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Bill Esler

Bill Esler

There’s no mystery to “whodunit” in Northlight Theatre’s current production of “Dial M for Murder.” The audience watches a murder planned, while also being privy to the motivations of all the major characters. But there is plenty of suspense and intrigue as we watch Inspector Hubbard (Nick Sandys is spectacular) determine what happened. The suspense rests on whether his detective skills and penetrating questions will unravel the events the audience has witnessed, allowing the perpetrator to be caught.

Among perennial stage favorites, “Dial M for Murder” has seen multiple live and film versions - perhaps most notably Alfred Hitchcock’s noirish 1954 version - and always keeps audiences enthralled. It originated as a 1952 BBC teleplay. The Northlight Theatre production represents a well-written update, from a 2022 adaptation by Jeffrey Hatcher (endorsed by the estate of the original author, Frederick Knott).

Set in Britain, the story centers around wealthy heiress Margot (Lucy Carapetyan) and her fortune-hunting husband Tony (Ryan Hallahan is excellent) who freely admits to his grifter confidant Lesgate (Felipe Carrasco is suitably sleazy) that he married not for love, but money. Tony lives the highlife courtesy of his wife Margot, far beyond his means as a lowly book editor.

Enter Maxine (Elizabeth Laidlaw in a perfect performance), a murder mystery author, and Tony’s client at the publishing house. We soon learn something more about her relationship with Margot, the condition around which the plot turns.

Directed by Georgette Verdin, who maintains precise timing so necessary for the action, “Dial M for Murder receives the high production values that Northlight Theatre reliably delivers. The mid-century modern furnishings (Mara Zinky for set design) are exquisite, as are the couturier gowns (Raquel Adorno for costume design) in which women of Margot’s station dress for cocktails before dinner.

There were just a couple rough edges in the production. Overall, the adopted English accents weren’t finely honed, and our Midwest nasal overtones came through in most characters. This was all the more evident when the redeeming exception of Sandys’s Detective Hubbard, on whose role the play’s power rests. His British English was flawless (Sandys was born in Coventry, England), and his trained voice seemed to fill the theater space effortlessly. Sandys also seemed to be wearing his natural hair, which fit the part; the other hairstyles looked like they had a little too much help from the make-up department, and were distracting.

Those minor quibbles aside, this is an excellent staging of an intriguing and suspenseful murder saga, and “Dial M for Murder” is certain to leave you satisfied. Its run has already been extended through January 7 at Northlight Theatre in Skokie.

“Caveman Play” by Savannah Reich is a delightful confection that delves into weighty matters—the state of the earth, the fundamental challenges of civilized life—but avoids the angst.

In just 70 minutes, Reich takes us back to our primordial past, when humans first began to drop their roles of hunting and gathering food for sustenance—more aligned with their fellow creatures in nature—and settled down to become farmers.

She does this with a cast of four. Rocky (Jack Rodgers) and his wife Dandelion (Tess Galbiati) are a couple who are big advocates for the agrarian life, and are at work to promulgate its advantages to their community. Their cat, Douglas (played with droll deadpan by Evan Cullinan), resides taciturnly at a keyboard, providing musical accompaniment (and commentary) when required.

Ardently against this new-fangled agriculture drive is Rocky’s friend and hunter-gatherer advocate Chicken Feathers (a vibrantly funny Hannah Antman). She clearly has a history with Rocky, and shows up in time to catch the agriculture advocacy presentation, which has many familiar trappings of a modern office meeting to rally sales. The audience members, including some ringers, participate.

The case for agriculture includes the mixed blessings of the lifestyle: monogamy, life-long marriage, home ownership and the like. Reich also signals the out-sized burden “civilized” humans will place on the Earth. Chicken Feathers staunchly rejects all that, and poses charged questions at the rally about the wisdom of abandoning the free-form and less encumbered life of a hunter.

After the presentation, a vote is taken, and when agriculture wins, Chicken Feathers predicts nothing good will come of it, and it may seem she has been proven right over the eons. Chicken Features pointedly invites everyone down to the river for an orgy. Rocky is clearly torn, realizing that’s something else he must abandon.

The cat Douglas, for his part, never waivers. When asked where he stands on the matter periodically, he answers with a question: “Do I get food?” And he goes wherever the meal ticket requires.

Very well directed by Clare Brennan, "Caveman Play” runs through December 31 at The Edge Off Broadway Theatre in Chicago.

