Braden Lubell’s newest effort for SiNNERMAN Ensemble extensively explores the breadth and depth of longing; it’s an affable, poignant piece that doesn’t seem to know where it’s going. The show has the right proportion of laughs to love, but Lubell seems hesitant to choose a main thread and build from that.
The performances are uniformly engaging. Douglas Tyler’s journalist and Ebony Wimbs’ art gallery owner share a heartbreaking struggle to get on the same page sexually. Shane Kenyon’s Ira Glass-like mensch and Sue Redman’s principled artist/secretary are awkward yet appealing. Brian Kavanaugh’s deliciously despicable lawyer has an over-the-top cruelty; Arianne Ellison’s loving, flakey wife travels a tragic arc from cuckolded spouse to a woman with all the cards. They’re the couple with the most to lose; they’re the most interesting. It’s a cast you want to root for, but at two hours and forty-five minutes, that’s a lot of rooting. (Lisa Buscani)
SiNNERMAN Ensemble at the Viaduct Theatre, 3111 N. Western, (773)296-6024. Through May 22.
On the Brink: City Lit's "Thirteen Days" Gender-Swaps the Cuban Missile Crisis As the closest the world's ever come to nuclear war, The Cuban Missile Crisis was one of the most consequential geopolitical events of the twentieth century and Brian Pastor chose to adapt and direct Robert F. Kennedy's memoir of the event, "Thirteen Days."
RECOMMENDED
