Displaying items by tag: Morgan Manasa

I would absolutely bomb out of jury selection cos I have a very definite bias: I’ve been a fan(atic) of Babes with Blades Theatre Company (BWBTC) forever – since their very first show in 1997. Favoritism notwithstanding, I try to always be scrupulously fair in my reviews, and it’s certainly fair to say THE S PARADOX blew my socks off! My companion was particularly impressed by the fighting, but that’s only to be expected from the Babes – BWBTC is all about women in arms telling the truth with precision and grace.

Playwright Jillian Leff ^she/her  has outdone herself; the script moves at a lightning pace yet leaves one thinking long afterward. THE S PARADOX won the 2019-2020 Joining Sword and Pen Playwriting Competition, and this production is the world premiere of the work. The script is very clever and often hilarious; all the characters are intriguing and believably portrayed.  But what the bloody hell is an S Paradox? It’s a real thing in statistics and, though I wander gormless through the world of statistics, I’ll take a stab at defining it. Simpson’s (S) Paradox is a phenomenon in which associations between two variables can change or even reverse direction when there’s an unrecognized factor that interacts strongly with both variables.

For example, take a study done in 1974 of the relationship between smoking and heart disease, which found just what you’d expect. However, recently the data were re-analyzed and found that, after 30 years more smokers (76%) were still alive than non-smokers (68%).

WhiskeyTangoFoxtrot? Does smoking prolong survival?? 

What confounded the data and produced the paradoxical finding is Simpson's Paradox – they failed to consider a third variable: age at the beginning of the study. Far more nonsmokers were over 64 – logical, because there simply aren't as many smokers who get that old – and naturally these older subjects died off sooner.  

Enough with the statistics already! let’s get back to the Babes. But the statistics are important cos THE S PARADOX is about time travel, where paradoxes abound and may have horrific unintended consequences.

Kayla Marie Klammer (she/her) and Elisabeth Del Toro (she/her) in THE S PARADOX

THE S PARADOX opens in a distant and (seemingly) utopian future: tax reforms have virtually eliminated poverty, healthcare is free, and guns are totally banned – the police are armed with (you guessed it) swords. Sounds good, yeah? Our hero is a young woman named Sloane, gorgeously played by Kayla Marie Klammer^she/her.  Through various machinations and interventions by Dez, the armorer, Sloane acquires a sword and is offered a sensational job with a shadowy government organization.

Dez is brought to exuberant life by Elisabeth Del Toro^she/her. I adored her! Funny and frolicsome, DelToro’s Dez sparkles with such droll enthusiasm that Sloane can’t resist her… and nor could I!

Sloane is pretty pumped about all this, but she gets a sharply unfavorable reaction from her partner Ava, who’s suspicious that the job looks too good to be true. More importantly, Ava is older than Sloane and remembers the times before the reforms; she wants no chance of returning to a world of guns! Cat Evans^they/she/him gives us an Ava who mounts these logical arguments but is primarily motivated by her love and concern for Sloane. This honey works better than the vinegar of logic, and Sloane agrees to return the sword.

All well and good, but she’s thwarted on numerous fronts: first, Dez is weirdly reluctant to accept the sword back. Weirder still, this woman who claims to be from the future appears and warns Sloane that she’s about to make a dreadful mistake … but disappears before she can explain herself. And who are these anonymous cloaked strangers following Sloane? Could something be happening in the future that is paradoxically non-utopian?

I can’t say more without grievous spoilers, but I do need to make a couple more introductions, as their characters will appear (and disappear and re-appear and disappear and re-re-appear and disappear again). William, the businessman who recruited Sloane, is brilliantly played by Steve Peebles ^he/him, who portrays him behaving ever more peculiar, fast approaching frankly creepy.

