Displaying items by tag: Katelyn Montgomery

Coming of age stories resonate more profoundly when they mirror the lived reality of a real person.  That’s why the firecracker of a play, Hail Mary/Maria, that’s just begun its far too short run at Theater Wit, is must-see theater for just about anybody who counts themselves as a member of the human family.  If you’ve ever been young or wracked with self-doubt, Hail Mary/Maria proves there are avenues that lead to clarity and self-actualization.  Making the play act as a raucous, hugely humorous and often touching guide on how to find them.

Very much a reflection of playwright RJ Silva’s own experiences, the story follows the life of Kid (Juan Sedonio), a teenager who immigrated to the US with his mother from the Philippines when he was in the seventh grade.  Now in an all-boys high school, he’s a little bit of a loner and completely hooked on the exploits of his favorite pro-wrestler, Maria.  He’s also, with great misgivings, about to embark on his first journey into romance.

A badass brawler with heart, it’s Maria we first meet when the play opens. She pumps up the crowd with her bravado, high voltage smile and saucy hair flips.  A stark contrast with the subdued and self-enclosed Kid, Maria’s the bolt of energy that serves to ignite a story that’s about to match her spirit.

The core of the play starts innocently enough in school with Kid, which is short for Kindness, sitting alone listening to music through his earbuds.   He’s joined by another student who casually strikes up a conversation.  Confident and friendly, the boy is feeling Kid out, trying to learn more about him.  He trips over the typical stumbling blocks when it comes to pronouncing foreign names and learning new things about a different culture.  But there’s no animus. He’s open and curious. They both tap into their recall and remember being aware of each other from previous school encounters.  Blond and self-assured, the new arrival’s name is Jack and it’s clear he wants to be friends.  Since Jack (Aidan Leake) is really into the new Avatar movie, we can tell it’s the original he’s talking about and that the play’s setting is fifteen years or so in the past. 

We can see too from their exchange that Kid, although on the surface quiet and retiring, has some spunk to him.  Once he begins talking about why he’s such a fan of the wrestling phenom, Maria, played with zestful impeccability by Carina Lastimosa, we get a glimpse of his animated side.  To Kid, she’s an underdog who became the top dog. An inspiration.  There’s a lot of pride that comes pouring through in his admiration for her.

We meet Kid’s other role model at home.  It’s his Mom, Marie (Marie Tredway).  The quintessential Filipina nurse; tireless, indispensable, magnanimous, Marie’s got an iron core that’s fortified and sustained by her faith and belief in Mama Mary.  A figure most of us know as the Blessed Virgin Mary.  In Kid’s household, she has a shrine set up in her honor and consulted by Kid as well as his Mom for guidance and advise.  Filling two roles, Lastimosa shows how easily she can portray widely divergent personalities.  As Mama Mary, she beautifully personifies a potent blend of compassion and enlightened understanding when responding to Kid’s solicitations.

Scenes that take you inside Kid’s home are some of the most moving and treasured in the production.  Thanks in no small part to Katelyn Montgomery’s wonderfully evocative set.  They’re portals into a world rich in tradition, strongly held belief and the type of family values that insure cohesion.  Attributes that on one hand are wonderfully sublime and on the other almost quaint. The types of characteristics that may have once flourished in the American culture as well; but have long since dissipated or atrophied.    

Very much a collaborative effort, Hail Mary/Maria is directed by Mr. Silva’s husband, Adam Reed.  The unconventionality of the central character is complemented by an equally unorthodox directorial approach in Mr. Reed’s debut directing effort.  One that fills the one-act performance with heaps of emotional and physical dynamism while encouraging plenty of audience interaction.

Pro wrestling of various shades have long been extremely popular in the Philippines.  From the responses of the audience Saturday night, it has a strong following in this country too.  Rather than conjuring it only through the imagination, Hail Mary/Maria brings it live and center stage, giving the uninitiated a taste of its electric appeal.   The ploy works beautifully, making Hail Mary/Maria as much a rewarding visceral charge as it is a splendid theatrical offering. 

From that initial conversation between Kid and Jack, you somehow know Jack had more than friendship on his mind when he sat down next to Kid that day.  And he likely sensed that Kid was interested in him, too.  As we all know, a lot can be transmitted in a simple glance.  

Kid and Jack inch their way toward understanding one another and liking each other even more as their familiarity grows.  Something that triggers trepidation and even fear in Kid.  How can he reconcile who he is with what he thinks should be? How that dilemma is resolved is what makes this project so appealing.  There’s a wholesomeness to it that feels very honest.  The solid gold cast help make Hail Mary/Maria a treasure.  Both Sedonio and Leake fill their roles with the kind of intangibles that make what they present on stage memorable.  A statement that’s just as true for Lastimosa and Tredway.  You can’t help but want to see them all in other works that showcase their skill and gifts as well as this project one does.

