Items filtered by date: November 2007

It is no wonder that the 9th Annual Winning Works, presented by the Joffrey Academy of Dance Chicago, has been a sold out show since its opening on March 9th through the 10th.  With its talented selection of winning choreographers and their eclectic styles, they brought a show that brings political, cultural and self-awareness, along with insight into different styles of ballet, straight into the artistic heart of Chicago. Each of the 4 performances showcased on the intimate stage of Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, was introduced with a video, giving the audience members an inside look at the process of creation of each of these performances, as well as into to the inspiration of the artists being featured.

The choreographers featured, hail from the United States (Tomie-Waheed Evans and Marissa Osato), Mexico (Edgar Zendejas) and China (Xian Xu,) featuring just as varied themes to their choice in music, style of dance and purpose of their presentation as their cultural backgrounds.

Beginning the afternoon of performances, was Edgar Zendejas’ Lineas. A silent introduction featuring a single dancer, joined by the other performers in gauzy white shirts and white shorts- performing in a cannon, invoking an ethereal beauty. The interaction between the dancers as they interacted within the group, but also as moving bodies. The representation of these interactions, showcased how are attention can shift between groups and interactions, but how we are all intertwined together within these experiences. 

Coup De Grace choreographed by Tomie-Waheed Evans, was an intense representation of the current political climate of our present day, imagining the reactions we would have if we faced an apocalyptic event. The intensity of the music, vibrant colors and movements of the costumes- portrayed how diverse we are in our current world, all struggling to survive, however if we can embrace our community and those around us- how much we can overcome these obstacles and crisis that seem to plague us all.

Xian Xu’s, Vessels Bearing was an expression of Asian culture and how it is defined by rice, through the representation of rice bowls.  With influences of Asian movement and design with Xu’s choreography, the essence of rice, as a provider of energy, sustenance and warmth is what binds so many of us together.  The impact is has on those who have enough to rely on, as well as those who do not have enough.

  
Give the People What They Want choregraphed by Marissa Osato, was another stunning representation of the quality of talent being featured by Joffrey.  This particular ballet reflected how the façade we carry into our everyday life can eventually or may take its toll on us as we try to present our best face forward.  With music created by a local Chicago composer, Elliot Callighan, the vibrancy of this piece, was uplifting in that we are not all individually facing the challenge of our inner realities and how we present them in real life.  

 

All four pieces, as their 4 choreographers are so diverse in their backgrounds, ballet styles and musical inspirations, it is exciting to watch as the cultures and perspectives combine on the stage. It is a thrill that the 'Winning Works' has continued to provide us with so many opportunities to view the talented works of these choreographers and an insight into the growing styles of ballet. We look forward to what is coming next, as we relish in the talent we have been shown.

For those who love tap dance (and even those who don't know if they like it), the second annual Sweet Tap Chicago performance at City Winery was heaven on earth. It’s a mix of jazz, classic pop, and blues. And it features a dollop of rap, whose wordplay blends beautifully with the percussive sounds of tap shoes.

The Sweet Tap Chicago program is sui generis – its own thing – and the immensely engaging singers Taylor Mallory and JC Brooks lead the audience through a seamless story stitched together from music by a series of Chicago-grounded artists.

Chicago Tap Theatre, a dance school in the Ravenswood neighborhood, trains the performers and produces the event to celebrate the art form. Mark Yonally, the school’s artistic director, choreographed eight, and Kirsten Uttich, rehearsal director four of the 16 numbers, the remainder produced by other troupe members. 

The Sweet Tap Chicago Band, which leans toward jazz and classic pop, is led by bassist Kurt Schweitz (he is also the school’s music director) with Elisa Carlson on keyboard, Bob Parlier on drums, and Corbin Andrick on sax. Music was by Eddie Harris, Chaka Khan, Sonny Rollins, Sam Cooke, even the Smashing Pumpkins and Sonny & Cher, to name a few. 

And those dancers! The Guys’ Groove featured a jazzy male foursome in black jeans in shirts; the Bob Fosse shaded Superstar saw a trio of women each in black derby dancing to Lupe Fiasco’s song with a live rap overlay by Taylor Mallory.