“Can’t Pay? Won’t Pay!" by Dario Fo is incredibly funny and a complete surprise. I’d seen one other hilarious play based on a Daniel Fo script, “Accidental Death of a Black Chicago Motorist,” but that liberally adapted work by The Conspirators hadn’t prepared me for how funny this 1997 Nobel Laureate’s writing is.

In a fresh translation from the 1974 Italian original, “Can’t Pay? Won’t Pay!” is a two-act political farce that zings in the hands of the Gwydion Theatre troupe, some of them recent arrivals from their native Los Angeles, and whose style and performances are unlike other Chicago companies—as good as the best Chicago has, but with a fresh approach.

Directed by ensemble member Nena Martins, the story centers on Antonia (Audrey Busbee) and Margherita (Ellie Thomson), two working-class Italian housewives who participate in a women-led action wherein they steal from the supermarket as a response to an unconscionable rise in prices. Fearful of the police, and criticism from their husbands Giovanni (Caleb Petre) and Luigi (Jason Pavlovich), they try to cover their misdemeanors in a most amusing way.

The performance relies on a world-premiere translation adapted by Ember Sappington, laced seamlessly with contemporary American idiom. Fo taps a European tradition of commedia dell'arte and farce, so its humor is at times broad but still funny. The performers are uniformly excellent, each in their own way, Antonia, played excellently by Audrey Busbee (a product of Chicago’s Columbia College) gives the play its weight.

A real standout is the performance by Jason Pavlovich as Luigi, who is completely natural and believable, and seems to be acting on another plane from the rest, but it works. Also notable is Andrew Shipman in three roles as Officer/Carabiniere/Senior, also with a style all his own.

Gwydion Theatre, with Grayson Kennedy as artistic director, formed in LA in 2019 by a group of actors fresh out of training soon tackling full scale productions at the Hollywood Fringe Festival. They say that following the pandemic, they decided to move to Chicago “in order to connect with a more artistic theater landscape.” Well, welcome!

It’s a sign of the seriousness of Gwydion Theatre that they selected a work by Fo—once a popular and highly regarded contemporary playwright (he died in 2016).”Can’t Pay? Won’t Pay!” is said to have inspired a real-life protest in Milan in which housewives took over the checkout stations at a Milan grocery store. Gwydion’s inaugural season in Chicago opened with Edward Albee’s "The Zoo Story," and will finish with the American classic ‘Waiting for Lefty’ by Clifford Odetts."Can't Pay? Won't Pay!" runs through December 17 at The Greenhouse Theater Cemter, 2257 N. Lincoln Ave. in Chicago.

The Conspirators latest show is an absolute laugh fest, and may just be their funniest so far. Subversive in its social commentary, which hits you in your funny bone, The Conspirators have chosen Dante’s Divine Comedy for their latest show, “Divina Commedia: It’s Worse Than That.” They lead us through those circles of hell in which we find ourselves today, perhaps without realizing it.

We are introduced to a sleepless clergyman who has come to his sanctuary to work on tomorrow’s sermon. An upper middle class matron—described as a suburban Atlanta business heiress—wanders into the church in these wee hours seeking comfort over a dream plaguing her, and with this conceit, the humor ramps up.

First circle we meet is an unrelenting packaging line in an Amazon warehouse, with the cast moving those familiar boxes at a rapid pace. Our protagonist for the set needs to pee, but the line can’t stop. Soon perhaps everyone in the line is in the same predicament. No stopping to pee! The contortions and jumpiness of the denizens of this circle of hell suffer on endlessly with no relief. And we realize in our laughter they are stuck there, forever!

Another circle finds us at a community meeting chaired by a Karen, that meme of entitlement and complaint that is familiar to us all. After a modest proposal to spend a small sum on a group project, the discussion opens, and Karen the chair discovers all in attendance have an opinion, negative of course, and each happens to also be named Karen. The chair Karen is in her circle of hell, as each attendee carps and whines with no possibility to resolve these Karens' issues, they just want to complain, each in their own take on unresolvable “problems” with the proposal.

There are seven more osuch circles (one is "Ron Paul's Drag Race" with a remarkably funny appearance by Senator Mitch McConnell and Cher), all devised by the sharp pen of Sid Feldman and directed by Wm. Bullion, running at what seems to be a most congenial place for the Conspirators, the Otherworld Theatre at 3914 N. Clark St. in Chicago. Between each circle the heiress reflects acidly on the suffering with the clergyman, who serves the role of Father Virgil to guide her, a witty take on Dante’s original.

