Displaying items by tag: Shattered Globe

How odd that a play about nihilism could be so uplifting. ‘Be Here Now’ at Shattered Globe is just that. Shattered Globe ensemble member Sandy Shinner directs a new play by Deborah Zoe Laufer. A small, mostly ensemble cast opens the season with a relevant play about the state of happiness in the modern world.

Bari (Rebecca Jordan) is a former professor of nihilism who finds herself far from New York City working in a fulfillment center upstate. Her coworkers Patty (Deanna Reed-Fosters) and Luanne (Demetra Dee) are her coworkers who find themselves constantly at odds with Bari’s negative attitude. When Bari starts having severe headaches that bring about visions of optimism, her coworkers get worried. In an attempt to bring Bari joy, they set her up with local oddball Mike (Joe Wiens). As Bari and Mike get closer, she must decide if the potentially lethal vision-producing headaches are something she even wants to cure.

Rebecca Jordan is perfect in this role. Bari is a tough character to love even if you agree with half of her stream of negativity. Jordan cashes in on the dark comedy of Laufer’s script. When Patty and Luanne wax on about their own personal happiness, Bari pokes apt holes in their personal philosophies. Jordan’s performance elevates the petulance of the dialogue to something both humorous and academic. She tactfully drops her lines into the scenes so swiftly that you want to rewind so you can quote it. Deanna Reed-Foster also brings a great deal of humor to the philosophical discussions.

There’s a fine line between optimism and nihilism. In fact, the two may bleed into each other in Laufer’s interpretation. If the future of the world is as bleak as it seems, then why not enjoy the ephemeral beauty around us? In the end, it’s unclear if Bari really changes from nihilist to optimist, but is anyone capable of being just one thing? Life is a grey area and it’s probably better to be happy. Even if that takes work.

‘Be Here Now’ says a lot about the emphasis America puts on the idea of happiness. Laufer asks whether happiness is a choice and what difference does it make it we have it or not? Shattered Globe premieres this work to Chicago in a beautiful production designed by Angela Webber Miller. Sandy Shinner continues her tradition of directing new works that slyly make you question your very existence while also tickling your funny bone.

Through October 19th at Shattered Globe Theatre. Theatre Wit 1229 W Belmont Ave. 773-975-8150

Sometimes we see couples in restaurants and think how on earth did they ever end up together? Sadly, the couple in question might be feeling the same way. Is it the idea of settling or just assumed gender roles that lead so many married couples to this place? Will Eno’s play ‘The Realistic Joneses’ makes its area debut at Shattered Globe Theatre in a collaboration with Theater Wit. Shattered Globe is particularly well known for ensemble acting, Jeremy Wechsler (also artistic director) directs this 2014 dark comedy.

After a star-studded run on Broadway, Eno’s suburban play finally comes to Chicago. While hard to categorize, ‘The Realistic Joneses’ is an unsettling look at a couple’s battle with a degenerative disease. Middle-aged Jennifer Jones (Linda Reiter) is caring for her husband as he succumbs to an ALS-like illness. She feels taken for granted and begs her husband Bob for the emotional intimacy it seems she’s been waiting on for years. Their lonely lives change when a young, mysterious couple with the same last name moves in next door. With a strange but oddly satisfying dialogue cadence, Jennifer and Bob get perhaps too close to their new neighbors Pony (Cortney McKenna) and John (Joseph Wiens).

Will Eno proves with this play that loose ends and uncertainty are okay in life and in theatre. Joseph Wiens captures the at times absurd, but insightful dialogue in a way that makes it almost seem not absurd. There’s a familiarity in his delivery. We’ve all met someone like this and Eno digs deeper to show us why characters like this exist in an orderly world. Cortney McKenna plays his bubbly wife Pony with such sincerity that you almost forget how absurd her lines are as well. Crazy as what these two characters say to each other and their neighbors sounds, there’s a rooted sense of honesty that Eno suggests is the key to a happy life and relationship. It is Linda Reiter’s performance that ups the emotional ante of the play. Bits of anger boil through a strong exterior which makes the conclusion even more bleak.

This is a solid play but perhaps not for everyone. Shattered Globe marketing materials uses a quote which says this is one of the strongest plays since Tony Kushner’s 1993 Pulitzer winner ‘Angels in America.’ Though this play is good, it’s not anywhere close to the monolith that is ‘Angels in America.’ This is a tight hour and a half stroll through the everyday lives of two couples that share the same name. In it there are nuggets of wisdom about everyday life that may not have a ton of plot-weight, but stick with you for days after. There’s a lot to unpack in this piece and surely nobody will leave saying “I didn’t get it.” Eno sticks closely to a reality we all understand; sickness, death, love and where we all fit into it.

