Crowdsourcing theater may be having its moment, as 500 script submissions competed for three slots in an evening of one-acts on the cozy stage at the Chicago Dramatists theater. Never mind this is the annual Pegasus Players high school competition. What they have wrought this time around is a delightful night in the theater by any standard.
Yes, there are a few uneven moments - I believe it a fundamental rule of theater not to leave the stage devoid of scenery and actors overly long (though it was opening night) - but these are strong first efforts.
The more sober drama, Our Little Secret, by Myka Buck, a senior at Kenwood Academy, opened the evening on a serious note. Two truly delightful comedies: The Adventures of FeRb by Brian Hayes of Taft High; and A Cup of Souls and One Grim Reaper, Please, by Keauna Piece, at Lane Tech, made the evening take flight.
The high caliber interpretation of the characters by a strong cast, and juiced up productions by energetic directors Ilesa Duncan, Lavina Jadhwani and Jason Fleece, mined the scripts for everything they had. Between cast and crew these three one acts were given the full treatment.
Myka Buck's Our Little Secret explores the ambivalence and guilt of teenage lesbian, Tommasina (Shadana Peterson), facing a moment of truth: the revelation to her mother (Danielle Rennalis) that her prom date is not only another girl, but has been her secret romantic steady for the past two years. The necessarily career-focused mother is no caricature, but sympathetically drawn. (Dad, played by Chris Cinereski, is in jail, and won't be released until prom night.) When the truth comes out, Danielle is warmly embraced by Mom.
In the second show, Adventures of FeRb, director Jason Fleece's lively staging elicited loud guffaws for a stylized comedic piece. An ever-positive and positively determined high school Everyman, FeRb (Chris Acevedo), confronts the cliques (in their current flavors - goths, B-boys, and nerds) only to find each dominated by a shape shifting nemesis, Bradly (played with abandon by Eric Gerard Walter). FeRb challenges, then vanquishes Bradly, freeing the students to just be friends.
The actors explored another side, as the casts from the first two plays turned ensemble (the cast also includes Erica Pezza and Brenann Stacker in multiple roles) for A Cup of Souls etc. Playwright Keauna Pierce suggests in a pre-show video that she was unfamiliar with live theater, and so wrote cinematically. . .challenging director Ilesa Duncan to change location from home, to hell, to heaven, and finally, a Paris cafe - but she did it. The glory of Chicago storefront staging!
This plot line follows a newly minted but reluctant Grim Reaper (Chris Cinereski) on his first day harvesting souls. He quickly goes astray, binge-watching the cable show Supernaturals and befriending his first victim. After an iPad wielding Devil intervenes (Will Kiley dominates his scenes) that soul and its owner head straight to hell. I really enjoyed Shadana Patterson's turn as God who sends the Grim Reaper back to the inferno to win back his friend.
These three shows, running through January 23, are winners in every sense of the word.
A note about Pegasus Theatre Chicago: The Young Playwrights Festival is a citywide playwriting competition that gives voice to Chicago high schoolers by teaching them to craft one-act plays. The winning teens join with professional directors and actors to workshop and stage their scripts as part of Pegasus Theatre Chicago’s main stage season. The second oldest such festival in the country, the competition enhances language arts, encourages independent, high-level thinking and strong personal values and influences career development for area teens. This 29th festival runs through January 23, 2016 at Chicago Dramatists, 1105 W. Chicago Ave. in Chicago. Tickets are currently available at www.PegasusTheatreChicago. org or by calling Ovation Tickets at (866) 811-4111.