The production is in The Conspirator’s distinguished take on traditional Italian Commedia dell'Arte, which they dub “The Style,” with thick make-up drawn from Kabuki, “and with a dash of Bugs Bunny.” The exaggerated delivery, punctuated by drum rolls from an onstage percussionist, leads the audience to savor the lines—giving them added impact.

This time around the make-up has an added embellishment of very expressive lines, giving each character a distinctive mask that lends itself well to the roles. The Conspirators productions are deceivingly erudite, seriously referencing weighty underlying material, and bringing them to bear on contemporary life.

But the most important thing is how funny it is. You don’t need to know anything at all about the intellectual underpinnings of their shows, because the laughs are involuntary and completely overwhelming. Audiences will applaud dutifully at many shows. But you can’t fake laughter, the most honest of responses. “Divina Commedia: It’s Worse Than That” is an almost exhaustingly funny show. The Conspirators’ runs are typically very short. Absolutely don’t miss this one, through November 19 at Otherworld Theatre.

The Yellow Rose Theatre is one of Chicago’s newer venues, having launched in 2020 during Covid, with a company that demonstrates a passion for their work. Located at The Vault, an entertainment space at 607 W. Fulton, it is just a couple blocks east of the trendy Fulton Market District, in the restored Fulton Jefferson Building. An unusual split-level design that lends itself to conventional and immersive theater. 

Yellow Rose numbers 10 ensemble members, and an equal number of guest actors and playwrights, including Francis Brady, whose “Justicia” is nearing the end of its run. Tickets include access to an open bar and finger food, and audience members may mingle and gnosh before each performance and during intermissions—giving the shows a unique flair and sense of communality with the productions.(We saw "TV Land" there in May.)

Directed by Kieran O’Connor, Brady’s “Justicia,” while a bit uneven, has the heart of a solid play. A courtroom drama, it centers on the travails of a small town litigator Pappa (Rick Yacobnis) whose daughter (Katherine Wetterman) has left her own successful practice in Chicago to join his struggling firm—struggling because he takes on underdog cases regardless of the client’s ability to pay. He has relied on a line of credit from the local bank where the loan officer has a heart and has kept him afloat.

The first act opens in a courtroom hearing presided over by a Judge (Jorge Salas) as the plaintiff Ron (Joseph Arvo Levander) argues that he was wrongfully discharged and demands as a remedy that he be reinstated. The employer’s defense counsel (Madeline Diego) offers a modest cash settlement, but her client doesn’t want Ron back, deeming him no longer able to handle the jackhammer used in his work.

That summary is not difficult to extract from the action, but the presentation of this story was hampered by a number of things, beginning with the lack of a set, which caused the judge to sit below and look up at the lawyers arguing the case.

Pappa laces his arguments with Shakespere quotes, which might be okay but seem largely unrelated to the matters at hand. And for a public immersed in courtroom procedurals on streaming channels, the informality and departure from expected court protocols works against the believability. Lots of exposition and character building takes place in subsequent scenes, with the appearance of the daughter’s budding love-interest (Sophia Vitello), and father-daughter talks. But the first act is rather a muddle.

The second act puts the play on a more solid footing, opening with a new, young Bank Officer (Joe Bushell) who is all business as Poppa arrives to plead for an extension on the line of credit. The Bank Officer parries handily Poppa’s arguments that the bank should continue to fund this “practice with a heart.”

Bushell’s performance is the most solid of the cast, he’s a real pro and redeems the script somehow, suggesting the writing is a reach for the other performers, or that Brady is good at writing bank officer characters.

Lavender plays Ron very well, but is given little to work with, fated to repeat “I want my job back” endlessly. Levander’s voice and action convey the anguish of a late middle aged worker made redundant. He finally says “I want to work,” and “I want a paycheck”— in other words, be a useful and productive citizen. Brady could give us, and the character, more to say about his anguish.

Pappa is going through that same generational challenge as his daughter works to straighten out the firm’s finances, and takes on Jim's case to rescue it after Pappa, in an ill-advised move, has Ron demonstrate his ability with the jackhammer before the judge. (Unfortunately he drops it.)

