New Review Posted: Body Awareness

Centerstage has posted my review of Annie Baker's Body Awareness at Profiles Theatre. It's really something special. Baker has blow up in the past couple of seasons in New York--indeed just last week she won the Obie award for best new play for both of the plays she premiered Off-Broadway last season, Circle Mirror Transformation and The Aliens. By the way, I'm shocked that neither has yet been announced for a Chicago production, particularly the former, which was extended repeatedly and made it on to multiple best of 2009 lists. (Though I notice open slots in the seasons of both the Goodman and Victory Gardens...)

Anyhow, this is very much worth checking out. Based on the evidence of this show, Baker is really a wonderful playwright, with an exceptional ear for dialogue and understanding of how people behave, blundering into ways of hurting people and moments of real beauty and caring. She definitely deserves the press she's been getting, and I hope we see more of her stuff soon.
Here's the text of the review:

It's a disconcerting and thrilling experience to watch human behavior under a microscope. Revelations that would pass unnoticed in everyday life are clear, seemingly routine conversations have huge stakes. "Body Awareness," the first play by rising playwright Annie Baker to be produced in Chicago, puts its characters under the theatrical microscope, making us care about four fascinating, flawed people while letting us see the minute ways they sabotage their own happiness. Though the play is brief in length and low on plot, it's moving and absorbing, particularly in Benjamin Thiem's sensitively acted production. It's easy to see why Baker's already so acclaimed.

Phyllis (Cheryl Graeff) is a professor at small college in Vermont, running "Body Awareness Week," and losing control of the proceedings: she didn't pay attention to all of the artists she invited. When she finds out that Frank (Joe Jahraus) takes pictures of nude women, she ignores his contention that they are non-exploitative and condemns him. Unfortunately, he's the artist staying in the home she shares with her partner Joyce (Barb Stasiw) and Joyce's son Jared (Eric Burgher), who appears to have Asperger's, despite his vehement protests to the contrary. Frank's stay causes tempers to flare and people to start the painful process of growth. It may not be groundbreaking material, but it's all presented with uncommon intelligence and heart.


While the production looks and feels completely natural, a lot of skill went into it. Baker subtly highlights important moments, giving the effect of reality with the volume just slightly raised. (Though the ending does paste an abrupt and surprisingly happy resolution on an unresolved situation.) And the ensemble is simply wonderful, effortlessly inhabiting the characters and relationships and keeping the audience enthralled, with Stasiw's performance particularly heartbreaking. It's not perfect, but it's a lovely, moving show, and reason to hope for even better work from Baker in the future.

Killer Joe Moves Downtown

As Chris Jones reported, Profiles Theatre's production of Killer Joe, Tracy Letts' first play, is transferring to the Royal George cabaret space on April 15th. It's a much larger theatre, and a pretty lengthy run. Profiles seems to have the winning combination, in the past year Graceland and The Mercy Seat both saw highly successful, extended runs.

Killer Joe is definitely an acquired taste--it's extremely nasty and exploitative, and full of violence, much of which has a sexualized edge. I thought it was quite powerful, but some really didn't enjoy the experience. My original review is here.

Review-a-Palooza, Part Two

Centerstage has published my review of Tracy Letts' first play, Killer Joe, being revived at Profiles after its world premiere in Chicago 15 years ago. You can read it here.

A personal note on the show: the second production, after Chicago was at the Cleveland Public Theatre. My family friend and theatrical mentor Lynna Snyder (now Metrisin) played Sharla. Since I was ten and the first scene had her in nothing but a t-shirt, I was not permitted to attend. How very wise my parents were.

Also, this seeing Killer Joe means that only Bug stands between me and seeing all of Letts' produced plays. (August on Broadway, Superior Donuts and Man From Nebraska at Steppenwolf.) Anyone want to revive Bug for me?

Anyhow, here's the text of the review.

It's all fun and games until...but that would be giving too much away. Nobody loses an eye in "Killer Joe," the first play by Tracy Letts, now in its first Chicago revival at Profiles Theatre, but what starts as a nastily entertaining black comedy in the first act turns just plain nasty in the second. It's frighteningly convincing, but it takes a high tolerance for close-range violence and disturbing sleaze. If such things turn your stomach, you'll want to flee, but those up for a visceral evening will be thrilled and horrified.


Chris Smith (Kevin Bigley) needs $6,000 or his shady creditors will kill him. The only way he can think of to get the cash is killing his hateful, alcoholic mother to collect her insurance policy, whose beneficiary is his brain-damaged sister, Dottie (Claire Wellin). He quickly gets his father (Howie Johnson) and stepmother (Somer Benson) on board, but they realize that none of them have the courage or skill to pull the trigger. So they hire sheriff/hit man Killer Joe Cooper (Darrell W. Cox). When Joe takes an interest in Dottie, things go wrong very fast.


