There are times that I think the skepticism of my generation prevents me from enjoying a simple play, or at the very least accepting a play and not questioning the ending, the character’s motivations, or poking holes in plot points. My cynicism might have gotten the better of me this Monday at The Raven when seeing The Trip to Bountiful.

Trip to Bountiful is set in Texas in the 1950's where Mrs. Watts is living a life she didn’t choose- a dependent to her son and daughter-in-law in their cramped Houston apartment. If she could just make it to Bountiful, Texas to see her beloved home and friends, she could live the rest of her days in peace.

The description is rather vague, so let me drive home the main storyline: an aging woman wants only one thing in her life, to get to Bountiful. This is seemingly the one thing in the world that will bring her joy and peace and her children are both unwilling and unable to accommodate. Of course the children have their own lives to lead, and there is obvious tension within those small walls. But while we briefly learn of the son and daughter-in-laws motivations, selfishness, various desires, and heartaches, the theme is still focused on this one woman’s desire to get to her hometown of Bountiful, Texas.

While the play was excellently acted, and the story moves along nicely, the issues I developed with the play had to do with the screenplay itself. Written by Horton Foote and performed for the stage over 60 years ago, The Trip to Bountiful, much like Foote’s other plays, tells the story of an ordinary person handling the harsh realities of life and the strength of the human spirit. We are all drawn to these types of plays despite the fact it might mirror many themes within our own lives, it’s not escapism we want, it’s realism. But the reality of Bountiful is that it leaves the audience in a state of questioning when the play ends.

Here is a woman [Mrs. Watts] who so desperately wants to run away to her hometown. Not only is she pursuing a desire 20 years in the making, but simultaneously escaping the oppressive feeling of living under someone else’s roof and live her life as she wants to. You feel the longing of this character, you rue her bitter and nasty daughter-in-law, and you as an audience member empathize with the loving mother-son relationship. You grumble and groan at the obstacles Mrs. Watts must overcome, and hope against hope that she can make it to Bountiful. For the love of Texas, it’s only a bus ride away! And when she’s a mere miles away from her destination, she is stopped once more, seemingly for the last time, and she breaks down, begging, sobbing, the drama building into a beautiful crescendo, and then…skepticism sinks in.

Suddenly, this strong female lead bargains with herself that she is content with only visiting a few hours in the shadow of her home. After 20 years of waiting and veritable “oh-come-on-really?” antics blocking her trip there, you expect the audience to just accept that she is content with leaving as quickly as she had come? That she somehow finds bittersweet peace within those few hours? It’s also important to note that all of the tension the built up within that Houston apartment promise to be resolved when the curtains close. Yes, folks, there is a nice bow on this present of a play.

Call me a skeptic all you like, but The Trip to Bountiful left me wanting an explanation of the sudden 360 of its main character. For a character desiring to get to Bountiful to be contented from a short visit seemed wholly out of character. Where was the bargaining with herself? Where was the inner monologue in which she came to the conclusion of being contented? For me this plot point was a bit of a reach and broke away from the harsh realism Foote was striving towards. A great play begs you to like or dislike a character, and while there’s a possibility of changing your feelings at the end, those feelings shouldn’t change to indifference.

So was the play worth seeing? Completely, if for nothing else than the superb acting The Raven Theatre is known for. The theatre is at its best when they tackle difficult themes with seesawing emotional undertones, and their actors always rise to the occasion. You’ll enjoy the journey to Bountiful, but possibly not the destination. The Trip to Bountiful is at The Raven Theatre through November 17^th. 

You could attribute this week’s hot and humid temps to Chicago’s ever changing fall weather, but anyone who saw the Joffrey Ballet’s performance of “Russian Masters” will definitively tell you it was this performance that brought the heat wave into the Chicago city limits.

“Russian Masters” featured four pieces: “Allegro Brillante” choreography by George Balachine, “Adagio” and “Bells” both choreographed by Yuri Possokhov, and “Le Sarce du Printemps” choreographed by Vaslav Nijinsky. Of the four performances, one will leave you hot under the collar, while the others will simply leave you hot and bothered.