So if you’re game to see it, “Justicia” runs November 9 and 11 at Yellow Rose Theatre. I’m going back to the venue to see The Yellow Rose’s “Thank God It’s Monday” or “T.G.I.M.” running November 10 and 11, a series of comic shorts in an immersive show. Both shows include eats and drinks. Tickets are at yellowrosetheatre.com 

Laugh-out-loud funny, “The Tale of the Allergist’s Wife” from an award-winning script by Robert Busch, is an entertaining domestic comedy in the vein of Neil Simon, very Jewish New York humor. MadKap Productions, which has moved to the Skokie Theatre with this show, has given it a top-notch treatment, with an elegant, very finished set—an expensively furnished co-op apartment on Riverside Drive in Manhattan.

There we find Marjorie Taub (Julie Stevens) suffering mightily on a settee, from a headache brought on by angst over whether her intellectual aspirations (she spends all her time attending heady lectures, museums, and reads Nietsche and Herman Hesse) are all for naught. “I’m just a peasant from the shtetl," she says. "I should be plowing the earth.”

All the while her sympathetic doorman, Mohammed (Ravi Kalani) is installing a designer light fixture he pulled from storage while uttering supportive counters to Marjorie’s self-loathing whines. Her woes are increased by her aging mother, Frieda (Amy Ticho), who lives down the hall, but visits constantly to moan about her bowl movements in graphic detail, between cutting remarks that buttress Marjorie’s self-hatred.

The allergist, Dr. Ira Taub (Peter Leondedis), recently retired and living a self-congratulatory life of helping student doctors, and indigent allergy sufferers in the inner city, tries to comfort Marjorie as well. But it is the arrival of Lee (Aimee Kleiman), a long lost childhood friend, that throws a monkey-wrench in this reliably operating den of neuroses. Directed by Goodman-alum Steve Scott, all this angst-ridden suffering is delivered with line after line of humorous commentary and throwaway jokes.

But as its vaguely Chaucerian name suggests, “The Tale of the Allergist’s Wife” is at bottom a morality tale. After a crescendo of crises brought on by Lee, who squats in the apartment and turns out to be quite a gifted grifter, we get a resolution capped with a summary of the moral of the show. So the core of the comedy is dampened a tad in moments when it departs from the humor, to level a dose of somewhat heavy handed preachiness.

Don’t get me wrong, this script is good, and the performances earnest and skillful, with Aimee Kleiman as Lee a cut above (she reminded me of Julie Louis Dreyfus in Seinfeld). But overall the pacing seems slow, and the cast labored over lines that might be funnier if delivered faster and more off-hand. In comedy, it’s all in the timing. Set design is by Wayne Mell (he also does promotion and the house was full), with lighting by Pat Henderson, and truly excellent costumes are by Wendy Kaplan, who also produces the show for MadKap Productions.

Nominated in 2000 during its two-year Broadway for three Tony Awards (it won a Drama Desk Award), “TheTale of the Allergist’s Wife” is a good play well-delivered. It runs through Nov 19, 2023, Fridays and Saturdays at 7:30 pm, and Sundays at 2:00 pm, with one Wed. matinee on Nov 15 at 1:30 pm at the Skokie Theatre, a renovated 1912 movie house that is a gem of a performance space.

“Young Frankenstein,” a live stage musical version of Mel Brooks hysterical 1974 comedy film, is an absolute hoot in its new production at Chicago’s intimate Mercury Theatre on Southport.

WIth priceless comic bits, great costumes, dancing, and singing that is notably excellent, “Young Frankenstein” is underpinned by a bullet-proof script adapted from the movie, which in my estimation is Mel Brooks’ funniest.

If you haven’t seen the film, then you will especially be in stitches in this spin-off of the classic 19th century Mary Shelley tale Frankenstein’s monster, a cadaver brought to life with disastrous consequences. Mel Brook’s version brings us the American grandson of Dr. Frankenstein (Sean Fortunato)—also a medical doctor—who travels to Transylvania on inheriting the castle and infamous laboratory that generated the original monster.

This musical at the Mercury (like Brooks’ film) spoofs the three 1930s Frankenstein films, with their overheated melodrama and exaggerated horror.

“Young Frankenstein” happens to be the Chicago premiere of a 2017 London version, revised from the Broadway musical of 2007. The recount of so many hilarious moments from the film are extended by the music and dance. The score is a satisfying pastiche of some classic showtunes. “There Is Nothing Like a Brain” for example, samples South Pacific's “There Is Nothing Like a Dame” In parts, with other musical motifs patched in too.