Through March 9 at Shattered Globe at Theater Wit. 1129 W Belmont Ave. 773-975-8150

Literary adaptation for the stage can be tricky. Even trickier is bringing the complex work of Dostoyevsky from the page to the stage. Shattered Globe opens its season with Chris Hannan’s 2013 version of ‘Crime and Punishment’. Under the direction of Louis Contey, this unique production is fresh and exciting.

As anyone who has read the lengthy novel by Fyoder Dostoyevsky can attest, this is not an easy work to muddle through. While not the most accessible novel, those who take on the challenge will surely be rewarded by richly drawn, and somewhat disturbing scenes that linger in the memory. Hannan’s script gets right to the point. Instead of long passages of internal monologue, his Raskolnikov (Drew Schad) has fever dream conversations with the people in his life. This device ensures a much more engaging presentation, though Schad is entirely capable of carrying the monologs on his own.

Between Hannan’s script and Contey’s vision, there’s a very artful quality to this production. Unlike the novel, the plot of this play is easy to follow. The ethical debates Raskolnikov has in his head are shortened and the scene work is very strong. The murdered pawnbroker is played by Daria Harper. In her scenes with Schad, she’s nearly diabolically evil. She represents the greedy reality of the world in which Raskolnikov lives. Conversely, Harper is perfectly double cast as doting mother Pulkheria Alexandrovna. Christina Gorman plays his sister Dunya with the same grace and elegance she consistently delivers in Shattered Globe productions. Rebecca Jordan brings to life one of the novel’s most unpleasant characters, the wife of a drunkard who’s killed by an unconcerned buggy driver. Watching her unravel throughout the play is unsettling and heartbreaking.

With a peak interest in true crime shows and podcasts, ‘Crime and Punishment’ is very timely. It asks its audience whether religious morality or utility should be the guiding compass in life. Hannan, like Dostoyevsky, seems to believe that an action should be judged by its usefulness rather than its means. What we have here is a play that works to convince its audience that we should be sympathetic to a cold-blooded murderer. And it works. By the end of the play you’re on the murderer’s side. Perhaps the next time you turn on 48 Hours, put yourself in the killer’s shoes rather than the victims. Would you see it differently? Does anyone have a right to murder?

Shattered Globe dispenses with all the clichés of literary adaption and serves up an emotionally powerful interpretation of ‘Crime & Punishment’. Great performances and non-traditional storytelling make this a definitive adaption. Those who were not fans of the novel in school may find that there’s more to this story for our times than we’d like to admit.

Through October 20 at Shattered Globe Theatre. Theatre Wit, 1229 W Belmont Ave, 773-975-8150

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. 

In a Sam Shepard play, rarely are things what they seem. His 1980 play "True West" is no exception. Under the direction of James Yost, Shattered Globe Theatre tackles this modern classic. "True West" is often considered part of a family saga by Shepard that includes his 1979 Pulitzer Prize winner "Buried Child." 

Austin and Lee are two brothers who couldn't be more different. Austin (Kevin Viol) is an upstanding writerly type who we first meet hunched over a typewriter in his mother's kitchen. Lee (Joseph Wiens) is his hulking older brother with a checkered past. Austin is working on a script in his mother's house while she's on vacation. Hoping for some peace and quiet, he's interrupted by Lee whom he hasn't seen in five years. Over the course of Act I, we watch as Lee and Austin battle for superiority through frustratingly inane questions. The moment of reckoning comes when Lee highjacks Austin's meeting with an important Hollywood executive. 

What the play points to in American culture is that bullies win. Bullies get what they want and being a polite makes you weak. This theme couldn't be more relevant as we look to a certain unpresidential candidate running for president this year. No matter how much evolution we have to the contrary, human nature is that the strongest eat first. Austin and Lee can be interpreted as two parts of the same mind. Shepard often opines on the perception of masculinity. "True West" explores the duality we all possess. 

There's a special place in Chicago's theater community for "True West." It was one of the first out-of-town successes of a then fledgling theater company, The Steppenwolf. Gary Sinese and John Malkovich starred in the principal roles. It transferred off-Broadway in 1984 and helped establish The Steppenwolf as one of the best regional theaters in America. 

Director James Yost's vision for this show is faithful. The set by Greg Pinsoneault drops us right into 1980. Sarah Jo White's costumes are also very authentic. Performances are this production's strongest asset. Kevin Viol's breakdown between Act I and II is hilarious. While Joseph Weins' character stays mostly static throughout the play, his commitment to the grossness of extreme masculinity echos Marlon Brando as Stanley Kowalksi. Shattered Globe's production of "True West" shows their knack for bringing topical themes to classic works. 

Through Oct 22nd. Shattered Globe Theatre. 1229 W Belmont Ave. www.theaterwit.com