“Allegro Brillante” and “Bells” were beautiful ballets within their own right. For those who don’t know ballet, Balachine is essentially the father of American ballet. In one word, his style can be described as classic. Picture a ballerina in your mind and the way she would dance, yep that’s the style. Flawless, graceful, lithe techniques, clean lines, beautiful and elegant duets, that is a Balachine ballet and “Allergro Brillante” shined on stage, bringing the audience into its gentle embrace. “Bells,” choreographed by Yuri Possokhov was equally graceful and beautiful. Set to seven Rachmaninoff compositions that included some flawlessly executed duets it was all in all was just a good performance, not one that left you wanting more. It is evident within “Bells” that Possokhov is clearly at his best when it comes to duets.

His choreographed duet “Adagio,” performed by husband and wife team Victoria Jaiani and Temur Suluashvili left the entire audience in heat. It is my claim that Jaiani and Suluashvili’s performance required the theater to turn the air conditioning up. Their performance was filled with fiery passion and sensuality, with intricate skills and lifts that would leave a cirque du soleil performer impressed. They were the only performers of the night to receive a standing ovation and once you see the performance live, you too will be ready to jump from your seat and yell “Bravo!”

Cut to the final performance of the night.

Now forget everything you know about ballet, the tutus, the pointy toes, and the gorgeous ballerinas. All of the stereotypes in your head will be torn down and stomped on (almost literally) during the course of this performance. The final piece of the evening was “Le Sacre du Printemps” (Rite of Spring). A brief history: when “Le Sacre” first premiered in Paris in 1913, the performance shocked the sophisticated Parisian audience so entirely that they literally rioted in the theater. That’s right folks, rioted. Russian composer Igor Stravinsky’s haunting music set the audience on edge with loud drumming and bassoons, while Vaslav Nijinsky’s jagged, raucous, and barbaric ‘dancing’ depicting a virgin sacrifice, caused the audience to get so angry that they began catcalling and jeering at the performers, drowning out the orchestra music. In retrospect, it is apparent that Parisians paying to see a beautiful, graceful ballet were not prepared or welcoming to such an avant guarde piece.

While there was no rioting in Chicago on Thursday night, there was plenty of seat shifting, awkward glances from neighbor to neighbor, and an overall uncomfortable air from the audience. But that really was the point of the whole performance. Even in today’s society, with all matter of modern art forms around us, “Le Sacre du Printemps” still leaves audiences questioning what exactly it was they saw. Was it art? Was it ballet? You be the judge.

“Russian Masters” truly was one of the best compilations the Joffrey has put on since I have been in Chicago. The juxtaposition of soft, classical ballet in the first three performances against the brutality and harshness of "Le Sacre du Printemps" highlighted the wide range of talent that the Russian masters possessed. Hurry down to the Auditorium Theater as the show ends on September 22^nd. Dasvidaniya, comrades.

There is just something about the ballet; the people watching (it’s a very entertaining crowd), the glass of bubbly before the show starts, the curtain rising, the live orchestra playing, and of course the ballet dancers that make the most difficult of feats seem effortless. Unfortunately, like previous performances I’ve seen at the Joffrey, the most recent performance of “Othello” left me wanting more.

Once again, Joffrey loyalists will roll their eyes when I tell them I was disappointed by the “Othello” performance. This was a completely original ballet based off of a great Shakespearean tragedy and it should have been amazing. The short teaser trailer of the performance on the Joffrey’s website was dramatic and foreboding. On the other hand, as the show began, I knew immediately that I would be left wanting. Let me first say that the dancing was beautiful. The main dancers, Othello played by Fabrice Calmels and Desdemona played by April Daly, were graceful, strong, and fluid, and exactly what you’d expect in the principal dancers. Sadly, great dancers can only do so much with what they are given, and I don’t think they were learnt much in the ways of choreography and music. The music alone was enough to make someone dislike the show. Imagine an entire 2 hour performance with drums and strings building and building and taking forever to reach a crescendo and when it does nothing happens on stage to match the power behind those notes. I equate it to sitting in a scary movie, the music building your expectations to a state of uncontrollable suspense, just waiting for the killer to jump out and attack, only to have the loud crash usually tied to a scary moment to be someone yawning on screen. What a letdown, right?