What is most astounding, though, is how good the singing, dancing, and musical performances are at this Mercury Theater production. Soprano Isabella Andrews, who plays Dr. Frankenstein’s voluptuous lab assistant Inga, brings an operetta-worthy voice; and likewise mezzo-soprano Lillian Castillo, who plays Dr. Frankenstein’s uptight fiance Elizabeth. And still they are as funny as all get out.

Also notable: bass-baritone Jonah D. Winston as Inspector Kemp, a Strangelovian character with a wooden arm, and leg, and flawless comic timing. (Winston’s 2021 performance was galvanizing in Theater Wit’s Mr. Burns.) Even the Monster (Andrew McNaughton), limited to howls and moans when faced with fire, turns out to have a remarkable voice, in a show-stopping number at the end.

Particularly entertaining are the roles of the housekeeper, Frau Blucher (Mary Robin Roth), and the hunchbacked Igor (Ryan Stajmiger), garnering incredible laughter with their many signature punchlines and bits. Even the wigs (Keith Ryan) deserve a nod. After all, the Bride of Frankenstein wig transformation for Elizabeth, following her tryst with the Monster, is a key visual punchline.

One tiny quibble: the special effects for The Monster’s lab transformation could use a bit more lightning bolts and smoke. Running through December 31, “Young Frankenstein” at Chicago’s Mercury Theater, 3745 N. Southport is a must-see event. But be warned: once may not be enough!

Well suited to the season, Rough House Theater brings its third annual edition of a macabre puppet show, “The House of the Exquisite Corpse III,” to the Merle Reskin Garage Space at the Steppenwolf Theatre campus on Halsted Street in Chicago.

The one-hour immersive experience gathers audiences in groups of 13, who are ushered in at 15 minute intervals to view a half-dozen 10-minute puppet performances. An emcee warns ticket-holders of foggy settings, and gore ahead—but presumably the squeamish would not choose to attend in the first place.

Each clatch of audience members are guided to the individual viewings, set behind canvas partitions or plasterless lath walls, into which peep holes have been riven or torn at a variety of heights and of differing shapes. Puppets are designed by manipulated by black-clad marionettes perform in the various settings.

At each of the six locations you don headphones to listen in to the puppets’ voices, and the background music and sound-effects, carefully matching to the live action of the puppet. The whole series was inspired by the book “Our Homes and How to Keep Them Healthy,” published in 1883 by Robert Brudenell Carter.

The first, to give newcomers a feel for it, is entitled “The Difficulty of Proof in Arsenic Poisoning Cases.” In a memorable performance, it features a young woman, bed-ridden with a hacking cough, being encouraged to sip tea by an arm intervening from the background.

After several healthy draughts of the steaming liquid, which only seem to worsen her condition, she fumbles with a 1930s radio console, stopping to hear various news reports of murders by poisoning, or antique recordings of classical music. You will have to attend to see her outcome, but know that the other settings shift in time and and setting, but maintain the disquieting tone, some with added gore and unpleasantness—a perfect prelude to Halloween!

Performers include Pablo Monterrubio-Benet and Grace Needlman, Lee and Sam Lewis, Corey Smith, Claire Bauman, Chio Cabrera and Jacky Kelsey, Justin D’Acci and Sion Silva, Ken Buckingham, and Felix Mayes and Kevin Michael Wesson. Process directors are Claire Saxe and Mike Oleon.

“House of the Exquisite Corpse III” runs through October 29 at Steppenwolf’s Merle Reskin Garage Space, 1624 N. Halsted in Chicago. It’s highly recommended, though not for the faint of heart certainly not those under 14.

*Extended through November 4th

There could not have been a better site than Chicago’s Epiphany Center for a one-night performance of a truly moving work—”Soldier Songs,” a one-hour cantata with libretto and score composed by David T. Little.

This sweeping reverie on the internal life of a soldier, from boyhood through mature adulthood, expresses the inexpressible feelings a man experiences in a life under arms, and as a veteran after.

"Soldier Songs” left me deeply affected, moved to uncertainty, with feelings I struggle to express. It follows the arc of one male soldier’s experience of the military, starting from a childhood infused with hero worship of idealized soldiers as superheroes.

