4-28-06
Stellar Acting, Old Ideas in Chosen
Sean Fortunato, Jurgen Hooper and Craig Spidle in Writers Theatre’s The Chosen.
That’s both the strength and the limitation of a play like The Chosen, adapted from Chaim Potok’s novel by Potok and Aaron Posner. We all can see ourselves in Reuven and Danny as they survive their teen years and approach adulthood. Jews, even Hasidic Jews, are people just like us, and hopefully that doesn’t come as a shock to too many audience members. Therein lies the limitation of The Chosen. We know Danny and Reuven will survive the trials set before them and graduate to a higher level of understanding. We’re pretty sure their friendship will endure. And it’s practically a fait accompli that they will accomplish all this while still maintaining some sort of positive relationship with their parents.
Danny (Nicholas Cimino) and Reuven (Jurgen Hooper) meet on the baseball diamond and cultivate a relationship despite their differences in faith. As World War II comes to an end and the true horrors of the Holocaust come to light, their world is shaken and the debate within Judaism on the creation of Israel temporarily disrupts their friendship. However, in the end, they resume their closeness, united more by their similarities than separated by their differences.
So I guess I didn’t find this piece particularly profound and, while universal, not universal in any way that I didn’t expect ahead of time. A few subjects were noticeable by their absence (apparently neither boy has any real awareness of the opposite sex). However, the appeal of The Chosen probably lies partly in an audience composed mainly of those old enough to remember World War II. The particular challenges of that time, particularly to American Jews, comes to life vividly in Potok’s storytelling, and many of the older audience members crowding Writers Theatre nodded frequently in remembrance of particular moments.
However conventional in structure, there’s no denying that it’s getting a fine presentation in Shade Murray’s economical staging. Cimino and Hooper have an unquestionable rapport as two smart young men grappling with the world around them. As their fathers, Craig Spidle and Jeff Still do excellent work. Sean Fortunato, in the play’s most thankless role, brings an energy and enthusiasm to the narrator—a grown up Reuven.
The Chosen offers some new perspectives on a bit of recent history and some of the best ensemble work to be seen around Chicago. While it may not be a groundbreaking piece of theatre, it’s still fine work receiving a top-notch presentation and is worth catching for the acting alone.
The Chosen, Writers’ Theatre Chicago
Chris Jones, Tribune—“For sure, this isn’t the most exciting or ambitious piece of theater in the world. I last saw Aaron Posner’s adaptation at the Steppenwolf Theatre Company in 2004, where it was presented in a one-act, 90-minute version that moved a little faster and with more palpable drama than Murray’s rather more languid affair. This newer production takes a bit of a dip in Act 2. But then this isn’t a tale designed to work anyone up into a lather. It’s actually quite a timely little reminder that a respect for difference is what keeps the planet from self-destructing even faster than currently is the case.”
Hedy Weiss, Sun-Times—“[I]t is a good bet that you will not find a more profound spiritual experience than the one being conjured on the Writers’ stage. And the fact that neither the splendid director, Shade Murray, nor any of his fine actors is actually Jewish makes the astonishingly authentic sound, look and feel of the whole project all the more remarkable.”
Kerry Reid, Reader—“Chaim Potok’s 1967 novel, adapted for the stage by Aaron Posner and Potok, focuses on the relationship between two Brooklyn teens—a Hasidic student and his more worldly friend—during World War II. Honest performances under Shade Murray’s sure-handed direction enliven this moving tale of good people on opposite sides of an ideological battle over the creation of a secular Jewish state.”
Back of the Throat, Silk Road Theatre Project
Nina Metz, Tribune—“Back of the Throat, by Seattle-based Yussef El Guindi, manages to finesse the conversation with far more nuance, wit and style than, say, Sam Shepard’s tantrumlike God of Hell. What El Guindi achieves is something closer to Kafka’s The Trial or Dostoevski’s Crime and Punishment. The play also happens to be getting a stellar production by the Silk Road Theatre Project.”
Zac Thompson, Reader—“El Guindi’s sympathies clearly lie with the guiltless who’ve suffered interrogation in the name of a war on terror; admirably, he also tries to show the causes of the government’s xenophobia. But his central point—that pretty much anyone can be made to appear guilty if statements are taken out of context—might have been more dramatically compelling if we weren’t so thoroughly assured from the start that the hero’s innocent. Still, Stuart Carden’s sharp production maintains an air of oppressive menace.”
