight in 2013) and Paradise Blue at Chicago’s Timeline Theatre in July 2017 – also displayed her facility for rich dialog, and an eye for character and dramatic trajectory. All three have been directed by Ron O.J Parsons (formidably well in Paradise Blue and Skeleton Crew; I missed Detroit 67). Parsons is also a frequent interpreter of August Wilson’s dramas at Court Theatre, where he is an artist in residence, and around the country. That is a fit for Morisseau, who says she aspires to give voice to Detroit (she uses the word “griot” for her role here) just as August Wilson was for Pittsburgh in his cycle of plays set there.  

Northlight Theater's high production values have given a fine expression to this show, with Scott Davis (scenic design), Samantha C. Jones (costumes), Keith Parham (lighting), and Ray Nardelli (sound). Rita Vreeland is Production Stage Manager. The show is highly recommended, especially so since you are well advised to watch for revivals of the rest of Morisseau's trilogy. Skeleton Crew runs through March 3 at Northlight's home, the Northshore Center for the Performing Arts in Skokie.

Buffalo Theatre Ensemble presented a two act play at the McIninch Art Center in Glen Ellyn titled Time Stands Still this past weekend and I was fortunate enough to see the opening night performance. The entire play is set in a Brooklyn loft apartment that really serves well in creating a New York feel. The cast is power packed though small as four actors take on the roles of two couples in this story that mostly centers around the pair living in the loft though the other couple is still strongly placed in the story line.

As the story is described, Sarah, a photo journalist, is recovering in the Brooklyn apartment she shares with her foreign correspondent boyfriend James after being injured by a roadside bomb while covering the Iraq war. When they receive a visit from their photo editor friend Richard and his young new girlfriend Mandy, it forces Sarah and James to re-examine their relationship, and address the ethics of journalism in a world torn by conflict and suffering.

Times Stand Still is powerful and comes with acting is of very high caliber, each actor as impressive as the next. I never actually felt like I was watching actors, which in itself is testament to the players’ convincing performances. This play provides four very believable characters, and all decidedly different. It is also thought-provoking a play that prompts some very interesting conversations going on during the intermission. Written by Donald Margulies with Connie Canaday Howard serving as the production and artistic director, Time Stands Still is well-produced in every way. College of DuPage alumni Chris Kriz handles the play’s original music as sound composer and designer while Michael W. Moon does a fantastic job with scenic design, and Claire Chrzan with lighting design.

The central character, if you could say there was one, was Sarah Goodwin, played by Lisa Dawn, who has done work with BTE before. I found her character the most controversial in many ways. Having said that, the audience may have disagreed. In talking to, and overhearing, audience members afterward it appeared many had differences of opinions, the play encouraging some good conversation – always the mark of a good script.

Amanda Raudabaugh, played by Mandy Bloom, is also a provocative character. She is the new wife of Richard Ehrlich, played by another BTE veteran, Kurt Naebig. Brad Lawrence played James Dodd, who was the other half of the couple with Goodwin.

I don’t think two people could walk away with the same description of what they took from this play. Personal and moral values are questioned by the characters in the cast, as well as the audience. There are also some light-hearted moments, though the subject matter was anything but light. The story really makes you think and really puts into question your own thinking. How would you handle yourself if you were put in the position of the central character?

If you are looking for something light and funny, check out another play. If you do enjoy pondering over real issues, get yourself a ticket. Actually, go see it for yourself. Not everyone is going to walk away with the same perspective of this engaging story. The talented Buffalo Theater Ensemble does yet another a great job with this one. Time Stands Still show will be at The MAC on the grounds of the College of DuPage until March 4th and comes highly recommend. It just might make you think.

For more info on this play visit http://www.atthemac.org/.