Displaying items by tag: Jessica Thebus

Writers Theatre, under the leadership of Executive Director Kathryn M. Lipuma and Alexandra C. and John D. Nichols Artistic Director Braden Abraham, opens its 35^th Season in the intimate Gillian Theatre with Sisters, a gripping family drama exploring the familial bond between a woman and her AI sister, written by Matthew Libby and directed by acclaimed Chicago artist and Northwestern University faculty member Jessica Thebus. On the heels of the record-breaking hit JOB, Sisters continues the theatre's timely exploration of how technology shapes humanity. Sisters will run August 13 – November 8, 2026, at 325 Tudor Court, Glencoe. 

Single Tickets for Sisters, $75+, and season subscriptions are now available at www.writerstheatre.org, and at the Box Office by calling 847-242-6000. 

Matilda and Greta have always been there for one another, through joy and grief and homework and boyfriends. They're as close as sisters can be—even if Greta is artificial intelligence. As Matilda ages and Greta longs for independence, their relationship begins to be tested like never before. Told over the course of 90 years, Sisters is a riveting and thought-provoking new play about the future of family. 

Braden Abraham comments, "Sisters marks the opening of our 35th season at Writers Theatre, and it seems fitting to begin a milestone year in The Gillian Theatre, a space built on intimacy and our founding charge that the most exciting theatre is made with the audience and actors in close proximity. This extraordinary new play by Matthew Libby asks what remains distinctly, mysteriously human once you strip away everything that can be simulated, predicted or optimized. I can think of no one better than Jessica Thebus to guide us through Matilda and Greta's long, strange and moving companionship."

The cast is Brenda Barrie (Matilda) and Chloe Johnston (Greta). The understudies are Julia Rowley and Sarah Hecht.

The creative team includes: Jessica Thebus (Director), A Inn Doo (Scenic Designer), Lia Wallfish (Costume Designer), Eric Watkins (Lighting Designer), Andre Pluess (Co-Sound Designer), Harper Justus (Co-Sound Designer), Stephan Mazurek (Projections Designer), Reva Stover (Assistant Director), Bobby Kennedy (Dramaturg) and Dylan Cohen (Assistant Dramaturg). The stage manager is Isabel Pratt and the assistant stage manager is Olivia Leslie. 

About the Artists

Matthew Libby (Playwright) is a writer and actor based in Brooklyn, by way of Los Angeles. He made his Off-Broadway playwriting debut with Data (Lucille Lortel Theatre, Outer Critics Circle nomination for the John Gassner Award); regional productions of his plays include Data (Arena Stage, Helen Hayes Award nomination for Best New Play or Musical) and Sisters (Writers Theatre, Northern Stage). Data was also previously adapted as a digital production by the Tony-winning Alliance Theatre in May 2021, a production featured in a New York Times review of virtual theatre works that "clear a path toward continued innovation and growth of the form." Winner of the Kendeda National Graduate Playwriting Competition and Neukom Playwriting Award, Matt is a 2026 Ucross Resident, 2022-2023 Dramatists Guild Foundation Fellow, 2023 Theater Masters Visionary Playwright, three-time Princess Grace Award finalist, five-time O'Neill Playwrights Conference semifinalist and Blue Ink Playwriting Award featured finalist. His work has been produced and developed by theaters across the country, including Roundabout, Alliance Theatre, New York Stage and Film, Westport Country Playhouse, Northern Stage, Pioneer Theatre Company, The Kennedy Center, National New Play Network, Theater Masters, The Barrow Group, The Road Theater Company, WNYU's Theatre-in-the-Sound and others. With Stanford Repertory Theater, he helped devise and act in The Many Faces of Farce, which was nominated for a Bay Area Critics Award for Best Production. For the screen, he is a writer on Season 3 of Fox's hit medical drama Doc, has developed TV projects for Hulu, Lionsgate/eOne, Beau Willimon's Westward Productions and Alex Gibney's Jigsaw Productions, and has been recognized for his screenwriting work by The Black List and Script Pipeline. Matt studied cognitive science and creative writing at Stanford University and received his MFA in dramatic writing from NYU's Tisch School of the Arts, where he also teaches and was awarded the Chair's Award for Distinguished Achievement. He is a proud member of the Writers Guild of America and the Dramatists Guild of America.