Also, the choreography was a bit too in-your-face-foreshadowing of the tumultuous and ultimately grim lover’s tale. If you went through high school and college never having read Othello or seeing the movie O, then perhaps the references weren’t so easy to pick up on, but for those of us who know the story it was about as blunt as an axe to the head. At times the duets between Othello and Desdemona just consisted of him lifting her and tossing her around like a gracefully beautiful sack of potatoes, his hands and arms lingering around her neck for an awkwardly long time. Outside of those dancers, the solos of Cassio and Iago, played by Aaron Rogers and Matthew Adamcyzk respectfully, were beautiful, but the jealousy that eventually drives Iago to his dastardly acts was so jagged and rough that it took away from the grace of a great dancer. The character of Iago seethes with jealousy, hatred, and envy but it didn’t translate as powerfully as it could have in the dancing and he ended up looking like a petulant child. All in all, the entire ballet performance was lukewarm for such a heated storyline.

So why go back? Why keep going to the ballet if I’m not going to enjoy it? It’s because I believe in this art and want to be blown away each and every time. Some of the dance companies in Chicago without nearly the endowment the Joffrey has, have left me speechless and simply blown away by their performances. I suppose I just expect the same from a company with such amazing talent as the Joffrey. So I will still go, and still hope for a performance that takes my breath away and leaves me saying ‘O.’

I’ve never been to Havana, Cuba. I never even saw Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights. But after seeing the world premiere of River North Dance Chicago and the Chicago Jazz Philharmonic’s performance of “Havana Blue,” Havana is definitely a place that I would hop on a plane and visit in a heartbeat. I am of course basing this decision entirely upon the hope that everyone breaks out into expertly choreographed dances to express emotions and feelings for the city they reside in. Regardless, the premiere of “Havana Blue” was a wonderful and entertaining surprise.

“Havana Blue” was created and collaborated on by choreographer Frank Chaves and jazz trumpeter Orbert Davis. They traveled the streets of Cuba, immersing themselves into the culture, the nightlife, exploring the country’s musical routes. What they came back with was a beautiful ensemble that celebrates the life and exuberance that is Havana.

Entering the theater and the show, I was far from the most knowledgeable about Jazz or Cuban life and culture. Jazz lovers and dance lovers alike flocked to see “Havana Blue” to make it a nearly sold-out performance, a feat I had never seen at the Auditorium Theater. The crowd was energetic and lively, freely swaying back and forth to the music and even jumping up in the aisles to dance. Everyone in the audience, including my friend who accompanied me, knew when Orbert Davis said ‘Dizzy,’ knew to respond with ‘Gillespie.’ But I soon discovered, when the curtain went up and the music started to play, I didn’t need to know a great deal about the show, or jazz history, to appreciate the art forms performing in front of me.

The curtains rose to reveal a brass jazz band, the brass twinkling under the bright stage lights, set against a dark brick wall. It was an impressive sight, and just as visually stunning as the gorgeous dance pairs of River North Dance Chicago that opened the show, the women in flowing blue dresses, the men in sexy-tight pants and open shirts, muy caliente.

“Havana Blue” is comprised of a several sultry and powerful dance segments, each representing a mood that you could find in the life-pulse of the Cuban city. One of the more notable dances was “Solteras" ("Single Ladies"), which many found to be a sad(ish) dance in which one woman was not being coupled up to dance with male partners. But the solo woman did not dance with a dejected rhythm but a “que sera sera” style, retaining a sexiness and comfortableness with dancing alone. Indeed, the women shifted partners, each woman getting a chance to dance solo while the couples danced around them. As the “Solteras” danced, there were smiles on their faces, not longing. I viewed the dance as empowerment for women, not romantic yearning because they weren’t coupled up. The women danced in spite of not having a partner and danced beautifully and strong, not slumped and saddened. (Cue female empowerment music: 'All the solteras, all the solteras,' kidding). Shortly after that performance was another notable dance segment "Lo Masculino" ("The Masculine"). To sum up the performance in one word: steamy. The males of River North Dance Chicago performed shirtless to a powerhouse number filled with masculinity, sweaty six-pack abs, and moves that would have made Baryshnikov proud. It was the perfect blend of power and rhythm that really made "Havana Blue" pop and sizzle.

