Sandra Marquez and Ashley Neal/Photo: Art Carrillo
RECOMMENDED
Teatro Vista and Rivendell Theatre Ensemble reunite for the Midwest premiere of Quiara Alegria Hudes’ “26 Miles.” In suburban Philly, 15-year-old Olivia is up in the middle of the night throwing up in the bathroom, which wakes up her remarried Jewish father. Pining for her Cuban-American mother, Beatriz, she calls her, and she immediately comes and whisks Olivia away on a spontaneous, cross-country road trip. An intellectual zinester, Olivia takes after her father; even the destination she chooses, Wyoming, is a place she dreamt of seeing with him. And yet over the course of the journey the mother and daughter come to terms with their estrangement. Ashley Neal (Olivia) and Sandra Marquez (Beatriz) forge a relationship of poignant hills and valleys, and Keith Kupferer and Edward Torres round out the cast while contributing to the production’s stylish and whimsical design. Director Tara Mallen makes you forget that, of course, the car is just two chairs and a steering wheel. (Neal Ryan Shaw)
Teatro Vista and Rivendell Theatre Ensemble at Chicago Dramatists, 1105 West Chicago, (773)334-7728. Through November 21.