This is nasty, exploitative stuff, and it's to the credit of director Rick Snyder, the cast, and the designers, that it's presented with intense commitment. Even in the funnier first half, there's no winking at these characters, and no gentling their awful qualities. So when things get violent, it's hard to watch—but hard to turn away. Cox stands out for his toxic, fascinating combination of sleaze and menace, but he fits seamlessly into the exceptionally strong cast. Aside from the pacing sagging a bit in the middle of the first act, everything in the production works together wonderfully. It's just up to you whether it's a journey you want to take.

Graceland Heads East

Ellen Fairey's Graceland, which opened in May and is now set to run through November 15th, is set to move to New York.

The play opened at Profiles Theatre in May and has been extended four times, moving just down the street to the National Pastime Theatre. More information on that run here. (By the way, check out the "reviews" tab there, and compare their quote to my actual review. None of the words change, but the tone sure is different when you add exclamation points.)

According to Playbill, the play will be staged Off-Broadway at the Duke Theatre as part of Lincoln Center Theatre's LCT3 program, devoted to smaller-scale productions of emerging works. It is set to run May 3-29, with an official opening the 17th of that month. No casting announcement has been made, but given that it is to be directed by Henry Wishcamper (who has done some work in Chicago, most recently the Goodman's Animal Crackers), rather than Profiles' Matt Miller, it's a fair bet that the cast will be all New Yorkers.

A huge congratulations to Fairey and everyone at Profiles on the continued success of the play. I'm still a bit mystified--I thought the play had great dialogue and interesting characters, but  found some of the behavior inexplicable and the plot in general pretty predictable, though the strong acting and direction helped a lot. Still, it's never bad when a show strikes a chord, and I hope that Graceland goes on to more success--and Fairey's next play is even better.

But what do I know?

So Ellen Fairey's Graceland, to which I had a positive but not overwhelmed reaction has turned into a runaway hit. So much so that Profiles Theatre has extended its run by an amazing seven weeks. (Cheryl Graeff will be filling in for original star Brenda Barrie during the extension.)

Fairey is clearly a playwright to watch, and even though this show didn't excite me as much as it did some other critics and audience members, I'm excited to see her next show--and any original play doing this well is always great news!

On a completely different note: has anyone noticed that a huge number of "turn off your cell phone" curtain speeches these days include some variation on the "turn off your pager if you're stuck in 1995" joke? Pagers haven't been current for years, yet it's just in the past season or so that that joke has been everywhere. Hey, theatres? It was funny the first time around, but maybe a new attempt to liven up that speech would be in order? Thanks.

New Review Posted: Graceland

I have a new review up on Centerstage: Graceland, a premiere by Ellen Fairey at Profiles. I was decidedly mixed--I thought it was well-done, but pretty formulaic. Other reviews were total raves, though, which surprises me--but I guess I'm bucking the consensus on this one. Ah well.

A small detail I didn't mention in my review--I'm not sure what they used, but the fake pot smoked onstage smelled remarkably realistic.

You know, based on what other people did in college.

A review with ticket info and pictures can be found here, and the text is below. Enjoy!

A pair of troubled siblings with a turbulent past and present, their just-dead father, an aging ladies man and his teenaged son.

A tone that balances quirky humor and emotional outbursts, a plot that includes wild coincidence and honest revelations.

Funny lines, excellent acting and a nifty use of a tiny space.

Ellen Fairey's "Graceland" at Profiles Theatre is a world premiere, but it follows the stylistic formula of many contemporary plays. It's a very funny and extremely well-acted variation on the tragicomic contemporary character study, but it gets few points for originality.

Sara (Brenda Barrie) and Sam (Eric Burgher), have just lost their alcoholic father, and buried him in the title cemetery. Both are stuck in dead-end jobs and unsatisfying love lives. Encounters with Miles (Jackson Challinor) and his father Joe (Darrell W. Cox) complicate the plot and the emotional situation even more.

Fairey has created interesting characters, though they don't always behave in believable or consistent ways. She has an exceptional ear for the way people talk, and her dialogue is often hilarious. It's just that the plot and emotional arc are often predictable—shortly after a scene begins, it's pretty clear how it will end.

Still, there are many pleasures along the way. Director Matthew Miller has a sure way with Fairey's writing, and has guided the cast to strong work. They make the characters believable and engaging even when they are behaving in ways that make little sense. Challinor is particularly wonderful—he brings the melodrama and bizarre charm of adolescence to life in an utterly winning way. The fact that he is actually near Miles's age, rather than a young-looking twenty-something, is a major help.

Fairey has real playwriting talent, and has crafted a satisfying show. Let's just hope that next time she takes herself, and the audience, a little further outside the comfort zone.