“Havana Blue” completely embodied the sensual, powerful, and allure of the Havana culture. The artistic direction of Frank Chaves with River North Dance Chicago and the artistic direction of Orbert Davis was a match made in the streets of Havana. These two men created a show that will surely be enjoyed for years to come. Should you see “Havana Blue” coming to a city near you, or to our very own Chicago again, be sure to samba your way to see this show, you will not be decepcionado.

The Raven theatre has never disappointed me. Their performances strike an emotional chord with their audiences and their actors are among the best I’ve seen in Chicago. On a rainy Monday night, A Soldier’s Play premiered with mixed reviews, but from my perspective, this play is timeless and one you shouldn't miss.

When Captain Davenport, a black man with Captain bars in a white man’s army, comes to a segregated WWII-era Louisiana base to investigate a murder, the interrogation of the soldiers uncovers a web of contempt, expectation, and hatred. The play tackles the tough subjects of racism within races in the heat of the deep south. The play was written by Charles Fuller and premiered Off-Broadway in 1981, less than 20 years after the Civil Rights Act passed and less than 40 years after the end of WWII. Through the interactions between white and black soldiers, and amongst the black soldiers themselves, you can cut the tension with a knife and Captain Davenport, wonderfully played by Frank Pete, tries to unravel the mystery of who murdered Sergeant Vernon C Waters, wonderfully played by Antoine Pierre Whitfield.

The story follows Captain Davenport onto the Army base. We know nothing of what transpired other than Sergeant Waters being shot, but through interviews with the Privates on the base and their flashbacks we begin to see the events that led to the murder of the Sergeant and the palpable hatred that flowed in his veins towards his own soldiers and his own race. Waters is in charge of a black unit which is also the baseball team. They are allowed to fight in the war, but demeaned into playing ball for their white peers and, when not on the baseball diamond, cleaning up after them. One of the most tense and trying scenes of the play is told in a flashback by Private James Wilkie (Bradford Stevens), in which Sergeant Waters recounts his time spent as a black soldier during WWI, and his venomous thoughts towards a "typical" black Private under his command. Waters hatred stems from his inability to understand why people of his own race refuse to want to better themselves by learning to read, write, or anything else that would help them compete with their wither "superiors".  The flashback makes your skin crawl and Whitfield does a superb job portraying the character, in fact you’d actually believe he had those feelings himself, but that, after all, is the craft of the actor.

Director Michael Menendian had quite a task on his hands. A Pulitzer Prize winning play, with an original cast that originally included Denzel Washington, Samuel L. Jackson and Adolph Caesar, the feat to bring A Soldier’s Play to life at The Raven was no small task. But the director succeeded with an excellent cast, seamless set design, and impeccable blocking. Menendian really brought the WWII Army base to life. At times, we were so enthralled with the scene, that you would forget characters blacked out on stage, though they were the characters recounting the scenes we were watching. The fight scenes were so realistic, you’d forgotten it was just excellent fake stage combat. Much of that is written in the play already, but this cast and its Director brought a fresh energy to the performance.

A Soldier’s Play had quite the challenge: a rich play pedigree, sensitive material, a challenging emotional depth, but I believe it met that challenge, and most definitely earned its stripes. A Soldier’s Play is playing at The Raven Theater (6157 N. Clark Street, Chicago, IL 60660) through March 30^th. Enlist today and see this play while it lasts.

Inevitably, in every ballet review, you’ll find some keys words: genius, perfection, flawless. Throw in a few lines about choreography, music, and storyline and you’ve got yourself a puffed up piece that radiates with fabulosity about the performance. Unfortunately, I don’t think I can use any of those words or puffy pieces to describe the Joffrey ballet’s new American Legends.

Ballet enthusiasts and Joffrey loyalists will say American Legends is wonderful and they will recommend it to everyone they know. But if you see one ballet in your life, this should not be it. Most ballets have a single story told, or at the very least an underlying theme throughout the entire performance. It not only makes the performance easy to follow and understand, but it allows you to really enjoy the dancing.  American Legends did not offer any of these things.

