Displaying items by tag: Shannon Leigh Webber

Fans of highly intellectual and nonlinear storytelling will love INCOGNITO. Playwright Nick Payne is known for plays with inventive narrative structures and deep philosophical inquiry—qualities that are clearly in evidence in INCOGNITO. This production is the Chicago debut of INCOGNITO; across the Pond the work has been praised for the innovative storytelling with which it probes memory, genius and identity.

Payne’s ‘inventive narration’ and ‘innovative storytelling’ are very much evident in INCOGNITO. Approximately twenty characters are enacted by a cast of but four: Teddy Boone, Shannon Leigh Webber, Erin Alys and Riles August Holiday. Though I found the nonlinear script difficult to follow, I was never in doubt as to which character each actor was portraying.

Incognito moves shapelessly across space and time, interweaving three independent storylines. One plot focuses on the pathologist who performed the autopsy of Albert Einstein. In doing so he extracted Einstein’s brain, which he stored variously in the trunk of his car, in the basement, and in a jar of formaldehyde. I was unable to discern exactly why he did so or what purpose he intended for this heirloom; presumably he simply wanted to have it, not necessarily use it. Anyone who shops on Amazon as zealously as I do will understand this. Contiguous plots involve Einstein’s descendants, whose views on this management of their august ancestor’s residuum range from horror to enthusiastic endorsement.

It's my private hypothesis that one factor supporting the cast’s proficiency at managing multiple roles is the broad variety of skills each of them brings to the stage.  Shannon Leigh Webber, for example, not only acts herself but also teaches drama in primary schools (which sounds like fun to me, though I appreciate that not everyone will share this view). Erin Alys is an actor, an intimacy director and an educator, while also a stunt performer and fight director, focusing on found objects and unarmed combat [reading this, I couldn’t help but wondering if she works with Babes With Blades]. My companion and I were both deeply impressed by the actors’ expertise at playing several very different roles.

The production team was also superb. Designers of Costume (Kasey Wolfgang), Lighting (Jack Goodman), and Sound (Alex Kingsley), with scenic designer Marcus Klein, cooperated seamlessly to fashion a smooth professional production. I especially admire Stage Manager Joey Bluhm’s backstage prowess; there was often less than five seconds between scenes, with actors streaming onstage from all sides in total darkness. I’ve never been a Stage Manager, but it’s my naive belief that this sort of opuscule [great word, huh? I do so love words!] is a Stage Manager’s nightmare: a small cast, playing many characters, entering a vacant stage through disparate portals … oy!  How does one keep track and be sure everyone is where they need to be when they need to?

I said a ‘vacant’ stage; far from disparagement of Scenic Designer Klein’s proficiency, I am, rather, commending their restraint.  Dozens of props, furnishings, amenities and accoutrements could have been used, but Klein chose minimalism:  just two straight chairs … and a table? Was there a little table? I don’t remember … and that is, to me, a huge accolade; one should remember what took place on the stage rather than what was placed there.

Tin Drum Theater company was formed by Steve Needham and Jason Palmer, who are also Producer and Director of INCOGNITO, respectively. This sort of ‘inbreeding’, characteristic of Chicago’s ‘black box’ theatres, is, in my view, a strength. Theater is intimate by its very nature, with cast and production team enriching one another as they collaborate and interact. Though some may argue against such endogamy in the creative process, it is my view that diversification can only assist with the legion of elaborate procedures necessary to bring a show from script to stage.

Starlings are used in INCOGNITO as poetic symbols. Each individual bird communicates with just a few neighbors, yet together they form vast, seemingly choreographed, flights. In this context, starlings represent the illusion of free will and the fluidity of identity: neither can be formed in isolation, but solely through connection with others. The Director’s Note states: Even if we are shaped by memory, emotion, and electrical impulses, we are also shaped by choice, by connection, by the stories we live and the love we give’, concluding, ‘Yes, you are a figment of your own imagination’. I think that’s tres cool.

INCOGNITO is not for everyone; I don’t recommend it for either your kids or your grandparents. If, however, you would like to be ‘challenged, provoked, and inspired’, INCOGNITO by Tin Drum Theater is definitely for you!

Playing through August 3 at Theater Wit, 1229 W Belmont

*This review is also featured on https://www.theatreinchicago.com/!