The blockbuster piece brought improvisational duels between five individual dancers and each of the band members, to a mash-up of Curtis Mayfield’s Move On Up and Kanye West’s Touch the Sky. Saxophonist Corbin Andrick gave as good as better than he got in the number – it was way cool. Chicago Tap Theatre stages it's Sweet Sixteen Annual Gala on May 19, 2019 at Chicago Symphony Center. 

The two performances of Sweet Tap Chicago on March 10 also spotlighted the versatility of City Winery’s venue, a cozy room seating 300 for great food, fine wine, and vintage acts that fit the space, like 1980 Grammy winner Christopher Cross who plays City Winery March 19 as part of his Take Me As I Am Tour  City Winery also seeks out rising local talent, and real boon for the local music scene.

I’ll let you all in on a little secret: Whenever I’m having a lousy day, I pull up YouTube and take in Mahalia Jackson’s performance of “Just a Closer Walk with Thee” at the 1970 Newport Jazz Festival. This performance is notable, of course, for the special guest who joins Mahalia onstage near the end: Louis Armstrong. It’s also notable for the fact that Satchmo would be dead in less than a year, and Mahalia would join him on “thy kingdom’s shore” in less than two. With that in mind, seeing this musical icon in the last bit of her life not only still in complete control of her stage and her audience (I dare you to find me any rock ‘n’ roll singer from that era, or any era, with such a commanding presence!), but exuding such joy, makes whatever gripes I might be imagining on any given day disappear.

That command, that presence, and that joy that Mahalia spread around the world are on display throughout the Black Ensemble Theater’s current production, Mahalia Jackson: Moving Thru the Light. Written and directed by the theater’s indefatigable, inspired, and inspiring founder, Jackie Taylor, the show is framed as a series of dialogues between a recently deceased Mahalia and a trio of heavenly beings there to welcome her to the afterlife. These scenes are fine — giving the audience biographical information about Mahalia’s life and her relationships both personal and political (MLK, JFK, and RFK, among them) — but mostly act as a breather between the show’s 18 wonderful musical numbers. Because, in a show about one of America’s finest musical talents, the music should be the message, right?

In the role of Mahalia, Robin DaSilva certainly has a large gospel robe to fill. But spread the gospel, she does. DaSilva’s voice is a beautiful instrument, ranging from a rich alto to shimmering highs, emoting pain and, yes, frequently spreading joy. She fills the stage and her vocals fill the theater. Joining DaSilva onstage throughout the show are Cynthia F. Carter, Dwight Neal, and Stewart Romeo as the “Masters,” three heavenly beings welcoming Mahalia to her heavenly reward. Carter charmed last year in the Theater’s tribute to Chuck Berry, and both Neal and Romeo are her equals, the trio’s voices blending effortlessly as they harmonize with Mahalia and with one another. The three also each shine on their own, with Carter’s voice showing quite a range, Neal’s tenor piercing the room, and Romeo’s energy and enthusiasm equaling his vocal prowess. During the show’s first half, an ensemble acts as the story’s narrators, but near the end of the second, they join us in a tribute to Mahalia’s life and music.

And again, it’s the music that is the star of the show. As I said, 18 different songs are featured, and many are the favorites that gospel fans would expect. From “How Great Thou Art” to “How I Got Over,” from “His Eye Is on the Sparrow” to “Precious Lord, Take My Hand,” all of Mahalia’s “hits” are there. The show ends with the crowd singing along to “Down by the Riverside” and “When the Saints Go Marching In.” And near the end of the first act, perhaps DeSilva’s finest performance comes as her Mahalia sings Rodgers and Hammerstein’s “You’ll Never Walk Alone.” But for me, it’s the tune that ends the first act that filled me with joy. As DaSilva’s Mahalia sings “When my feeble life is o’er” in her rendition of “Just a Closer Walk with Thee,” my heart soared as I was able to spend a beautiful spring Sunday afternoon with the music of this legend and the legions of likeminded fans who’d come to the Black Ensemble Theater to hear it.

