The work of young playwrights from parts east of Great Britain is a rarity on Chicago stages, although T.U.T.A. artistic director Zeljko Djukich offers the occasional exception. The company has an eclectic sensibility when it comes to mapping out a season, but there seems to be at least one emerging constant: a focus on Balkan Gen X writers who might be better categorized as Generation V—Generation Violence. “Tracks, ” from Belgrade native Milena Markovic, follows a gang of delinquents through their high-school years and beyond. They are malicious bullies—the inevitable byproduct of an economically depressed, violence-strewn environment. Their hideousness has more mundane origins, too: they’re bored. But make no mistake; these boys are average—not despite their viciousness, but precisely because of it. Rape, mutilation, murder: it is all par for the course. (Women are “bitches,” a term that acquires a certain neutrality after a while.) Markovic has some specific things to say about de-evolution of humanity when stress and fear are the predominate states of mind, but the production is all bark, no bite. From the get-go, these are sketchily drawn characters, virtually unrecognizable from one scene to the next. That may be the playwright’s intent—the slipperiness of the soul, perhaps—but the payoff is nil: a choppy collection of two-dimensional, actorly moments. The play verges on preciousness with its pop-song interludes, wherein the cast sings “Let the Good Times Roll” and “Sea of Love.” It’s a little too sweet, too isn’t-it-ironic? (Nina Metz)
Walk Beside Me: A Review of Steppenwolf's "Chlorine Sky" The moving production is author Mahogany L. Browne’s adaptation of her verse novel. Sky, is the thoughtful, athletic, resilient character at the center of this young-adult play.
What’s In a Name? A Review of The Great Khan at Redtwist Theatre Michael Gene Sullivan’s new play is a lively reminder that those who came before are not just names to memorize in grade school. Their legacies, infamous or not, follow us in ways seen and unseen.