American Legends made its world premiere at the Auditorium Theatre on February 13^th. The show was made up by four dance pieces each about 20-40 minutes in length: Interplay, Sea Shadow, Son of Chamber Symphony, and Nine Sinatra Songs. Interplay was the first ballet, and was an upbeat, West Side Story-like, playground romp. You could easily imagine Interplay as an interpretation of children playing at recess (if those kids were talented ballerinas). They even had a dance battle! The whole thing was fun, and best of all, it didn’t take itself too seriously (as some contemporary pieces can).

Sea Shadows was the best piece of the night, and could be enjoyable as a full length ballet. It was a duet which told the story of a man on a beach falling in love with a sea nymph. The ballet screamed sex, and the performers did an incredible job. But it ended about as soon as it started, much to the chagrin of some of the males in the audience. What followed after the intermission made me wish I had simply left.  Son of Chamber Symphony was an ultra-modern contemporary piece that had no storyline, no purpose. If it were a piece of art it would be a solid black canvas; trying so hard to be deep and meaningful, but falling just shy. The ballet was all over the place. Dark, moody, abrupt, and set to music straight out of a horror film. The whole ballet seemed like a ballerina’s bad dream. It couldn’t end soon enough. After another intermission, the curtain rose and a disco ball hung above the stage. It was time for Nine Sinatra Songs. Sinatra. A disco ball. How could this ballet possibly be bad? Oh, but it was.

Nine Sinatra Songs featured, you guessed it, nine songs by Sinatra. Each song featured a duet of ballet dancers dancing an unusual ballroom-contemporary style. You could tell the dancers were not too familiar with ballroom and awkwardly transitioned from traditional ballroom steps to contemporary segments. The dances didn’t interpret the Sinatra songs very well and after about three duets, all three couples would come back on stage, each dancing their own styles to Sinatra’s ‘My Way.’ It was another ballet in a string of ballets that night that was all over the place, lacked any sort of consistency, and overall was just disappointing.

Ballet is classic, timeless, and beautiful; no one in Chicago does classic better than the Joffrey. But contemporary is not their strong suit.  Overall, American Legends was a disappointment that won’t deter me from seeing the Joffrey again, but it definitely gave this reviewer second thoughts. American Legends runs through February 24^th at the Auditorium Theater. 

In a small and unassuming theatre on a low traffic corner in Chicago rests a playhouse that offers some big surprises. We ventured into this playhouse to see, unbeknownst to us, a world premiere production. Southbridge, written by Reginald Edmund and directed by Russ Tutterow was as unassuming as the playhouse it was performed in and left this writer wanting to see what else the playwright and the theatre have in store.

Set in Athens, Ohio in 1881, Southbridge tells the story of a white, widowed woman who is brutally attacked and killed. An angry mob is at the jailhouse door demanding the sheriff lynch the accused murderer, a young black man called ‘Stranger,’ wonderfully played by Manny Buckley. The only way to untangle the truth is for the accused to relive the events that led him to the jailhouse. Stranger’s flashbacks weave a creative who-done-it web filled with surprises, subtlety, and just a touch of sorcery. The stories of the characters intertwine throughout the play and constantly surprise the audience. And while there is an underlying theme of racism throughout the play, as to be expected of a play set in 1881 America, it doesn’t throw it in the audience face. The story feeds off of that tension but is not eclipsed by it, allowing the audience to get fully engrossed in Stranger’s story. The wonderfully cast five person production featured Ashley Honore as Nadia, Stranger’s wife that gave up her dreams, Lance Newton as a slick African-American businessman, Edwin, Wendy Robie as the widow Lucinda, and Gene Cordon as the alcoholic Sheriff Ward, who looked as though he stepped right out of the 1800’s, complete with white handlebar mustache. The cast brought this American play to life and showed what a great group of people, from production to performance, can bring to the stage.

The play was performed at Chicago Dramatists, an organization in Chicago with a single mission: to find and nurture plays and playwrights that bring a new voice to the American stage. It’s a safe and encouraging environment where actors, playwrights, producers, and directors can come together to bring American features to life. It’s a refreshing concept in our oversharing, judgmental, sometimes overly critical society. And while Chicagoans have a plethora of playhouses and stages to choose from, Dramatists offers a raw originality that you can’t find at some of the larger production houses. And if Dramatists continues to have plays like Southbridge grace its stage, then you better reserve some permanent seats in the small theatre; you might just find yourself sitting in front of the next great American play. Southbridge runs through March 3^rd at Chicago Dramatists (1105 W Chicago Ave) Run Time: 2hr

Something interesting is showing at Auditorium Theater this weekend. I say interesting because it’s one of the few words I can think of to sum up the Joffrey ballet’s fall program ‘Human Landscapes.’ Comprised of three pieces, Forgotten Land, Pretty BALLET and The Green Table, Human Landscapes explores the human spirit, interpreting life, relationships, romance, and death, in the most interesting of ways.