Mahalia Jackson: Moving Thru the Light - through April 14th at Black Ensemble Theater.

Chimera Ensemble’s How To Live on Earth tracks applicants vying for a spot on a one-way mission to colonize Mars.

Artfully constructed by playwright M.J. Kaufman as a series of short scenes, How To Live on Earth introduces us to four aspiring space travelers – a librarian, a software engineer, a lost Millennial, a physician – and we watch as they move through stages of the space vetting process.

From 200,000 entries, the field is narrowed to 100, giving these four a significant chance to board the rocket when it departs in a year. These vignettes, mostly about single people, may remind you of the 1986 film About Last Night (itself drawn from a play by David Mamet).

But this group is heading for the stars. Each makes it to a different stage in the Mars expedition: the businessman and the millennial are rejected early in the process; the librarian fails during an isolation test. Just one – the doctor Bill (Brian Sheridan) – makes it all the way to Mars. Along with the applicants’ varied backgrounds, personalities and motivations to go, come various levels of personal baggage.

Along the way, we also meet their loved ones. Katlynn Yost plays Eleanor, the librarian, and she and her tall bearded poet Russ (Graham Carlson) are just beginning to date, but the possibility of the Mars mission dampens Russ’s enthusiasm for emotional investment. The software engineer, Omar (Arif Yampolsky) is in a 5-year relationship with Rick (Jermaine Robinson, Jr.) who asks, naturally, “Why do you want to leave me for Mars?” The lost Millennial, Aggie (Hannah Larson), is relentlessly coached to win selection for Mars by her father Robert (Bob Webb), but she can’t coach him to say he will miss her.

The outlier is physician Bill (Brian Sheridan), an Ironman, competitive rock-climbing alpha male over-achiever, who we learn was invited to apply, and who eventually does make the journey to the Red Planet. He Skypes his disaffected step brother, Don (Siddhartha Rajan) who had always lived in Bill’s shadow; and his mother Carol (Stacey Lind) who now mourns losing him.

The script contains colorful touches: Brian's mother Carol rewinds and rewatches her son walk across a screen several times, with this scene re-enacted in forward and reverse. In two bar scenes, it is women characters who take the first move toward guys they want.  Kaufman artfully weaves together the interconnections of these characters, and the varying length vignettes build into a cohesive rise, with real dramatic weight despite their brevity. A rising playwright and script writer, with an MFA from Yale School of Drama, Kaufman is currently a staff writer on Netflix's The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina. 

With the spare nature of the script, the play may seem limited in emotional dimension, but it is certainly inferred. In this regard, the librarian Eleanor comes closest to being a central character for the audience. The earth-bound brother Don, and Russ’s partner Rick give the strongest expression to the emotional depths of this Martian adventure, which throws everyone's lives up for grabs, including those remaining on Earth.

Don also dispenses some wisdom, commenting on the Martian adventurers: "Why do people love to dream? To get love. But when people arrive at their dream, the don't get any more love - and they feel empty." 

Director Gwendolyn Wiegold has drawn a very consistent level of performance from these nine actors, allowing the essence of Kaufman's intriguing story to come through in this 90 minute show with no intermission. The fresh style and youthful energy of this cast are well worth seeing and we recommend you not miss the chance. Chimera Ensemble's How To Live On Earth runs through March 24 at the Flat Iron Arts Bulding in Chicago. 

Lifeline Theater’s madcap adaptation of British author G.K. Chesterton’s 1908 metaphysical thriller The Man Who Was Thursday, gives us a madcap mix of  spy-vs.-spy and Masterpiece Theater who-dun-it.

Ensemble member Bilal Dardai is clearly a lover of this brief novel by Chesterton, a satire on espionage that if adapted to a contemporary setting would read fresh, lively and funny. Chesterton’s Catholic-infused philosophical writing is among staples of college English literature survey courses.