The only pressing question now might be, what’s the fledgling entertainment enterprise going to roll off their runway next?

Hail Mary/Maria

Presented by Nova Entertainment

Thursday, August 20^th  - 7:30pm

Friday, August 21^st – 7:30pm

Saturday, August 22^nd  -  2:30pm & 7:30pm

Sunday, August 23^rd  -  2:30pm

Venue:  Theater Wit in Theater 2

1229 W. Belmont Avenue

Chicago, IL  60657

For more information and tickets:  https://www.theaterwit.org/tickets/productions/602/performances

Highly Recommended

The Story Theatre’s world‑premiere staging of Paul Michael Thomson’s Pot Girls bursts to life in a vivid, full‑throttle production at Raven Theatre. Pot Girls is a sharp, funny, and thought‑provoking new play that fuses feminist history, artistic accountability, and a rainbow haze of 1980s, weed‑soaked poetry and art.

Inspired as a thematic counterpart to Caryl Churchill’s Top Girls, Pot Girls - directed by Ayanna Bria Bakari - leans into humor, theatricality, and a cloud of intoxication to explore how women create, collaborate, and collide both onstage and off. And in a bit of theatrical serendipity, both productions are currently running simultaneously at Raven Theatre. In fact, Raven Theatre and The Story Theatre are even offering special marathon days, giving audiences the chance to catch a matinee of Lucky Stiff’s directed Top Girls, stick around for some conversation with the creative team, then return in the evening for Pot Girls - all at a discounted rate (click here for details).

The story follows Caryl herself, a playwright on the cusp of her first major, Olivier‑eligible production - a show designed to spotlight women in the workplace. The year is 1982 and as she toasts the achievement with friends, her colorful London flat transforms into an impromptu hub where a lively, time‑spanning cohort of feminist writers drop in to drink, smoke, debate, and probe the ideas she’s celebrating.

The haze of a jubilant night eventually clears, and what remains is a sharper truth: this play lays bare the exhausting contortions women are expected to perform just to gain a foothold as authors and playwrights. It highlights not only the uphill battle of competing in a landscape where men still discriminate against women in their productions regarding creative authority, but also the added burden of being scrutinized for perfect political correctness the moment a woman-led production finally reaches the stage.

The many ways that women as authors have been discriminated against and unfairly censored or even hunted over the centuries is thoroughly laid out in a fantastic cast of intelligent expressive women.

The period feels fully realized, aided by Katelyn Montgomery’s evocative scenic work and Racquel Postilgione’s sharp costume design.

As the play unfolds, Caryl is pulled through a tangle of personal and professional upheaval - romantic tension with her partner Edith, pointed accusations about her racial blind spots, and the mounting pressure to tell women’s stories with integrity. Around her, the ensemble slips effortlessly between roles, embodying historical figures, colleagues, and critics who collectively push her toward an uncomfortable, necessary self‑examination.

In Pot Girls, Brenna DiStasio centers the production as Caryl, offering a steady emotional clarity that grounds the play’s wilder turns and quietly establishes her as its moral anchor. Ireon Roach, as Edith, wields her well-rolled blunt with sharp wit and charismatic intelligence, building a lively, charged dynamic with DiStasio that keeps the energy flowing like a river.

Peter Ferneding lends understated but essential texture as he shifts through historical and contemporary figures, his easy timing playing neatly against Tamsen Glaser’s agile, precise turns as multiple feminist icons, which bring warmth, wit, and tonal delicacy.

Vibrant, expressive energy radiates through each of Emily Marso’s roles, elevating every moment and sparking electric interplay with Glaser and Maya Bridgewater. Glaser and Bridgewater, in turn, deliver a fierce yet deep human presence across their characters, adding tension and charge to the ensemble’s debates. One of Bridgewater’s characters delivers a beautifully crafted, cathartic reflection on a young girl’s kidnapping and rape - written with such grace and restraint that it resonates powerfully with the conversations society is having today about trafficking and vulnerability.

Rounding out the cast, Laney Rodriguez displays a great sense of humor and threads emotional nuance through each character she inhabits, serving as a subtle connective force while carving out memorable moments opposite DiStasio and Roach. As a unit, the ensemble stays quick, engaged, and combustible, amplifying the play’s ideas with palpable charge.

Ultimately, Pot Girls crackles with ensemble energy and sharp ideas, offering an engaging, thought‑rich night of theatre for anyone drawn to fresh feminist work.

Highly recommended.

Pot Girls has been extended through March 8^th. For tickets and/or more show information, click here.

This review is proudly shared with our friends at www.TheatreInChicago.com.