Our favorite dramas are ensemble-driven, immersive experiences, touching a range of emotions and ideally interpolating a sprinkling of irony or humor. The elements that make a drama especially memorable for us usually involve stellar directing, actors capturing interesting interpersonal dynamics, or vivid storytelling that invigorates the playwright’s words.
(in chronological order)
The Invention of Love by Tom Stoppard at Court Theatre in 2000: Many years later, we still talk about this exquisite production, directed by Charles Newell. The scenes between Paxton Whitehead (as A. E. Housman at the end of his life) and Guy Adkins (playing Housman as an undergraduate at Oxford) are perhaps the most emotionally nuanced and intellectually stimulating we’ve ever experienced. The haunting lighting and scenic design by Rob Murphy (depicting the River Styx, for example) and the outstanding ensemble were also unforgettable.
Orpheus Descending by Tennessee Williams in 2005: Our first opportunity to see this classic came in 2005, when we saw three separate productions within a four-month period, each of which was superb. First up was a production at the Stratford Festival in Canada, featuring Seanna McKenna as Lady and Jonathan Goad as Val. Next was a production at the Station Theatre in Urbana, featuring Joi Hofsommer as Lady and Rien Rogers as Val, in a production that more than made up in intimacy what it lacked in resources. The third production was by American Theater Company in Chicago, with Carmen Roman as Lady and Steve Key as Val. The visceral grip of this drama was somehow enhanced rather than blunted by “overexposure.” We saw yet another fine production in 2012 by Shattered Globe, featuring Eileen Nicolai as Lady and Joseph Wiens
as Val, and it had lost none of its power. We also had the good fortune of seeing Williams’ earlier version of this play, entitled Battle of Angels, in an excellent student production at the University of Illinois in 2011, featuring Monica Lopez as Myra (Lady) and Christopher Sheard as Val (David Kaplinsky and Bri Sudia were also in the student cast).
Come Back, Little Sheba by William Inge at Shattered Globe in 2006: David Cromer directed this no-holds-barred production with Linda Reiter and John Judd delivering heart-rending performances. Their impact was heightened by the realism of the finely detailed set by Kevin Hagan and the believability and impact of the supporting performances. For example, we still remember the compelling portrayal of the neighbor, played by Eileen Niccolai, strongly etched despite minimal lines and time on stage. (This was also the first time we saw Ryan Martin, future artistic director of The Den Theatre, who played the fiance who comes to dinner in the last act.)
The Price by Arthur Miller at Shattered Globe in 2007: If you’ve ever been to the upstairs studio space in Chicago’s Greenhouse Theatre, you know there can be some noise from the adjacent bar. If you’ve ever been there on a Sunday afternoon when the Bears are playing in the NFL conference championship game, you know that it can be very noisy. That was true on 1/21/2007, the day we saw Shattered Globe’s outstanding production of The Price, directed by Todd Schmidt with a cast of Don Blair, Maury Cooper, Doug McDade, and Linda Reiter. The unflinching cast, working on an exquisitely detailed set by Kevin Hagan, turned in stunning performances. We’ve subsequently seen other excellent productions of The Price—by Raven Theatre in 2012 and TimeLine Theatre in 2015—but our most memorable is the one where cast and audience were so focused on the play that they were undaunted by noisy Bears fans.
(Incidentally, the Bears beat the Saints 39-14 to earn a berth in Super Bowl XLI, where they lost to the Indianapolis Colts, 29-17. It was the first Super Bowl played in rainy conditions, and Lovie Smith and Tony Dungy were the first African-American head coaches to coach in the Super Bowl.)
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, dramatized by Christopher Sergel, at Steppenwolf in 2010: We’ve seen three strikingly moving productions of Mockingbird: at the Stratford Festival in 2007, Steppenwolf in 2010, and Oak Park Festival Theatre in 2015. The 2010 production, part of the “Steppenwolf for Young Adults” series, celebrated the 50th anniversary of Harper Lee’s novel. Directed by Hallie Gordon, the show played to audiences closer in age to Scout than to Atticus, and took on added significance as a result.
Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison, adapted by Oren Jacoby, at Court Theatre in 2012: This production tackled the seemingly impossible task of turning a 600-page iconic novel into a finite theatrical experience worthy of the source material. And you wouldn’t think that a play about a man who is figuratively invisible would lend itself to so many unforgettable on-stage images. Somehow the perfect confluence of adapter, director (Chris McElroen), and cast accomplished the impossible, capturing the ambience and essence of the novel. The adaptation won a Jeff Award, and the production garnered a total of seven nominations. (It no doubt would have won more had it not been up against Goodman Theatre’s The Iceman Cometh.)
WRENS by Anne McGravie at Rivendell in 2012 (a revival of their 1996 hit world premiere production): We arrived at the theatre to see WRENS, and encountered a fascinating person in the lobby. She turned out to be the playwright, then 86, who penned this captivating window into the lives of seven women serving in the Women’s Royal Navy Service in World War II. Over the course of the play’s two hours, we were totally immersed in their world and their relationships on the day before the formal surrender of Nazi Germany in Europe. In 2014, Rivendell again demonstrated their special talent for beautifully acted ensemble-driven stories about women soldiers and veterans in Women at War, written by Rivendell member Megan Carney.
The Opponent by Brett Neveu at A Red Orchid Theatre in 2012: A story about a teacher/student relationship and their unrealized dreams can take place in a wide range of settings. But the painstakingly realistic boxing gym (designed by Joey Wade) where The Opponent took place seriously ratcheted up the stakes and the emotional fervor in Brett Neveu’s intense two-hander. The realism of the environment was matched by the authenticity of the acting by Guy Van Swearingen and Kamal Angelo Bolden, under the direction of Karen Kessler, aided by fight choreographer John Tovar and boxing trainer Sam Colonna. Amid the movement and sound of boxing, the play had absolutely no wasted motion, focusing on the two characters dealing with their relationship and personal hopes and disappointments. Following an extended run in Chicago, the production ran at New York’s 59E59 Theaters with original cast and artistic team intact.
Proof by David Auburn: Perhaps it’s due to our own mathematical backgrounds, but our favorite theatrical depiction of intellectual life in Chicago is David Auburn’s Proof, about Robert, a mathematician at the University of Chicago whose struggle with mental illness has critical repercussions for his daughter Catherine, whose own budding mathematical education has been interrupted in order to care for him. We have seen numerous fine productions of this play in St. Louis, Indianapolis, Milwaukee, Urbana, and Washington DC, plus several more in Chicago. But perhaps the most meaningful and memorable productions both took place, appropriately, on the University of Chicago campus in Hyde Park. First was an outstanding UC production celebrating the opening of the new Logan Center in 2012, directed by Audrey Francis and featuring Steve Pickering as Robert and UC student actors in the other three roles. A highlight of this event was a public interview with playwright Auburn conducted by Charles Newell, artistic director of UC’s Court Theatre, where he would be directing a professional production of Proof a few months later. We’ll never forget Auburn’s reaction when Newell asked him whether the set has to be a back porch (as called for in the stage directions and as in every other production ever mounted). When we attended Court’s subsequent production, we were not surprised to see that the back porch had been abstracted beyond recognition! The superb cast included Kevin Gudahl as Robert, Chaon Cross as Catherine, Megan Kohl as her sister Claire, and Erik Hellman as Robert’s graduate student Hal. And in a magnificent touch, the three student actors from the earlier production served as understudies for the Court production.
Flare Path by Terence Rattigan produced by Griffin Theatre Company in 2013: Griffin has a knack for ensemble-driven realistic dramas rooted in a particular time and place. Consequently, every year between 2011 and 2016, they received a Jeff Award nomination for Best Production and/or Best Ensemble—the only theatre company, Equity or non-Equity, to do so. Robin Witt directed three of those productions, including their 2013 nominee for Best Production and Ensemble, Flare Path. The play offers a compelling view of what life was like in Britain during WWII for bomber crews, and for the loved ones who awaited their return (based on the playwright’s own experiences as a member of the Royal Air Force during the war). Interesting note: Speaking of period dramas, we had seen Flare Path cast member Joey deBettencourt six years earlier in a student production of Philip Barry’s Holiday at Northwestern.