The Man Who Was Thursday follows the tale of a Scotland Yard undercover officer, Gabriel Syme, who infiltrates an anarchist cell intent on blowing up Parliament. In the course of his investigation, he is named the head the anarchist cell, then stumbles upon one embedded agent after another, until, it seems, the anarchist group is being managed entirely by Scotland Yard undercovers – with hilarious results. “I will tell you something else: this is no way to fight anarchists!” barks one of the agents on discovering another.

Director Jess Hutchinson and Dardai have kept the story in its Edwardian timeframe (it’s a remount of a New Leaf Theatre 2009 work) and while the first half dawdles the pace picks up, and the audience was fully enjoying this show – with the theater well filled. It’s a bit like watching a Dungeons and Dragons game enacted, with the characters (anarchists are named for the days of the week, to keep them incognito) taking on personae (a Scotsman, a German intellectual, a French petty nobleman) then discarding them when their identity is found out.   

The show rides entertainingly on the exceptional performances of the cast overall, especially Eduardo Xavier Curley-Camillo, who as Gabriel Syme, drives much of the show on his suave and exceptional delivery in a manicured British accent. It’s a fun show we can recommend for an entertaining afternoon or evening.  

The Man Who Was Thursday runs through April 7, 2019 at the Lifeline Theater.

Chicago great legend Marshall Brodien has passed away at 84 after battling Alzheimer’s since he was diagnosed in 2007. Brodien, who started out as a carnival barker for traveling freak shows then later established himself as a hypnotist, was probably best known for his 27-year run with The Bozo Show as “Wizzo the Wizard”. Since his debut on the popular WGN powerhouse, Brodien became one of the most respected magicians – and he simply loved the art. He dedicated the downstairs of his Geneva home to magic memorabilia, making it pretty much a museum of his life and other famous magicians. From Harry Houdini’s famous collapsing birdcage, “Wizzo’s costume and elaborate self-designed illusions to magic kits created by himself (and of course, TV Magic Cards, perhaps his most popular invention), each room was a journey into the world of wonder he loved so very much.  

The Emmy Award winner and recipient of the Chicago TV Academy's Silver Circle Hall of Fame was not just a Chicago favorite but a national treasure as well, designing illusions for David Copperfield and other top magicians. Both Criss Angel and Lance Burton, whom we interviewed in the past, referred to Brodien as on of the greats and a big influence on their careers as a magician.

We wanted to celebrate Marshall Brodien by posting one of our all-time favorite interviews when the great magician invited us into his Geneva home with much pride and enthusiasm. Marshall gave us the full tour of his home and, with the excitement of a child, wowed us with several magic tricks. The interview is also a magical journey that gives viewers an inside look at Brodien's impressive, personal collection of magic throuout his career and also shows the kind, friendly man he will always be known for. Marshall truly enjoyed performing for others and watching the astonished looks on people's faces after each amazing feat. Visiting his home was one of my highlights as a member of the Buzz Center Stage team, and thankfully, he wouldn’t let me leave without a signed copy of his book “The Magical Life of Marshall Brodien” and a deck of TV Magic Cards – two items I will always cherish. Marshall will be missed. 

 

 

Gross Indecency: The Three Trials of Oscar Wilde, running through March 23 at Strawdog Theatre, is an exciting rendering of the courtroom battles that led to a fatal fall from grace for 19th century literary genius Oscar Wilde.

It is hard to imagine now, with the growing empowerment of the LGBT-plus community, that Wilde’s career was completely destroyed when his attraction to men was discovered and proven. He was sentenced to two years of hard labor, and he lost all his assets and his income, dying nearly destitute three years later.

Promethean Ensemble’s wonderful presentation of Gross Indecency: The Three Trials of Oscar Wilde (actually a revival of a 2016 production by these talented players), brings us playwright Moisés Kaufman’s 1997 debut work, which won an Outer Critics Circle Award for outstanding Off-Broadway play in New York.

The play has aged well, and is exceptionally well crafted, and carefully researched, drawing from court records, and liberally sprinkled with Wilde’s memorably entertaining expressions. It has all the power of a court room drama, and all the flair of Wilde’s colorful life and friends.