Jessica Thebus (Director) is a theater artist, director and educator. She holds a PhD in Performance Studies from Northwestern University, and is currently Director of the Northwestern MFA Program in Directing. She has directed in Chicago and nationally for twenty-five years, and has long associations with many Chicago theaters, including the Goodman Theatre where she directed A Christmas Carol from 2000-2005, as well as plays by Tracy Scott Wilson and Sarah Ruhl. Northlight Theater is also an artistic home for Jessica where she has directed ten plays including Shining Lives: A Musical which received a Joseph Jefferson award nomination for best new work. Favorite others include Steppenwolf Theater Company, Lookingglass Theater Company, The Gift Theater, Writers Theater and Court Theater. Favorite projects nationally have taken place at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, The Huntington Theatre, Kansas City Repertory Theatre, The Marin Theater Company, as well as the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. Jessica also creates outdoor spectacle projects in Chicago that celebrate community, joy and environmental justice.

Brenda Barrie (Matilda) is making her Writers Theatre debut. Chicago credits include Steppenwolf Theatre Company (Middletown, Sex with Strangers, Okay Bye); Chicago Shakespeare Theater (Julius Caesar, Elizabeth Rex); American Blues Theater (Roann @ the Gates, Six Corners); Lifeline Theatre (Mrs. Caliban, Mariette in Ecstasy); Goodman Theatre (Mother Road); The House Theatre of Chicago (United Flight 232, The Nutcracker); Route 66 Theatre Company (The Downpour); The Gift Theatre (The Ruby Sunrise); Metropolis Performing Arts Centre (A Streetcar Named Desire); and Silk Road Rising (Caravaggio). She is a four-time Joseph Jefferson Award nominee for Principal Performer and has also appeared on Chicago Med, Chicago P.D., Chicago Fire, and The Chicago Code. She earned her BFA in Theatre from the University of Indianapolis and spent a formative semester studying at the University of Ulster in Northern Ireland. She is represented by Stewart Talent.

Chloe Johnston (Greta) is a writer, director and teacher in Chicago. She has worked with theatres across Chicago and is a long-time ensemble member of The Neo-Futurists. Recent projects include 46 Plays for America's First Ladies (Critics Pick, NYTimes), Grace (The Orchard Project, Links Hall, Roman Susan, Northwestern University) and Leave the Light On, an interview-based performance and audio project about caretaking labor. With Coya Paz Brownrigg, she is the author of Ensemble-Made Chicago: A Guide to Devised Theater (NU Press). She is an Associate Professor of Theater and Performance Studies at Lake Forest College. www.chloejohnston.org

Sisters

Written by Matthew Libby
Directed by Jessica Thebus
The Gillian Theatre

August 13 – November 8, 2026

Performance Schedule: 

Wednesdays: 2:00pm and 7:30pm 

Thursdays: 7:30pm  

Fridays: 7:30pm  

Saturdays: 2:00pm and 7:30pm  

Sundays: 2:00pm and 7:00pm 

Open Captioned Performance: Thursday, September 17 at 7:30pm 

ASL-Interpreted Performance: Saturday, September 19 at 2:00pm 

Pay What You Can Performances: Sunday, August 23 at 7pm, Sunday, September 27 at 7pm, Saturday, October 31 at 7:30pm and Thursday, November 5 at 7:30pm 

Location: Gillian Theatre, 325 Tudor Court, Glencoe 

Prices: $75+

Discounts are available for students, educators, theater industry professionals, active military personnel, veterans, police officers, firefighters and their immediate families. Information is available at: https://www.writerstheatre.org/plan-your-visit/box-office-and-theatre-center/pricing--special-offers 

Box Office: The Box Office is located at 325 Tudor Court, Glencoe; 847-242-6000;

www.writerstheatre.org 

Single tickets are now on sale. Flex subscriptions and tickets are available online at www.writerstheatre.org, and at the Box Office by calling 847-242-6000. 