Smokefall by Noah Haidle at the Goodman Theatre in 2013 and remounted in 2014: This production, directed by Anne Kauffman, included some of our favorite actors in an off-beat drama with touches of fundamental truth and absurdist humor. We’ve seen Mike Nussbaum in many unforgettable performances (Freud’s Last Session, The Price, The Apple Family Plays, Broadway Bound, Better Late, Awake and Sing, Heroes, and more), but his work in Smokefall just might be our favorite. The cast also included Katherine Keberlein, Guy Massey, and Eric Slater—all fine actors whose work we go out of our way to see. It was a treat to see these artists at the top of their game working together in the original 2013 production and in the 2014 remount, in which their performances were somehow even deeper and richer.
The Normal Heart by Larry Kramer at TimeLine Theatre in 2013: The Normal Heart debuted in 1985, just days after the first international conference on AIDS, and five months before President Reagan mentioned AIDS publicly for the first time. In his review of the premiere production, Frank Rich said, “In this fiercely polemical drama about the private and public fallout of the AIDS epidemic, the playwright starts off angry, soon gets furious and then skyrockets into sheer rage.” The TimeLine production, directed by Nick Bowling, captured both the emotions and urgency of the play with compelling performances from the entire cast, which featured David Cromer, Patrick Andrews, and Mary Beth Fisher. When Fisher, as Dr. Emma Brookner, delivered her powerful speech in the second act, it was the only time before or since that we have been in a theatre where a significant portion of the audience was audibly weeping. This unforgettable production won Jeff Awards for best production and director.
We also saw a noteworthy student production of The Normal Heart at the University of Illinois in 2013, with cast members Donovan Diaz, Thom Miller, and Sarah Ruggles (who have subsequently been in many Chicago productions).
Native Son by Richard Wright, adapted by Nambi E. Kelley, a co-production of American Blues Theatre and Court Theatre in 2014: Bringing this unsentimental, unrelenting, no-exit story to the stage without compromise was a monumental achievement. Director Seret Scott guided a flawless ensemble and creative team, supporting the take-no-prisoners performance of Jerod Haynes in the title role. This production was theatre at it best, leaving an indelible imprint on the audience. We feel very fortunate to have seen this landmark novel brought to life on stage. As icing on the cake, in 2018 at DePaul, we saw a stellar student production of Nambi E. Kelley’s brilliant adaptation, directed by MFA candidate Mikael Burke and featuring undergrads Matthew James Elam as Bigger and Jayson Lee as Buddy. (After graduation, Burke, Elam, and Lee quickly began doing not-to-be-missed work in theatres across Chicago, and landed on our shortlist of favorite directors and actors.)
Yasmina’s Necklace by Rohina Malik at 16th Street Theatre in 2016: Our best theatre experiences transport us into someone else’s world, where we’re not only entertained but also enlightened. Attending the premiere production of Yasmina’s Necklace was one of those sublimely fulfilling nights of theatre. We were entertained by the playwright’s beautifully written three-dimensional characters, played to perfection by the exquisite cast under Ann Filmer’s sensitive direction. We were enlightened by the play’s glimpse into what people experience when conditions in their homeland turn them into refugees, taking away their safety and loved ones and leaving them with life and death decisions that must be made in perilous surroundings and an information vacuum. Playwright Malik created a dynamic family drama with very real, relatable characters dealing with engagement, marriage, divorce, faith, cultural identity, generational conflicts, etc.—with ample doses of humor—but who in their past had to leave their homeland and become refugees. Malik weaves these complex threads so masterfully that the play is never confusing, never overwhelming, never abstract. Needless to say this is a play that you don’t soon forget.
Stop Kiss by Diana Son, co-produced by The Arc Theatre and Pride Films and Plays in 2020: In the space of 90 minutes, the two characters at the center of Stop Kiss have to undergo remarkable transformations, including falling in love without realizing they’re doing so. The acting and directorial challenges are multiplied by the narrative technique: the story’s beginning and ending unfold simultaneously in interleaved scenes. Consequently each actor in this odyssey of sexual awakening and self discovery has to convey the level of awareness, maturity, weariness, fear, and hope that are in harmony with the current scene’s place in the jigsaw puzzle of their relationship. Director Kanomé Jones and the cast (led by Kylie Anderson and Flavia Pallozzi) conveyed this beautifully constructed story to perfection, making each scene captivating on its own and as part of the overall narrative.
We loved the play and the production so much that we went back to experience it again, on a night that happened to be the understudy performance. We were struck again by the compelling story and story-telling, made even more vivid by seeing a different take on key roles, all acted and directed exquisitely.