The Promethean Ensemble is in its element, with a work that is loaded with excellent language, and demanding versatility – as 8 actors take on more than 25 characters, plus Wilde. He was a great speaker and writer, and Jamie Bragg’s performance in the lead conveys his brilliant intellect, and great humor. The cast is large, and the characters plentiful – and while the casting includes several women playing men’s roles, gender identities disappear for the audience as soon as the performances commence.

Because it is a revival of an earlier production, with largely the same cast, Promethean hit the ground running even before opening night. Directed by Brian Pastor, the costumes by Uriel Gomez have a creative steam punk that cross the boundaries from 19th century to contemporary leather and safety pin fetishism. 

The first act describes Wilde’s creative world and his social circle, and at one point we leap to the present, as a scholar explains to a television interviewer that in his time, Wilde would not have conceived of himself as “gay,” but merely as a creative aesthete, who was unbound by contemporary mores and taboos, modeling himself after the ancient Greeks in his love for young men.

Wilde was “outed” by the Marquess of Queensbury, accusing him publicly of being homosexual in an effort to end Wilde’s relationship with his son, Lord Alfred Douglas. The Three Trials part follows from Wilde suing Queensbury for defamation, but losing when it was proven that he did have sex with men.

This evidence brought a new trial as Wilde was charged with "committing acts of gross indecency with other male persons," a crime against a recently adopted law. We see enacted the excellent defense mounted by Wilde’s lawyer. But the trial ended in a hung jury, and Wilde was convicted in the third trial, and went to prison.

Wilde’s reputation was reclaimed over the decades, largely by the power of his writing. He is perhaps the second most prized author in English letters for such perfectly realized works las his novel, A Portrait of Dorian Gray, or his plays that remain popular to this day, such as Lady Windermere’s Fan, The Importance of Being Ernest, or The Ideal Husband.

Watching this show, I whispered to myself, “Brexit!” For the play brought to mind a rigidity seen in British Government, which under a Victorian sodomy law, felt duty-bound to continue its unfortunate legal pursuit of him – despite several junctures at which it would have been possible to do so gracefully.

Bound by expectations in a rigid social structure, the Crown’s legal apparatus went over a cliff with Wilde as they destroyed one of the leading lights of British culture, on behalf of the nobility class. (Likewise they are headed over a cliff by slavishly following the Brexit plebiscite – in my humble opinion.)

There is great tragedy there, both in Wilde's original decision to sue for slander, and in his ruin. At the time, Wilde had two immensely popular plays on London’s West End. These closed, cutting off his revenue, and allowing creditors to seize his assets, amid a scandal that, as we learn in Gross Indecency, he largely initiated himself. The Promethean Ensemble show runs through March 23 at Strawdog Theatre, and it is highly recommended.

You may need several moments to come down after witnessing Steppenwolf’s stunning, let me say truly astounding new production of a play by Jackie Sibblies Drury. This powerful work was ahead of its time when it premiered in 2012 at Chicago’s Victory Gardens Theatre – eventually heading for off-Broadway and recognition in multiple awards, but under appreciated at the time, and neglected afterward. But now perhaps the world is better able to receive it.

It tells the story of a high school class enacting a historical recount of three decades of German occupation of what is now Namibia (formerly Southwest Africa), ending with World War I. It was a period replete with the worst of Colonialism, with land theft, cultural destruction, and a deliberate genocide against the Herero people.

The play’s unlikely long name suggests the earnestness of the students producing it: “We Are Proud to Present a Presentation About the Herero of Namibia, Formerly Known as South West Africa, From the German Sudwestafrika, Between the Years 1884-1915.” Since there is little written record from anyone but the occupiers, the students begin with letters written home by German soldiers, and incorporating factual details from other records.

As with any production, the student actors seek the motivation of their characters, and the roles they play. They tell fundamentals like geography and language in a lighthearted engaging way, capturing the audience. As the story progresses, though, and the German government asserts increasingly stringent control, the students must act out cruel and even violent behavior – and they begin to resist. Learning 80 percent of the Herero men were killed in this period, students are overwhelmed and do not want to re-enact the scenes.