Notes of Interest:

• Jessica Thebus returns to Writers Theatre where she previously directed The Turn of the Screw. Writers audiences may recognize thematic echoes of Writer's 2015 production of Marjorie Prime, which featured Thebus's late mother, Mary Ann Thebus, and explored similar themes of memory and humanity.

• Sisters continues Writers Theatre's conversation about technology and humanity. Following the record-breaking, sold-out run of JOB, which explored the psychological dangers of technology and our increasingly online lives, Sisters asks a different question about how technology changes how we define family and what it means to be human. Where JOB was a tense psychological thriller about the dangers of our digital world, Sisters is an intimate, emotional portrait that asks whether artificial intelligence can become family.

• Told across 90 years, Sisters is a sweeping, non-chronological epic following the relationship between a human and her AI sister. Sisters features a unique two-person cast, in which the character Matilda physically ages on stage from childhood to 96.

• Brenda Barrie (Matilda) and Chloe Johnston (Greta) are both making their Writers Theatre debuts in this intimate two-hander.

• Playwright Matthew Libby has a degree in cognitive science and creative writing from Stanford University and an MFA from NYU. He blends this background to inform his writing. Data, which the New York Times called "a darkly on-point dramatic mirror of present-day events" that feels "all-too present, all-too raw and indisputably somber", addresses the ethics of AI, privacy and surveillance. Sisters also dives into the world of AI, exploring emotional boundaries between humanity and technology.

SEASON PACKAGES

Writers Theatre is offering a variety of subscriptions with an option for every theatregoer. Each subscription includes a deeply discounted ticket price, ranging from $275-$385 for one ticket to the five-play series, Flex subscriptions, with options for either four tickets ($280) or five tickets ($350), are available.

Season package subscribers receive the new Writers Theatre concierge service for ticket exchanges and questions. Exclusive subscriber benefits include: complimentary ticket exchanges (upgrade fees may apply), special "subscriber-rate" prices on additional tickets, advance access to special events and programs, easy, free parking, exclusive discounts in bar items and merchandise, discounts on rental of Writers Theatre event spaces on Writers Theatre merchandise, event rentals and more. For a complete list of benefits, visit writerstheatre.org.

Season Packages are available online at www.writerstheatre.org, and at the Box Office by calling 847-242-6000.

Single tickets will go on sale for each show approximately two months prior to first preview. Single ticket prices start at $35.

AUDIENCE ENGAGEMENT OPPORTUNITIES 

Writers Theatre offers Open Captioning and ASL-interpretation on select dates for each production. Please visit writerstheatre.org/accessibility for more information. 

Throughout the season, Writers Theatre offers a variety of audience enrichment and special programming. This includes regularly occurring offerings like the Family Matinee Series, The Green Room artist interview series and podcast and The Final Word Audience Discussion Series. Please visit writerstheatre.org for a full listing of upcoming offerings. 

ABOUT WRITERS THEATRE

Writers Theatre proudly celebrates its 35th Season.  

From its beginnings in the back room of a Glencoe bookstore, Writers Theatre established what would become its defining conviction: that vibrant language and exceptional performances in an intimate setting create a transformative theatrical experience. Today, the company is a major cultural destination in the Chicago region with a national reputation for artistic excellence, heralded by The Wall Street Journal as "America's finest regional theatre company." 