Sonja Lynn Mata^she/her/ella is a delightful Dez-of-the-future, a perfect sequel to her irrepressible younger self.  Mata portrays Dez as earnest and indefatigably persistent (mulish would not be far off the mark), particularly about this project she’s trying to conscript Sloane into. Thankfully, gravitas has not quelled the vivacity and ebullience of her youth, and Sloane finds her fully as engaging as before [me too!].

And for Sloane the elder, future Sloane – now simply called S – who else to cast but Maureen Yasko^she/her, Artistic Affiliate with BWBTC and stage combat maestro extraordinaire?  Yasko masterfully portrays S as a complex character, scored by grief and regret but preserving the passionate, indomitable woman of yesteryear deep within. She’s courageous, accepting without complaint the emotional pain of truth as well as the physical battering of the time leaps. And S never loses hope. Yasko manages to convey all this; admittedly with assistance from the stellar script, but these intangibles can’t be depicted by words alone.

Also brilliant were the four Nameless, the anonymous cloaked figures who inflict Sloane’s reality, and are still around to daunt the world of S: Tina-Kim Nguyen^she/her, Deanna Palmer^she/her, Jessica Pennachio^she/her, and Thomas Russell^he/they. All four of them were superb, but Russell’s performance was remarkable. Overall, the Nameless ensemble was suitably portentous and creepy.

The cast was uniformly splendid and, happily, their excellence was matched by the production team. Director Morgan Manasa ^she/her devised some amazing conceptual strategems; with Technical Director Line Bower ^they/them and Lighting Designer Laura J Wiley ^she/her, the time jumps were brilliantly accomplished; Wiley’s Light design was crucial during the many scenic transitions in time and space. Fight and Intimacy Director Samantha Kaufman ^she/her (and how fabulous is it that one woman directs both these seemingly antithetical functions?) had the finest material to work with in BWBTC, and she honed them to flawless precision. Scenic (Rose Johnson ^they/them) and Props (Evy Burch^they/she) Designers created a stage set that transformed seamlessly and believably. I loved how Costume Designer Rachel M Sypniewski ^she/her arranged Sloane’s and S’s hair! And LJ Luthringer’s^he/him Sound thrilled me: 1960’s bands Rolling Stones, Jefferson Airplane, The Shondells … be still my heart! Stage Manager Taylor Stageberg ^she/they brought it all together superbly (and I love that they credited their cat!).

That’s the lot, and a stellar lot they are. I expect no less from the Babes of course, but it’s always a happy surprise to see how brilliantly they deliver. Their mission is to speak for marginalized voices, with stage combat a consistent storytelling tool. Rare, and fabulous!  as is THE S PARADOX!

THE S PARADOX plays Thursdays – Sundays at Factory Theatre through May 18.

Highly recommended!

I happen to like theatre that has topical and social significance. If you do too, then Idle Muse Theatre's production of "Jane: Abortion and the Underground" is a must-see!

The women's organization Jane developed from feminist thought, with a 1960’s ‘women’s lib’ group centered at the University of Chicago, which was a flashpoint for student political action – you know, the good ol’ days.

As young radicals battled racism, poverty, and the Vietnam War, women began getting fed up with their "brothers" still expecting them to cook, take notes at meetings, and copulate. (A prominent activist during the period, when asked, "What is a woman’s position?" replied' “Prone.”) Women encountered significant pushback: How could they waste their time on this girly stuff when there were so many important issues out there? But the women of Jane recognized that women are disproportionately impacted by all these issues. Injustice works by limiting a person’s autonomy, their ability to shape their own future; to achieve parity women must have autonomy over their bodies.

The play "Jane" is structured around writer Paula Kamen’s history of the Jane organization, beginning with author Kamen (played by Laura Jones Mascknin in voice-over) interviewing Heather Booth (played by Jillian Leff), a key person in the Chicago Women’s Liberation Union and one of the Jane organization's founders. As Heather begins relating Jane’s history, other actors appear and the stage morphs into fictional vignettes of the group's history, interspersed with monologues lifted verbatim from Kamen’s interviews with hundreds of the women (and one minister from UC) who ran, used, aided and abetted this feminist collective named Jane.