"We're talking about a rehearsal for the Holocaust," says one student, horrified. But another corrects him. "It wasn't a rehearsal," he says. 

Yet their teacher pushes them on, beyond the brink, to unbearable acts and emotions, and the audience moves with them. The performances by the cast show real stars on the rise: Will Allan (Actor 3/Another White Man), Terry Bell (Actor 2/Black Man), Taylor Blim (Actor 5/Sarah), Jeffrey Owen Freelon Jr. (Actor 4/Another Black Man) Michael Holding (Actor 1/White Man), and Jennifer Latimore (Actor 6/Black Woman). The performances of Allen, Freelon, Holding, Bell and Blim blew me away, their parts demanding extreme versatility, or in the case of Bell, deep emotion and sentiment.

Playwright Drury gives us a concatenation of the inhumane treatment of tribes by the occupying army in Africa, to the treatment of African-Americans under Jim Crow. These scenes are especially unsettling, and we are reminded of the consequences of laying waste to the social mores that keep us civilized. With social movements like Black Lives Matter, #Oscarssowhite, and following Charlotte and NFL protests, the public at large may be better able to understand this aspect of the play - but it is gut wrenching.

We Are Proud to Present a Presentation… is a consequential work of art, reminiscent of Master Harold & The Boys and Miss Margarita’s Way, which similarly trace the seemingly inevitable power of sinister social forces. Director Hallie Gordon (she co-directed it with Gabrielle Randle) says to reconstitute the account of the tribal people, the production called on the work of Toni Morrison and others who employ "critical fabulation" to reconstitute histories of lost peoples, as well as existentialists like Brecht and or Beckett.

This production of We Are Proud to Present a Presentation is aimed at young audiences and will tour schools and Park Districts after it closes on Halsted. It is without question serious material, and an important production for everyone - the opportunity to see it should not be missed. It comes highly recommended, and runs only through March 23 at Steppenwolf Theatre.

Last month, I talked about how to think like a piano player. That was all about harmony. Horns, too, are all about melody. What is melody? That is the part you can sing. BB King, even when he played guitar, was also singing. What a concept, right? Play things that can be sung. Guitar players tend to play more rhythmic while horn players are more melodic. This is somewhat of a simplification. I am also talking about soloing and not comping. One thing I have always liked is melody. I think most people do. The hook of the song that gets stuck in your head. A good solo has that kind of quality too. Improvisation is really about improving the song. That starts with the melody. Essentially you are trying to improve the melody. Most guitar players honestly just want to show off. They think that is what a solo is all about. Since music is a form of communication, what you say in your solo says a lot about you. What do you want to say with a good guitar solo? The first thing you should say is that you know how to listen. Then, possibly someone will want to listen to you play. I honestly don’t even care how much a musician knows. The question is, “Can I listen to them?” It’s that simple. Does this please my ear? I remember hearing a fast solo when I was younger, and I got a rush from that. Sometimes I still do. But when I hear something that perks up my ears now, that’s the rush. I am not saying forget about having chops on the guitar. I am saying make sure you play something worth listening to. This applies to any style of music. This even applies to comping. If you are playing behind someone, make sure you play something that is supportive. You can even put melody in there. The key is listening. If you play without listening, it shows. I had this on my mind all week this week. Next month I am going to get back to the piano idea with some sample voicings. Then the idea of tying the voicings to melodic ideas. Sound like fun? The deeper realization is how everything ties together. Melody and harmony work together. They are closely related. Listen to what you play and make it count. Peace, RR.

Lookingglass Theatre, known for its excellent production values and its incomparable space at the Water Tower pumping station, brings us an intriguing new work, Act(s) of God. 

Billed as an existential dark comedy, but really much more of a farce, it is a “guess who’s coming to dinner” tale of cosmic proportions. Written by troupe member and actor Kareem Bandealy and directed by Heidi Stillman, the show spares nothing in quality of effort and has an intriguing storyline, but runs off the rails by the third act. 