Founded in 1992, Writers has produced over 160 productions—from inventive interpretations of classics to groundbreaking new work. In 2016, the company opened a state-of-the-art theatre center designed by the internationally renowned Studio Gang Architects. The new facility includes the 255-seat Alexandra C. and John D. Nichols Theatre and the flexible 100-seatGillian Theatre, spaces designed to preserve the company's trademark intimacy and bring audiences up close to Chicago's finest actors. The building's striking glass atrium serves as a welcoming gathering space for artists, staff and the community, open daily for reading, working and conversation.  

Led by Executive Director Kate Lipuma and Alexandra C. and John D. Nichols Artistic Director Braden Abraham, Writers Theatre welcomes more than 60,000 patrons each year. The company has established itself as an important originator of new theatrical work, having produced over 30 world premieres in its history—including Manual Cinema's Christmas Carol, Witch by Jen Silverman, Trevor the Musical by Dan Collins and Julianne Wick Davis, A Minister's Wife by Austin Pendleton, Jan Tranen and Josh Schmidt, The Savannah Disputation by Evan Smith and Marilyn Campbell and Curt Columbus's adaptation of Crime and Punishment. 

Education and community engagement remain central to Writers Theatre's mission. Each season, the organization reaches more than 5,000 students and adults through school matinees, in-school residencies and curriculum-based programs that introduce young people to professional theatre. Writers Theatre also offers a wide range of free programs for the broader community, including readings, lectures and partnerships with local organizations that make theatre accessible to audiences of all ages. 

Located just 20 miles north of downtown Chicago, Writers Theatre offers artists and audiences a setting that combines world-class theatre with the calm and accessibility of Chicago's North Shore. As Writers Theatre enters its 35th season, the company continues its commitment to artistic excellence, meaningful storytelling and the uniquely powerful connection that only intimate theatre can create. 

I arrived at the Goodman Theatre for the opening of its 47^th annual production of A Christmas Carol, directed by Jessica Thebus, like many of us—not really feeling the upcoming holidays. I’m usually a real Pollyanna, trying to put on the happy face. I’m usually Bob Cratchit, the good soldier. I’m Tiny Tim Cratchit, even, throwing around “God bless us, everyone” like it’s tinsel. But not this year. This year, I got to the Goodman feeling like a regular Scrooge. And then I walked into the lobby and the whole thing hit me like a series of middle-of-the-night spectral visits upon a four-poster bed. It changed me.

From the balcony above we were greeted by Benet Academy’s Madrigal Singers, sprinkling down on us carol after carol. Seated next to a large, unlit Christmas tree was William Buchholtz, a Native American flautist and a haunting caroler himself. Thebus, back for her fourth Goodman production of this holiday favorite, addressed the audience, lighting the tree and spreading some cheer—and we hadn’t even found our seats yet.

Once the show began, the sets by Todd Rosenthal transported us back to a different beautiful but bleak era—Dickensian England. All of the trappings one expects of A Christmas Carol are there. Muffed carolers, chestnut peddlers and poultry peddlers, and Scrooge & Marley’s beckoning lending house. There we meet Christopher Donahue’s Ebenezer Scrooge—mutton-chopped and hunched and as unhappy as we expect Scrooge to be. But that darkness, very real and very dark, is constantly counteracted by the radiance of the rest of the cast. Anthony Irons’ Bob Cratchit, cheerful charity collectors played by Penelope Walker and Wai Kim, and Dee Dee Batteast’s ever-loving niece all fend off Scrooge’s glare and gruffness by not even acknowledging his grinchiness—their world, while perhaps less financially happy than Scrooge’s, is a completely separate and better world emotionally than his, down to the vibrant colors of their costumes.

(L-R) Anthony Irons, Christopher Donahue, Ava Rose Doty, Xavier Irons, Henry Lombardo, Isabel Ackerman, Viva Boresi, Tafadzwa Diener and Susaan Jamshidi.

Once back at Scrooge’s house (whose ghastly door knocker made both me and my young daughter jump, even though I knew what was coming) we are surrounded by this bleak world this miserable old miser’s made for himself. It’s drafty and dark and dusty and the perfect place for the jarring arrival of Scrooge’s long-dead partner, Jacob Marley, played by William Dick.

