what: from white plains by michael perlman
where: the greenhouse theater center in lincoln park
accompaniment: emily + becky!
drinkability: great! full bar. i had wine.
show length: 90 minutes, no intermission
out of four: three/four
when i was tossing around the idea of doing four in four i started a group on facebook called "go see shows (with me)!" wherein my theatre interested friends and i post shows we're going to see, shows we're in, discounts we found, etc. it's really helped keep this whole four in four thing alive because there are only so many shows my husband wants to go see or has the availability to see, and only so many times i'd be able to sit in an audience by myself. seeing FROM WHITE PLAINS this past weekend was a direct result of the group as becky was jonesing to see it- and i probably wouldn't have found myself in that seat, but i did, and i'm thankful for it.
PLAINS kicks off with simultaneously the best and the worst day for two humans, connected by their high school past. dennis accepts an academy award for his screenplay he wrote in dedication to his high school best friend and confidant who committed suicide after years of continual bullying directed at him being gay. during his oscar acceptance speech, dennis calls out by name the bully who led his best friend to his death: ethan. ethan's life is flipped upside down as he and his best friend john are watching the awards together. we're then led down a path of you tube apologies and fights, text message wars, discussions on the current weight of people's pasts, and what being a best friend and lover really means in times of crisis or stress.
the show was set in 2014 which is a disappointing display of tablets, phones and laptops (see production photo example above), which made me sigh and shake my head in lack of hope for stories told of our current days. but, in reality its the truth. and luckily a majority of the show was spent with human interaction, so we didn't watch 90 minutes of actors staring into screens.
the show was filled with a lot of really nice performances. dennis (played by company member david weiss) and his boyfriend gregory (ben burke - a major highlight for me in the show) don't see eye-to-eye on the situation when apologies and rebuttals hit the world wide web via youtube and they have several very believable fights throughout the course of the show. myself and my friends who joined me only wish their relationship felt a little more real- the kisses between them lacking passion and the stage-only resting spot of forehead-to-forehead seemed a little forced instead of out of desire and love. the audiences who came out to see this show are ready to see two men kissing- make it passionate already!
the show led to a lot of post-show bar conversations for my friends and i. what would you do if you found out your best friend did something awful in their past? or was a different person? or at one time acted and believed something that they no longer do? do you let it affect you now? do you take them as they are? do you start to think of them as a whole person that includes the mystery person of the past?
i think broken nose did a really nice job with this production, and i look forward to seeing what they have coming up in the future. unfortunately they closed this past weekend so if you snoozed- you lose on this one.
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upcoming march shows:
(dates TBD)
the chicago mammals' ass kicking amazons
redtwist theatre's 44 ways to end your sex life
duplicity ensemble's folk bound
the right brain project's salome
join me, will you?