Those feelings are still at play as the boy, now a teenager, enlists for a period to end at age 26. It is during this time that this soldier encounters the reality of deadly battle, and his own role, in the fields of war. And finally, the Soldier, now an adult, watches his own son travel the same path, dying unfortunately in mortal combat.

Its opening minutes incorporate voice recordings of veterans of five different wars, punctuated by low-key musical accents. As the recruit ultimately encounters live battle, the music is more tempestuous. More bits of those voice recordings interject throughout. And over this, the powerfully expressive baritone David Adam Moore relates Little’s songs bringing his entire body to action, enacting emotively the lyrics of each phase of this Soldier’s life.

Laid out in three stages—Child, Warrior, Elder—Soldier Songs leaves us with Soldier experiencing the insufferable loss of his own son in battle. The poignance of Moore’s interpretation of Soldier’s anger and loss is among the most outstanding expressions I have heard of male vulnerability and emotional loss.

Backed by a chamber orchestra directed by Lidiya Yankovskaya, with sound design by Garth MacAleavey, the company includes Jeff Yang on violin, Matthew Agnew on cello, Gene Collerd on Clarinet and percussion, Jennie Oh Brown on flute/piccolo/percussion, and Jonathan Gmeinder on piano and synthesizer.

The libretto itself is based on the words of veterans. Supertitles guide the audience as the sections of the work unfold, letting us know. During the child's youthful imaginings, for example, “Boom! Bang! Dead!” the Soldier sings “If I get shot, I’ll just start over,” revealing his naivete as he launches into horrendously violent speech, knowing neither the meaning nor implications of his fantasy of fighting.

As a teen enlistee, Moore sings, “I signed a paper yesterday that until I’m 26 I belong to the government,” and Moore registers a shift in the Soldier’s character, an inkling something has changed. Part 2, begins with Warrior: Still Life with Tank and iPod,” and we learn he listens to heavy metal music to maintain his rage in battle. The underlying music is also infused with overtones of the genre. He sees “old friends, high school friends, marching in fatigues, death machines on their shoulders.”

The experience and resulting trauma of live battle follow, soldiers evaporate under fire, visible only as “blood dripping from the leaves,” as once voice over has it. “A ghastly scene without the action hero,” Moore sings. “Someone yell ‘Cut!’” But of course, no one does. This is the real thing.

Little says he was driven to this work with the realization that his entire generation has never known a time when the U.S. is not at war. And yet, “Soldier Song” is not an anti-war screed, but simply an honest expression of the toll of war on an individual Soldier.

And the setting at Epiphany Center for the Arts was so perfect. This monumental 1885 Episcopal edifice was converted into a $15 million, 42,000 square foot center for the arts in a $15 million project begun in 2017. The main sanctuary, with pipe organ and interior walls intact, has a benign patina of aging paint and religious iconography. Only as I left the venue did I look at the back wall opposite the performance stage, to see the giant words still legible in the peeling paint: “And on Earth, let there be peace.”

One can only imagine the angst for Chicago Opera Theatre’s producers when just over a week prior to the performance soloist Nathan Gunn had to withdraw from the performance for a family emergency. But by the grace of the opera gods, and a one-day waiver from New York’s Metropolitan Opera, baritone David Adam Moore flew to Chicago and saved the show. (Moore is currently working at the Metropolitan Opera for the house premiere production of Jake Heggie's “Dead Man Walking.” In watching Moore’s performance, I was struck by how completely he gave himself up to the role, and wondered how he could be so good on such short notice. Only later did I learn that he has performed this work before, including a definitive recording

Chicago Opera Theater moves on to the Harris Theater for the Chicago premiere of Shostakovich's "The Nose" on December 8 and 10, 2023. takes the stage in December at the Harris Theater for Music and Dance. In January 2024, at the Studebaker Theater it will present Huang Ruo’s "Book of Mountains and Seas" in collaboration with the Chicago International Puppet Theater Festival and Beth Morrison Projects. In April, again at the Epiphany Center for the Arts, it presents Vanguard composer Gillian Rae Perry and librettist Marcus Amaker's "The Weight of Light," then back to the Studebaker Theater in May to conclude its season with the world premiere tour presentation of Jake Heggie and Gene Scheer's "Before It All Goes Dark," based on a story by Chicago music and arts journalist Howard Reich, commissioned and presented by Music of Remembrance. 

 

“Sanctuary City,” Steppenwolf’s latest production by Pulitzer-winning playwright Martyna Majok ("Cost of Living") takes us somewhere audiences likely haven’t been before—deep into the emotional experiences of undocumented American immigrants.