The first performance, Forgotten Land, was inspired by a painting of women on a beach by Edvard Munch. This piece is supposed to ‘invoke treasured memories of lost homelands, lost lovers and lost time.’ It’s difficult to watch a ballet portraying a painting when one has never seen the painting. And while the dancers were beautiful, I did not get the impression that the choreographer obviously was trying to convey, though I am not an interpreter of ballet or art. It was an interesting piece to say the least, but I had high hopes for the next piece, Pretty BALLET.

I’d like you to close your eyes and imagine a ballet. Any ballet. And now picture the dancers dancing that ballet. Have an image in your mind? If you do, it’s most likely that Pretty BALLET is a pretty accurate representation of your imagination. The performance delivers what its name promises; it is a pretty ballet. The curtain opens and dancers in long tutus stand surrounded by mist, a beautiful dancer with red shoes held in the air, and the women twirl and the men leap; oh what a pretty thing. The ballet is a perfect combination of femininity and masculinity that explores ‘the subject of ballet itself as a balance between romantic ideals and industrious principles.’ Interesting, I guess I am getting better at interpreting ballets.

And finally, like any good tv marathon, the show you want to see is always at the end. The final performance in the evening, The Green Table, was by far the standout performance of the evening for the Joffrey. First premiering in 1932, The Green Table is a rather dated piece, but one that still resonates with audiences. It starts and ends with, what else, a green table. Humorous caricatures of diplomats gather around the table bickering and disputing and until –bang—they incite a war. There enters the character of death, beautifully performed by Fabrice Calmels, which ‘takes’ victims of the war from on and off the battlefield, sometimes in a passionate way, others in a harsh, cruel way. This is the one performance that does not require a whole lot of interpretation, but one that requires thought and appreciation for the ballet as a whole as a representation of death and war.

An interesting evening of ballet awaits you in Human Landscapes. It’s a much more modern, angular fall production, and if you are not a fan of modern ballet, this performance might not be the best for you. However, if you are in the mood for an interesting evening, Human Landscapes shows through October 28^th at the Auditorium Theater.

The government is feeding you lies. The Numberless are here to bring you the truth of what really happened. No, this isn’t a story ripped from conspiracy theorist’s website; this is RISE OF THE NUMBERLESS, a new glam rock production playing at the Flat Iron Arts Building in Wicker Park. So don those four cornered glasses, skinny jeans, and scarves and get ready to rebel – hipster style.

From the moment you arrive at the Flat Iron you are brought into a rebellious movement that has been going on for generations. You are greeted by ‘the Numberless,’ (the cast already in character) and offered cans of PBR and ear plugs (both of which I highly recommend you take). I thankfully had a seat in front of a speaker, but much of the audience was left standing in true underground-fight-the-power rally fashion. Throughout the 90 minute show (without intermission), the ensemble cast tell their story of a futuristic/historic/quasi realistic/science fiction world where a group of underground throwaway Americans rebel against their government for acknowledgement and equality.

The basic story :: in the future Congress passes a law mandating that each family is only allowed to have one child who is then encoded with a number on their wrist. Any additional child a family produces is illegal, given no number (hence the ‘numberless’) and sent to live in secrecy in pods across the country, their very existence denied by the government. This all occurred 25 years ago according to the play, making this an interesting past/future timeline. The Numberless are now fighting back and we learn the history of the each member, tragic events that lead to the downfall of their first rebellion, and their resurgence into normal society.

