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)
Let’s See Together: A Review of "Choir Boy" at Steppenwolf Theatre Among other compelling reasons to see "Choir Boy" is the power and musicianship on songs sung by the young men who play the students in the choir at the Black, Christian Charles R. Drew School for Boys.
A Story for Everyone: A Review of "1776" at Broadway in Chicago “1776” took our Founding Fathers off their pedestals and revealed them as clay-footed human beings who passionately squabbled over something as fundamental as American independence. Directors Diane Paulus and Jeffrey L. Page have a fresh take.