"Jane: Abortion and the Underground" leads us through the evolution of Jane, the service organization. It started when Heather was asked to help a friend find a doctor (male, of course) for an abortion. Word spread – god knows there was need! – and soon Heather was getting too many calls to manage alone. She united fellow feminists to form a group known officially as the Abortion Counseling Service of Women's Liberation or simply Jane. Initially, Jane did simply counselling, directing the women to male doctors, but the fees were out of reach for many of the women who called Jane. Worse, some doctors expected (or simply helped themselves to) sexual favors.

From left: Elizabeth MacDougald, Aleta Soron, Jillian Leff, Catrina Evans and
Caty Gordon in JANE: ABORTION AND THE UNDERGROUND from Idle Muse Theatre
Company now playing through October 15 at The Edge Theater Off-Broadway.

In 1971 Jane learned that one of their most-used doctors lied about his credentials -- he wasn’t a doctor, but a Vietnam medic. In a dazzling leap of courage they recognized that if he could perform an abortion safely, so could they. Between 1969 and 1973 (with passage of Roe), Jane had provided abortions for 11,000 women, primarily low-income women who could neither travel to where abortion was legal nor pay a local physician.

The staging of "Jane" was an ingenious and very effective way to demonstrate the organic nature of Jane’s development, from a favor to a friend to a counselling service, expanding to accommodate up to twenty women daily, and finally including members of Jane as active abortionists. Scenic Designer Wynn Lee created an evocative set: a student apartment, with other locations realized through projected images and cinematics (by Laura J Wiley, assisted by Baylee Speer and Britany Pearson on Lights), while Sound/Music Designer LJ Luthringer kept us rooted in the 1960/70’s with Ledd Zepplin, the Beatles, Santana, and the like. Tristan Brandon managed the many props, including a massage [operating] table.

Morgan Manasa directed the cast of 11 (many playing multiple parts) with Technical Director Line Bower. Rosie Kooi was Stage Manager with Assistant Beth Bruins. Costumer Designer Elizabeth Monti provided convincing apparel for the entire cast  Ruth (Jennifer Mohr), Nancy (Jamie Redwood), Judith (Meghann Tabor), Alice (Elizabeth Macdougald), Jody (Kristen Alesia), Micki (Catrina Evans) and Lory (Aleta Soron); for housewife Sunny (Caty Gordon) Monti unearthed a perfectly hideous 1960’s housedress! Doctor C (Troy Schaeflein) needed only a white coat and (startling in 2023) a cigarette, with Reverend Parsons (Joel Thompson) in buttoned-up black.

"Jane: Abortion and the Underground" is an impressive piece of theatre that I highly recommend for everyone. In addition to the excellence of script, actors, and crew, my recommendation of "Jane" is based in politics; 2023 is a dangerous time for women’s autonomy. Mobilizing people to defend that autonomy is critically needed. I also have an intense personal attachment: My godmother Betty Roberts was a member of Jane, and helped me get an abortion with Jane in 1970. I was 16.
 
"Jane" is a terrific experience. I learned a lot, I recalled a lot, and I got a whole lot scared for tomorrow’s women ("The Handmaid’s Tale"?). I’m proud of how Illinois is managing the issue so far, but not every pregnant woman can travel to Chicago for their abortion, especially with time being so much of the essence. A first trimester abortion is less risky than a tonsillectomy or wisdom tooth extraction, but every additional week increases both the risk and the cost. Young peoples’ attitudes are nothing like they were in 1969, and I don’t know how many women like Heather and Ruth are out there. If things go really bad in November 2024 we’ll need a new Jane, even here in Illinois. To the barricades, Sisters!

"Jane: Abortion and the Underground" runs through October 15 at The Edge Off-Broadway and comes very highly recommended.