“Sanctuary City” may seem confusing at first. A series of quick cut, apparently repetitive scenes take place on a bare stage with a boy, B (Grant Kennedy Lewis) offering shelter in his mother’s apartment to a girl, G (Jocelyn Zamudio), who climbs in a window and ultimately into his bed, but just for warmth. We eventually learn that these young innocents have been school chums since third grade, when they arrived as minors with their mothers. Neither mothers nor B and G have permanent resident status.

Through these brief glimpses Majok establishes the depth of a growing bond between the two and soon enough the play comes into its own, with B and G now 17. After his mother abandons him to return to her homeland, somehow B ekes out a living and finishes senior year, while G’s path takes a turn for the better - her mother is naturalized, and citizenship is conferred on her as well. Yet G spends most of her time at B’s place, for she is a refugee as well from her immigrant mother’s abusive boyfriends.

As the two mature, Majok explores the stresses in daily life imparted by living in the netherworld of undocumented citizens. But that is only a backdrop to the challenges meted out by life in general, which goes on for both into young adulthood. When Henry {Brandon Rivera) enters the action as B's love interest, Majok gives us an intense exploration of a love triangle. Through twists and turns, Henry and G spar in gripping fashion over who has the greater claim on B.

This is playwriting of the highest order, and the performances by Zamudio and Rivera are deft and sensitive. But we experience B's pain through the remarkable performance by Lewis. One scene early on, where G surprises 17-year-old B with a cake for his seventeenth birthday, brought me to tears. Understated, mostly silent, with imagined props illuminated only by a cigarette lighter, it's his first one alone. No joy, just tears.

Again and again B feels the pangs of abandonment by his mother, his marginalized status in a gay relationship, his career dreams dashed as he is chained to menial work, and the uncertainty of where his relationship with G will go. 

Majok has accomplished something more in “Sanctuary City.” These are fully dimensioned characters, and their lives are interesting, quite aside from the issues around residency status. While many of us have sympathy for the plight of undocumented residents in the U.S., Majok humanizes them, bringing us to identify with their life struggles. And in so doing, she really shows why we would care for these individuals—and we gain the realization that each and every undocumented citizen also has a story that is compelling and worthy of our concern.

In “Sanctuary City,” we have three star actors, and a fourth - Majok’s script, brought amazingly to life by Steph Paul in Steppenwolf’s wonderful in-the-round Ensemble Theater. The scenic design by Yeoji Kim goes from minimalist to fully furnished as sets rise and lower in the second half.

“Sanctuary City” comes highly recommended. It runs through November 18 at Steppenwolf Theatre, 1650 N. Halsted St. in Chicago.

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The Joffrey Ballet boldly closes its 2023-24 season with the return of Midsummer Night's Dream by internationally renowned Swedish choreographer Alexander Ekman. Premiered by The…

Breaking Through The Winter Blues: Cirque du Soleil Crystal Sparkles at NOW Arena

23 March 2024 in Theatre Reviews

Like any good Chicago March, the city cannot make up its mind about what season it is in. This weekend…

Review: A Streetcar Named Desire at Copley Theatre

22 March 2024 in Theatre in Review

If there's one play every American should see in their lifetimes, without a doubt it's Tennessee Williams' perennial classic A…

Five Plays by Spanish Speaking Female Playwrights Selected for Series at Instituto Cervantes

20 March 2024 in Upcoming Theatre

Instituto Cervantes of Chicago (31 W. Ohio St.), the city's primary non-profit center for Spanish language and cultural exchange, is pleased to present,…

Macbeth Gets Upended in ‘What the Weird Sisters Saw'

20 March 2024 in Theatre in Review

I love all things Shakespeare, particularly modern iterations and adaptations of his works, and I’ve had good experiences with Idle…

ON YOUR FEET! THE STORY OF EMILIO & GLORIA ESTEFAN Is Now Playing

19 March 2024 in Upcoming Theatre

Broadway In Chicago is pleased to announce the smash-hit musical, ON YOUR FEET! THE STORY OF EMILIO & GLORIA ESTEFAN is now…

Casting Announced for Drury Lane Theatre's production of Guys and Dolls April 10 – June 9, 2024

18 March 2024 in Upcoming Theatre

Drury Lane Theatre is thrilled to announce casting for its first show of the 2024/2025 season, Guys and Dolls, making its triumphant return to…