Fabrizio O. Almeida, New City—“Multiple and conflicting narrative strands (all fluidly directed by Stuart Carden) and an ambiguous ending make El Guindi’s politics clear: Kahled’s guilt or innocence is not the point—illustrating the degrading experience of being mercilessly prodded and emotionally plundered in the name of our security and this country is. El Guindi provides the rough drama, the audience provides the tough questions. Does the inconvenience of one for the greater benefit of hundreds of thousands really matter? Can militant law enforcement officials really do that to someone via the newly reauthorized Patriot Act? At the very least, witnessing Back of the Throat will make anyone think twice before bitching again about having to remove their shoes at the airport.”
Love Song, Steppenwolf Theatre Company
Chris Jones, Tribune—“The piece is not entirely well cast, nor is it always stylistically consistent. [Molly] Regan and [Francis] Guinan—who are both superb—find just the right blend of painful truth with the lightness of comic touch that this kind of writing needs. [Ian] Barford and [Mariann] Mayberry, though, are in a different, much more intense play that has its compelling moments but, overall, doesn’t entirely match. You could argue that plot revelations ultimately justify this. But this is one of those tricky plays where just playing the truth of the end doesn’t quite work for the beginning and middle.”
Hedy Weiss, Sun-Times—“What should be treasured most about John Kolvenbach’s play, Love Song, now in a hugely engaging world premiere at Steppenwolf Theatre, is the fact that it is a work of, by and for the live stage. It is the stuff of pure theater. Its language, relationships, imagery and overall world view are deeply rooted in the hothouse atmosphere of that most intimate and fantastical forum. And its special perfume would be nearly impossible to reinvent in any other medium.”
Kerry Reid, Reader—“Austin Pendleton’s masterful direction of this Steppenwolf world premiere brings out every shading of Kolvenbach’s fable, and his vibrant cast (which includes Francis Guinan and Mariann Mayberry as the romantic partners of Regan and Barford) delivers performances so lively, funny, soulful, silly, and brave that I wouldn’t mind having all these characters as my imaginary friends.”
John Beer, New City—“In a move that was shocking precisely because of its dreary predictability, Kolvenbach cuts the heart out of his play, abandoning the display of life at a higher pitch to dispense well-worn truisms about the power of the imagination. It wouldn’t seem quite so insulting if these truisms didn’t come at the expense of the play’s imagination itself. You could try running the argument that Kolvenbach is brilliantly breaking your own heart along with Beene’s, a sort of meta-level imitative fallacy, but I think that’s a stretch. Regardless, Barford and Regan do brilliant work throughout, connecting in their failure to connect like only siblings can.”
Lawrence Bommer, Free Press—“Intriguingly directed by Austin Pendleton, this latest work by popular playwright John Kolvenbach is the dramatic equivalent of spring fever. His fantasy-laden love comedy recalls the apocryphal tale of a short-story writer who set out to write himself into love, creating the beloved through sheer imagination. Much like the mutual masturbation of the separated lovers in Bent, it’s a triumph of imagination over adversity. Where there’s a woe there’s a way.”
Tooth of Crime (Second Dance),
Strawdog Theatre Company
Nina Metz, Tribune—“It’s not clear why Strawdog chose this work, and in truth, the company is a little long in the tooth for the material. While the ensemble bluffs its way through much of the script, Chris Hainsworth’s Chaser, a henchman/roadie type, somehow inhabits an entertaining slice of the stage. There’s plenty of jibber-jabber coming out of his mouth, too, but he pulls off the blond dye job and neck tattoo a lot better than you’d expect.”
Hedy Weiss, Sun-Times—“With his black leather pants and expanding waistline, [Carmen] Grisolia’s Hoss definitely looks past his prime, and in fact, a few more vestiges of prime-time charisma might have made the battle more intense. [John Henry] Roberts, looking perfectly dissipated, is spot-on, and makes it clear that Crow is smarter and shrewder than he appears. He also has the show’s best song. But like Shepard himself, Tooth of Crime seems past its prime.”
Justin Hayford, Reader—“In 1996 Sam Shepard rewrote his 1972 rock ‘n’ roll/cowboy/gangster/sci-fi fantasy The Tooth of Crime, stripping down the turgid, hallucinogenic battle between superstar blues rocker Hoss and upstart ‘Gypsy Killer’ Crow, whose desperately sought-after hits may be pop songs, murders, or both. He also got T-Bone Burnett to rescore it. But this leaner, meaner fable about fame, identity, and spiritual decay is fat and flaccid under Nic Diamond’s inattentive direction.”
Quote of the Fortnight:
“Of all of the endless puerile options that television has to offer, perhaps the dullest is watching people play poker.”—Venus Zarris reviewing Shattered Globe’s production of Dealer’s Choice in Gay Chicago.