The sights and sounds of Marley’s visit are frightening, even when expected, but they contrast the joy and light spread by the first two spirits who visit Scrooge once Marley departs. Lucky Stiff’s Ghost of Christmas Past is buoyant and bright and over the top—meant to get Scrooge’s attention and ours. The spirit transports us all back in time where our hearts break along with a young Ebenezer Scrooge, portrayed brilliantly by Henry Lombardo, and then leap across the hardwood of Fezziwig’s warehouse-turned-dancehall, only to be broken again by Scrooge’s interaction with his true love played charmingly by Amira Danan. We see all the light Scrooge has lost—and it only makes him and the world he’s created that much darker.

Scrooge’s present is as sad as the present world around him is resolutely jolly, made all the more so by Bri Sudia’s Ghost of Christmas Present. The Cratchit children—Isabel Ackerman, Viva Boresi, Xavier Irons, Tafradzwa Diener, and Ava Rose Doty as Tiny Tim—counter Susaan Jamshidi’s tired and realistic Mrs. Cratchit, just as Batteast does at an evening party attended by other folks who are over it.

While Marley’s ghost was truly terrifying, this Ghost of Christmas Future was less scary and sadder—a dead flower, a faded dowager. But, of course, it’s the specter of a sad future that finally snaps Scrooge out of his life of being a scrooge.

And Donahue’s transformation is very real. We’re all used to a claw-handed and clench-jawed Scrooge from film after film. And we know the change to come—to that of a heel-clicking distributor of charity and cheer. But seeing it happen right there, before our eyes, was as magical an effect as any of the magic on display. A real Christmas miracle.

Now, I have no clue if transforming a Scrooge-like audience was Thebus’ intent (or Dickens’), although I’m sure that’s what both were aiming for. But just like the Victorians who Dickens was addressing, our world today could use some hope and some cheer. And just as Donahue’s Scrooge did onstage, I found myself leaving the Goodman Theatre a little more hopeful and a little more cheerful. I have no idea if you’ll experience the same transformation as I did, but I can promise you that this production of A Christmas Carol, at the Goodman Theatre from now through December 30, will at the very least entertain you and warm your heart this holiday season.

Charles Dickens wrote A CHRISTMAS CAROL in December 1843, and by February 1844 London stages were mounting productions of the work. A CHRISTMAS CAROL is a classic, encompassing all those things we say about ‘classics’: it is iconic and traditional; it’s popular and precious (I’m flashing on Gollum as Jacob Marley’s ghost) as well as familiar, universal, standard…. In other words, I doubt there’s anyone reading this review who needs the plot described or its message debated.

And surely nobody in this ol’ town need ask: “Where is A CHRISTMAS CAROL playing?” The Goodman Theatre has staged this show annually for forty-five years, and Larry Yando has played Ebenezer Scrooge for the past 15 of those. Traditional and familiar indeed! I’ll warrant Goodman’s new Artistic Director Susan Booth had a few opening-night jitters about how Chicago would respond to her management of this solemn custom; she could get sympathy from Jessica Thebus – this is only the third holiday season she’s been its Director. But I’d say both can rest in heavenly peace – A CHRISTMAS CAROL totally works.

I’m an habitue of the tiny street front theatres in Lakeview and Edgewater, so for me it was an adventure simply perusing the program – in Playbill! rather than skulking behind a QR code icon. I often see a Fight Director in the production staff, but Andrea Gentry’s role as Flight Director is a new one on me. She did it brilliantly with the airborne Ghost of Christmas Past (Lucky Stiff), who flew covered in spangles and wearing a glowing crescent moon crown. Goodman Theatre has made prolific use of modern technology and staging techniques to bring us a truly awe-inspiring production. The sets (Todd Rosenthal) were ingenious, from the homely Cratchit family kitchen to fantastical trips through the sky, all accentuated by Keith Parham’s masterful lighting. And the sound! Choralists frequently appeared singing carols in assorted languages, often accompanied by ensembles including French horn, flute, concertina, accordion, guitar and fiddle. The sound design as a whole was wrought by Richard Woodbury and Pornchanok Kanchanabanca and directed by Malcolm Ruhl. Composer Andrew Hansen provided lovely originals for the occasion. The highest compliment I can pay them is to say I often didn’t hear the soundtrack, but I felt it throughout.