It opens on a middle-class family home where Father (Rom Barkhordar) and Mother (Shannon Cochran in an outstanding performance) await the homecoming of their boy Middle (Anthony Irons) and his girl Fiancée (Emjoy Gavino). Their two other children will also be arriving soon, a daughter Eldest (Kristina Valada-Viars) and another son, Youngest (Walter Briggs).

Sorting the mail, Mother listens to a radio report on the imminent passage near earth of the asteroid, Apophis, while she and Father reveal in passing that it is April 2029 – a date that gains in significance. Other rather witty exposition tells us how much (and how little) the world has advanced from the present. “Everyone’s driving solar cars, but why do we still have junk mail?” Mother asks.

In the mail pile Mother finds an unusual letter, but she can’t tear the envelope, nor can Father, nor the other children as they each arrive. No one can, that is, until Eldest arrives, disturbing the others who are deep in a stylized, futuristic New Age prayer ritual. (In a  droll touch, Bandealy has them ask God not for forgiveness, but to “Help us forgive ourselves.”) As it turns out Eldest is not only an atheist but also a lesbian, things which estrange her from the family. And perhaps to the detriment of this script, Eldest is a writer. But she is able to open the letter, revealing that it contains a message from God: he’s coming for dinner tomorrow night.

The plot thickens promisingly, and great deal of angst and stress accompanies preparations for their guests’ arrival, with Mother begging the rest, “Please don’t embarrass me in front of God.”

But the play takes a turn for the worse, as family tensions and dynamics fill the remainder of a way too-long show (three acts, two intermissions). These scenes are full of drama, but they do not a play make.  And while Bandealy’s characters are clearly defined personalities, jousting continuously, they seem only vaguely related to each other. Was it a matter of casting or direction?

Perhaps it’s the script – which is not fully jelled. Much of the dialog is actors reciting lengthy written texts, well stated, but mostly unconvincing as spoken language. This is slightly less of an issue with Mother, Youngest, and Fiancee, but is especially a problem with Eldest, who talks over the other characters in sometimes interminable diatribes and expository essays. Such character types have been known to represent the author.

There are also unconvincing dramatic moments, as when Father falls asleep sitting up in a chair for almost an entire Act, while a wild family wrestling and shouting match surrounds him. Or the siblings and Mother sitting unnaturally rigid and immobile throughout a scene as Father comes and goes from the kitchen, talking a mile a minute. 

Bandealy does give each character a moment of glory, with a signal monologue: in the son Middle’s take-down of his sister, Anthony Irons is moving and convincing. In Father’s recitation of an invented religious parable, Rom Barkhordar is flawless. Likewise, Shannon Cochran, who in what might be a ranting soliloquy decrying the raw deal given her by motherhood, instead sings her lines to the accompaniment of a baroque sinfonietta. It’s surpassingly than charming.

Oh yes, and God comes and goes, unseen by us. But we do hear him like a “passing wind” (a nice inside joke for religious folks, he is flatulent on a cosmic scale as well, it turns out). The date of God’s arrival, April 14, 2029, is repeated so frequently in the dialog I looked it up in Wikipedia. It is the day a large asteroid will come within 19,000 miles of the Earth – which clarifies the radio report in the opening minutes of Act(s) of God. 

The set by Brian Sidney Bembridge – the living and dining room of a middle-class family home – is wonderfully appointed, and conveys that indeterminate futuristic point in time with a mix of furnishings dating from 1920 deco and ersatz 1950s French provincial, to mid-century modern and contemporary retro, along with futuristic sconces and wall paper. 

The set matters, as it must also provide a climactic end to the play. But it was not a particularly satisfying one. The coincidence of a visit from God and an asteroid flyby gives a reasonable platform for an existential dark comedy, but hours of family squabbling didn't seem very existential or funny. There’s some good in Act(s) of God, and some great bits, so it's somewhat recommended if you have the patience for it. It will be at Lookingglass Theatre through April 7, 2019.