The interesting story and history of the Numberless are told by the ensemble cast of ‘RISE OF THE NUMBERLESS’ through monologues, reenactments and of course glam rock. Some of the pieces are better than others and some cast members shine much more brightly in this loud, foot stomping performance and as an audience member, you must have a willing suspension of disbelief and an uncanny ability to follow the storyline. It is a little jumpy in parts, but the cast does a fairly good job at distinguishing past events from present events through their eyes. As you are brought into the numberless world of rebellion and rock, try not to dissect the story too much (even the Hunger Games left the reader with a lot questions about the context and environment). The play is not about the finite details, it’s about escapism, and ‘RISE OF THE NUMBERLESS’ is a departure into another world (be it historic or futuristic) for 90 minutes of your life. Enjoy the ride, but be warned if you are not a fan of dark crowded spaces, standing for a 90 minute show, or are simply don’t like loud eardrum-erupting music,  ‘NUMBERLESS’ might not be for you. But the music is actually very good and the songs and lyrics are all original. Audiences looking for a departure, or a little bit of fight-the-power energy, head to Wicker Park and see ‘NUMBERLESS,’ you won’t be disappointed. Careful though, you could be found to be a Numberless sympathizer and be jailed, banished into exile, or killed. Totally worth the risk to see it.

What price would you put on family? On every single object your family owned? What price would you put on memories? On jealousy, envy, bitterness? These are only some of the questions an audience will reflect on about after they see The Price at Raven Theater. The Price, a play written by Arthur Miller, set in 1966, in an old attic piled high with antique furniture, stored away mementos, and buried memories. Two brothers, played by Chuck Spencer and Jon Steinhagen, meet in the attic to sort through their deceased parents’ belongings. Decades of sacrifice, resentment, bitterness and jealousy ignite when the fraternal debate moves beyond the costs and values of the items to the price and successes of their own lives.

The beauty of the play is that is doesn’t require a lot of deep thought and analysis to see what Miller was really trying to get across. As Director Michael Menendian states, “[the play] deals with universal issues of family loyalty, sibling rivalry and commitment to a certain code of conduct. I want the audience to question what they would do in the shoes of the characters.” So what would you do if you were the aging Victor on the brink of retirement, forced to go into active police duty to help support your sick, out-of-work father and ultimately sell away his possessions in order to put the money towards your future? What would you do if you were Walter, the successful brother whose familial loathing caused a chasm between you and your only sibling, a sibling who resents your choices and wants nothing to do with you no matter how many olive branches you extend? All very tough questions for someone to face.

While this play still translates well into our  modern day, ultimately what holds this back is how drastically different of a time this play was set in. As twenty and thirty-somethings, we’ve all read or heard stories from our parents and grandparents of the difficult times the depression and WWII caused. And we know that in the 60’s, most people were able to retire at the age of fifty with a modest retirement fund. But what is hard to gauge from the play are the cultural and socioeconomic pressures that were being placed on the characters of the time. It’s all understated throughout the play, only glimpses through stories and memories of the characters. But it obviously is necessary to truly grasp the weight of the decisions the characters are making, particularly when the appraiser in the play offers Victor $1150 for all his father’s furniture and possessions. That is a small sum by today’s standards, but in the 1960’s that was a huge chunk of change, or as my fiancé said, a new car. It’s the only thing that would come between an understanding of the play and an empathy for the play’s theme. While I can empathize with Victor and Walter’s sibling tension and fighting, I cannot wholly understand the impact of the value they place on the furniture for that time.

The Price really is a multifaceted play. On the one hand, the actual price in the play is focused around the possessions in the brownstone which is about to get demolished. The price being offered for Walter and Victor’s childhood toys, furniture, and the like by the eighty-nine year-old appraiser. On the other hand, and the real deep meaning within the play is the price one has to pay to get to where they end up in life. Walter ends up a wealthy and successful doctor, but his success came with an alienated brother, a wife who divorced him, and an emotional and mental breakdown. Victor ends up a police officer, walking the same beat for twenty eight years, afraid to move on with his life, afraid of ending up like his father, and regretting that he was never able to continue his education. The price they paid for their decisions, and the price we all pay for our decisions, is something no one wants to think about. Arthur Miller brings to light a painful and deeply personal subject in this play. Between the estranged brothers, the disappointed wife, and the philosophical appraiser, the themes of life, loss, and the choices we make are thrust to the forefronts of the audience’s minds. 

What I can say is this very worth the price to see The Price at Raven Theater. That is, if you value my opinion.