The show opened with Rika Nishikawa singing a Ukrainian carol, “Siva Zozulenka”, whose lyrics speak of a bird offering blessings and peace—a felicitous prayer for the holiday season in beleaguered Ukraine. This acknowledgement of the chaos devastating our world was as appropriate as it was appreciated.

So … alright, already. I could go on devising ways to make lists of names and titles reasonably coherent and interesting, utilizing gigabytes of characters and multitudinous synonyms for ‘fantastic’, but why? You can find all that information in the reviews from the major newspapers. I concur with their judgments of the show’s quality: it was truly spectacular. But why should I reiterate all that? Suffice it to say the production was marvelous, from the steadfast brilliance of the crew to the superb performance by every single member of the cast. Truly a magnificent work … do see it! But for now, I have some other thoughts I’d like to discuss.

Let’s start with appearances. Goodman Theatre is apparently taking the idea of inclusion seriously; the diversity in race, color, nationality, gender, and body type was remarkable. It was not, however, always congruent with the story. For example: I heartily celebrate casting an African American Tiny Tim, and Christian Lucas was terrific, up to and including “God bless us, everyone!”. But I found it jarring to see him surrounded by the totally white bread Cratchit family. Nobody knows just what affliction caused his lameness (polio? rickets?) – are we to believe this arcane ailment also produces cutaneous hyper-melanation?

And as one who’s spent a lifetime battling love of food and sedentary habits, I applaud the inclusion of cast members who don’t conform to the Barbie ideal of feminine habitus… but weren’t some of those characters supposed to be tubercular? These dissonances tend to make the casting appear motivated more by diplomacy than thematic consonance. There’s a fine line between celebrating diversity and being PC.  We each define that line’s position individually, and we all feel a twitch when venturing too close to that line. I twitched a bit during A CHRISTMAS CAROL.

(L-R) Daniel José Molinaand Amira Danan in Goodman Theatre's 'A Christmas Carol'

Dickens wrote A CHRISTMAS CAROL occurring in the present – the 1844 present. I don’t wish to cast aspersions on the aptitude of the average theatregoer for deciphering a metaphor, but you’ll notice Dickens hadn’t that sort of faith in his audience – he kept it simple, setting the action in the present as a social commentary on the present—1844.

I’d like to see Bob Cratchit’s role taken by LaToya Jones, a single mom of three who’s working at Walmart til closing on Christmas Eve and doesn’t dare ask for the day off for fear she’ll lose her job. Her meagre salary isn’t so much the issue as the benefits. Without health insurance what would become of her youngest son with cerebral palsy?  Defining the role of Ebenezer Scrooge is the real puzzle—the casting call would be humongous. Do we use her boss? Walmart’s CEO? Senator? Too many possibilities!

With these traditional productions it’s a challenge to inject something new. Larry Yando contrives to offer new (and effective!) comedic twists to his Scrooge. We saw delightful innovations from costume designer Heidi Sue McMath and mask designer Sarah Bendix. But I’m talking about a much bigger variation: how about a modern interpretation? Joffrey Ballet gave us a Chicago-based Nutcracker (and it’s brilliant!). I’m suggesting a more complex alteration, relocating the story in time as well as locale. Hundreds of playwrights have applied that sort of exegesis in adaptations of The Bard – how about Boz?

Highly Recommended.