Writers Theatre announces 2024-2025 season

18 March 2024 in Upcoming Theatre

Artistic Director Braden Abraham and Executive Director Kathryn M. Lipuma announce Writers Theatre's 2024/25 season. The season launches with the Chicago premiere of the acclaimed musical Natasha,…

Music Theater Works’ ‘The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee’ a sparkling and witty production

17 March 2024 in Theatre in Review

Who will the best speller be? Who will be able to withstand the pressures of competition? Who wants it the…

BLACK SUNDAY, a new, dust bowl-era drama by Dolores Díaz, directed by Sandra Marquez, storms in as TimeLine Theatre's 2023-24 finale

16 March 2024 in Upcoming Theatre

TimeLine Theatre announces the world premiere of the latest play developed through the company’s Playwrights Collective—Black Sunday, by Chicago playwright Dolores…

Marriott Theatre Continues Thrilling 2024 Season with "The Music Man"

15 March 2024 in Upcoming Theatre

Marriott Theatre continues its thrilling 2024 season with MEREDITH WILLSON'S THE MUSIC MAN, the six-time Tony Award-winning musical comedy, directed and choreographed…

Red Theater presents HAMLET

15 March 2024 in Upcoming Theatre

Red Theater is thrilled to present its second show of the 23/24 season: Shakespeare’s HAMLET, directed by Jeff nominated director Wyatt Kent, running April 26…

Margaret Atwood's 'The Penelopiad' Is a Zesty Romp, Even If a Bit Cerebral

15 March 2024 in Theatre in Review

“The Penelopiad” is a zesty romp and very entertaining. With a script by a writer I adore, Margaret Atwood of “The…

City Lit announces first season under incoming Executive Artistic Director Brian Pastor

14 March 2024 in Upcoming Theatre

City Lit Theater has announced its programming for the 2024-25 season, the company’s 44th. The season is the first to…

GIORDANO DANCE CHICAGO DEBUTS "GERSHWIN IN B" CHOREOGRAPHED BY EMMY AWARD-WINNER AL BLACKSTONE IN SPRING HARRIS ENGAGEMENT APRIL 5 & 6

13 March 2024 in Upcoming Dance

Giordano Dance Chicago (GDC) presents their "Season 61 | UNLIMITED!" Spring engagement at the Harris Theater at Millennium Park, 205…

Steppenwolf Theatre Announces 2024/25 Season

12 March 2024 in Upcoming Theatre

Steppenwolf Theatre Company, under the leadership of Artistic Directors Glenn Davis and Audrey Francis and Executive Director Brooke Flanagan, today announced its 2024/25 Season, featuring a dynamic…

Pretty Woman is now playing at CIBC Theatre

12 March 2024 in Upcoming Theatre

Broadway In Chicago is delighted to announce PRETTY WOMAN: THE MUSICAL is now playing at Broadway In Chicago's CIBC Theatre (18 W.…

'Bill W. and Dr. Bob' Tells About AA Founders, and What It Was Really Like to be their Wives

11 March 2024 in Theatre in Review

“Bill W. and Dr. Bob,” in its Chicago premiere at the Biograph Theater, tells the exciting story of the 1935…

MOMIX: ALICE is Spectacular!

10 March 2024 in Dance in Review

I’ve seen quite a lot of wonderful, entertaining dance productions in Chicago lately - creations that include music and modern…

Review: 'Aida' at Lyric Opera Chicago

10 March 2024 in Theatre in Review

There’s a reason Elton John’s Broadway musical adaptation of ‘Aida’ was one the most popular musicals of the early aughts.…

Deathtrap: A Thriller to Die For

09 March 2024 in Theatre in Review

It was a dark and stormy night (yes, it really was!) – the perfect ambiance for taking in one of…

Pre-Broadway World Premiere DEATH BECOMES HER Announces Complete Casting

05 March 2024 in Upcoming Theatre

Broadway In Chicago and Universal Theatrical Group announced today complete casting for the world-premiere Chicago production of the drop-dead hilarious new musical comedy, DEATH…

Black Ensemble Theatre's 'The Time Machine: A Tribute To The 80’s' celebrates a transformative era of music

05 March 2024 in Theatre in Review

Black music in the 1980’s was transformative. It was the decade where Black music exploded in diversity and influence. It…

 

 

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