This Pegasus production, based on everyday-people interviews compiled by Chicago Public Radio’s Alex Kotlowitz and Amy Dorn, begs the obvious question: What’s the point? The radio docs, which capture an immediacy and authenticity lacking here, have been reduced to a cheesy theater exercise by co-directors Jeff Ginsberg and Susan Padveen, who neither explore nor take advantage of the live performance medium. Fans of Kotlowitz’s work—as an author, he focuses on more Chicago stories in his most recent book, “Never a City So Real”—should avoid this production, or suffer the disappointment. (Nina Metz)
This production is now closed.