Goodman Theatre pulled up the curtain on the 45^th opening night of their legendary adaptation of ‘A Christmas Carol’. Undoubtedly there are likely thousands of productions of ‘A Christmas Carol’ opening all over the country this week, but Goodman’s holiday tradition feels like a homecoming for the Chicago stage community. It’s become a rite of passage for Chicago actors to grace the Albert stage, and that helps keep this show fresh for audiences year after year.

Veteran Scrooge Larry Yando is reliably visited by three spirits and learns the error of his ways, but if that’s all there was to it, there’s no way the entire run of this show would continue to sell out each year. Goodman artistic staff includes new additions to the script, staging and costumes. You’ll never see the same production twice.

Goodman could easily phone it in for this yearly cash-grab, but they don’t rest on their laurels. ‘A Christmas Carol’ is treated with as much enthusiasm as the hottest new play from Broadway. The artistic team maintains a sense of discovery, asking audiences to see this familiar story from new perspectives. For the true meaning of ‘A Christmas Carol’ to be derived, audiences need to be able to identify with Victorian England. That can be hard to do in an era of smart phones and Tik Tok.

The spirits are recast every season and with the new casting comes a new aesthetic. The Ghost of Christmas Present is a fun and festive role for any actor, but Bethany Thomas is a wonderful addition to this year’s cast. When you’ve got a voice like Thomas’ in your company, it’s best to put it to use. More music has been added to this year’s script to showcase her talents. Additionally, a quartet of musicians has also been added this year, providing an extra layer of charm.

With the retirement of longtime Goodman artistic director Robert Falls, Chicago heavy-hitter Jessica Thebus directs this year’s ‘A Christmas Carol’. She does a great job honoring the beloved production but brings in some modern flare of her own. This production seems to lean into the spooky. Afterall, this is a Christmas ghost story.

Goodman cultivates a sense of inclusivity that stretches beyond their standard seasons. In creating programming for students and young theatre makers, Goodman has become a pillar of the Chicago arts community. Nowhere is this more exemplified than their ‘A Christmas Carol’.

From a risky investment in the late 1970s, to the holiday institution we see this year, ‘A Christmas Carol’ at Goodman has become part of Chicago’s Christmas landscape. Next to Christkindlemarket in Daley Plaza, it’s hard to find a more quintessential Chicago tradition. Through December 31 at Goodman Theatre. 170 N Dearborn St. www.goodmantheatre.org

As soon as I saw the warm, rich lighting of a luxurious futuristic bedroom on the Space Ship Destiny lit and decorated by designers Heather Gilbert and Christopher Kriz and the set design by Arnel Sancianco, where the entire action of the play takes place, I thought this is going to be an interesting show. To the right of the set was a spaceship departure board with the names and photos of the passengers, along with their assigned room number, as they were headed to a planet three months away from Earth. The other ships had names like Fortune, Kismet, Prospect and Horizon suggesting that the people leaving earth are doing so willingly and must have enough money to do so. Smooch Medina’s spaceship flight calendar and wall projection also counts down the number of days the passengers have spent locked on this room together, which is a great tension builder as well. 

There are just three characters in the play. One a soldier who is suffering from PTSD from a previous mission in which he witnessed the killing of civilians that haunts him still in a variety of deep emotional ways. He has requested a private room because he cannot sleep well while struggling with his inner demons but somehow an attractive young woman passenger has been placed in the room with him, much to his disapproval. Ed Flynn portrays this sensitive, journal-writing soldier (previously referred to as “Grant”) who is also prone to violent mood changes and outbursts with great feeling and a sweaty intensity that is frightening at times. 

When you consider that he is locked into this “hotel room" for three full months due to a quarantine placed on certain sick members aboard the ship with a petite young female to whom he objects, it’s not difficult to imagine the strain that gradually surmounts. Janelle Villas does a wonderful job of showing the audience her fresh-faced bubbly enthusiasm while hiding a dark past that includes at least one rape, which has also left her in a state of PTSD. 

Co-directed by artistic director Michael Patrick Thornton and guest artist Jessica Thebus, the “Pilgrims” moves along quickly yet with subtle changes in the characters that seem very satisfying and real with a lot of emotional suspense and tension. We the audience wonder if these two characters will ever bond, or even reach their destination safely. We also ponder what will become of their edgy, ever-changing relationship once they are finally released from this artificial and close-quartered isolation into the general population of the new planet.  

The third character is a robot named Jasmine played with a great sense of humor and also an eerie, smiling menace by Brittany Burch. Jasmine has been programmed not only to answer all their questions and provide all their meals and cleaning services. She is also one of the older forms of “human-like robots” known for their ability to satisfy without any compunction - either member, male or female, with oral sex or intercourse if the human need arises.

The universality of two people meeting for the first time, learning about each other's baggage and foibles and being forced to overcome them in order to at least be friends if not lovers cannot be denied. This is a love story set in outer space plain and simple, even though it is suggested in the play that couples may have been placed together purposely to repopulate the new planet. 

I highly recommend this production for its unique retelling of a tale as old as time, when Fate meets Destiny and two very "human" human beings struggle to please each other while being true to their own individual dreams of the future but must in the end reveal the dark, undesirable places of their souls in order to overcome them and move into a deeper union free of mistakes or tragedies of the past.

Excellent performances and an imaginative script make Pilgrims a compelling and often humorous sci-fi love story that resonates. Pilgrims is being performed at Gift Theatre through July 30th. For more show information or to purchase tickets visit www.thegifttheatre.org.

Shattered Globe Theatre welcomes back one of Chicago’s own, Sarah Ruhl.  “For Peter Pan on Her 70th Birthday” is a new play making its Midwestern debut at Theater Wit. Ms. Ruhl is one of the country’s foremost playwrights right now. She has another new play, “How to Transcend a Happy Marriage,” currently running at the Lincoln Center in New York. Her work is often produced in Chicago usually directed by her friend Jessica Thebus. This is an especially personal production for Ruhl as it stars her own mother (Kathleen Ruhl) in the title role. 

No, this is not another warmed over incantation of the JM Barrie fairy tale. While somewhat influenced by the source material, “For Peter Pan on Her 70th Birthday” is a very realistic story of five siblings grappling with the death of their father. What begins in a depressing hospital room, moves to a whiskey-soaked conversation between siblings that eventually turns into a make-believe version of Peter Pan. 

At its core, this is a play about love. There are plenty of plays about dysfunctional families, and this isn’t one of them. What it boils down to are five adult children trying to pinpoint a time when they felt their father’s love. These siblings have differing political beliefs and Ruhl’s apt commentary about our current climate is especially sharp, without being polarizing. There’s a great deal of truth in the courtesy her characters show for one another’s opinions. She also spends a great deal of the play dissecting the role of Catholicism and whether or not there is an afterlife. Despite the volley of bittersweet and at times painful memories of their childhood, these characters love each other and that is felt in the dialogue and performances. 

Kathleen Ruhl is adorable as the oldest sister and former Peter Pan star, Ann. Perhaps it’s her relation to the playwright, or her commitment to character, but Kathleen Ruhl makes the audience question how much of this work is fiction and how much is fact? Eileen Niccolai, a Shattered Globe ensemble member, provides a lot of the humor, but also some of the more heartfelt moments as youngest sister Wendy. All the siblings are named for Peter Pan characters, which underscores Sarah Ruhl’s point that with their parents gone, they are orphans now and need to grow up. 

Like any Sarah Ruhl work, there is a great deal of whimsy. With each new work, Ruhl continues to keep one foot on the ground and one in the clouds. “For Peter Pan on her 70th Birthday” is both prolific in its subject matter and also aesthetically striking it its presentation. The reality of the situation and the poignancy of the lines allows the audience to trust their narrator and fly when the time comes. 

Shattered Globe’s “For Peter Pan on Her 70th Birthday is being performed at Theater Wit at 1229 W Belmont (773.975.8150) and has been extended through May 27th.