Victory Gardens Theater

Route 66’s ‘On an Average Day’ Brings the House Down at Chicago’s Victory Gardens

HollywoodChicago.com — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 12:34:10 -0700

CHICAGO – Chicago theatre often surprises its audiences in the notorious fizzling summer months by providing us what I like to call “Christmas in July”. In this case, though, it’s August and Santa has hopped onto Route 66. He has carried with him in his sack an unparalleled gift from Chicago’s newest theatre company.

Rating: 4.5/5.0

Stef Tovar – a Jeff Award-winning actor and American Theater Company ensemble member – recently launched the aptly named Route 66 Theatre Company. It’s an artistic development hoping to cultivate stories that link both the cultures and communities of Los Angeles and Chicago.

Luckily for Chicagoans, the Chicago-based Tovar has decided to mount the company’s first theatrical endeavor at Chicago’s very own Victory Gardens Theater.

Co-produced with the Vs. Theatre Company in Los Angeles, “On an Average Day” tells the bleak and often-darkly comedic story of two long-estranged brothers torn apart by the kind of emotionally distressful past only parents can provide.

Stef Tovar (Jack) and Johnny Clark (Robert) star in “On an Average Day” at the Victory Gardens Greenhouse Theater.
Photo credit: Route 66 Theatre Company

John Kolvenbach (celebrated in Chicago for penning the Steppenwolf Theatre Company’s “Love Song”), masterfully allows the relationship between Robert (Johnny Clark) and Jack (Stef Tovar) to slowly reveal the secrecy and desperation that drenches it.

While the tension that Kolvenbach manifests is almost unyielding, he shows his true proficiency in acutely knowing the exact dramatic beats to reel back in. The dialogue is unapologetically real. Its rapidity and diction reflect those of an actual conversation transpiring between two individuals as opposed to a theatrical one.

This yields a result that’s absolutely searing.

The performances by both Clark and Tovar are arguably two of the best Chicago has witnessed all year. These are performers who view and treat acting as a true craft. Being able to watch their work up close is as hypnotizing and surreal as experiencing a glass blower create his sculptures from mere sand.

Stef Tovar (Jack) and Johnny Clark (Robert) star in “On an Average Day” at the Victory Gardens Greenhouse Theater.
Photo credit: Route 66 Theatre Company

Living as a hermit in the dilapidated family home, Clark’s deranged Robert soars in his simultaneous pathology and desperation. Robert’s tumultuous and possibly narcotic-driven past remains for the most part unknown to us. We meet the half-starved, mentally unbalanced young man who finds himself on trial for a vicious crime.

Clark skillfully plays Robert with unsettling yet enigmatic accuracy. He raises his vocal octave and adds quirks (or really ticks) to the character that viscerally unveil the decrepit state he’s in. These also impel the audience to wonder whether he will in fact snap in the very theatre.

Clark miraculously pays attention to every last detail of Robert from the way he scratches his beard to the way he throws back a can of beer.

Tovar performs the topically controlled family man Jack. He’s Robert’s older sibling and he’s simultaneously reserved and ready to crack. Tovar is a whiz at revealing the meaty yet unanswered space between every one of Kolvenbach’s lines. He succeeds at captivating his audience.

The chemistry that these actors have created between the two brothers proffers such an authenticity that it almost makes you feel like a peeping Tom looking into another family’s kitchen windows.

Jack returns to visit Robert in his pathetic state in hopes to reach a grisly conclusion. The reunion, though, results in the often edge-of-your-seat discussion of their familial histories. The writing and acting cohesively work to grab you – and hold you – at almost every moment of the work.

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Though reflective of the validity of the writing, the directing might benefit from some added variation in movement. It’s often what the artists don’t reveal that makes “On an Average Day” so mesmeric. The piece climaxes in a stage combat scene so frighteningly real that it puts most Hollywood movies to shame.

This is storytelling at its finest.

Indeed, the entire work takes place in just one conversation between two men (and quite a few beers) in a run-down kitchen. The fact that this angle is so ostensibly minute – coupled with its ability to provide one of the most gripping dramas in recent memory – makes you truly believe that big things really do come in small packages. You won’t want to miss this one.

“On an Average Day” runs through Sept. 6, 2008 at the Victory Gardens Theater at 2257 N. Lincoln Ave. in Chicago. The show runs Thursdays and Fridays at 7:30 p.m., Saturdays at 5:30 p.m. and 8:30 p.m. and Sundays at 2:30 p.m. Tickets cost $25. To purchase tickets and for more information, visit here or call 773-871-3000.

For a complete listing of all shows and reviews in Chicago, visit our partner TheatreInChicago.com. For half-price Chicago theater tickets, visit our partner Goldstar.

By ALISSA NORBY
Staff Writer
HollywoodChicago.com
alissa@hollywoodchicago.com

Chicago’s ‘Brontë’ Masterfully Resurrects Three of Planet’s Most Examined Scribes of All Time

HollywoodChicago.com — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 02:13:50 -0700

CHICAGO – Three of the planet’s most examined scribes of all time – a trio of Victorian spinsters, in fact, who are credited with some of the most passionate literature ever written – are resurrected in the meticulous Chicago production of “Brontë” from illustrious playwright Polly Teale.

Susan Shunk (as Charlotte Brontё on left), Rachel
Sondag (as Anne Brontё in the middle) and Carrie A.
Coon (as Emily Brontё on right) in “Brontë”.
Photo credit: Johnny Knight

Teale explores the simply celibate life in which storied sisters Charlotte, Emily and Anne mostly only have themselves, their pens and their unbridled imaginations. Was it their chastity that unleashed so much repressed titillation or was such eroticism merely a fiery choice for absorbing prose?

Moreover, why well over a century later do their words still haunt our minds? In her decision to return to the beginning with “Brontë,” Teale says we are fascinated by these maidens because they “broke the mold against all odds” and yet “they were made by it,” too.

Having to publish in pseudonym because only men at that time were permitted the right to write, Teale credits their self-educated father as the sisters’ door-opening and awe-inspiring catalyst.

While they were certainly spurred by their brother’s tumultuous personal life, too, it was their father who resiliently swore by the transformative power of literature and art.

In the Chicago realization of this storied mammoth, director James Bohnen about faces the Victory Gardens Greenhouse Theater into the Brontë parsonage in Haworth, West Yorkshire.

Set in the year 1845, the cast clearly co-exists in harmony without a weak link and with authentic conviction. That said, Linda Gillum plays the decisive oddity as she is the sisters’ manifestation in written form who alternates from a feather-obsessed worrywart to an erotic canine.

With a 15-minute intermission, the performance’s top-drawer staying power helps you disregard its relatively lengthy time commitment. As a notice to the red-ink department, though, the grandeur of the subject matter sometimes lends to excessive gabbing that can dash out one ear just as swift as it scurried in the other.

More so than her sisters, Carrie A. Coon as the second-eldest Emily epitomizes the readily regarded phenom who died after a fleeting blaze of genius as realized in “Wuthering Heights”. It was her sole novel.

Susan Shunk (as Charlotte Brontё on left), Carrie A. Coon (as Emily Brontё in the middle) and Patrick Clear (as Patrick Brontё on right) in “Brontë” at the Victory Gardens Greenhouse Theater in Chicago.
Photo credit: Johnny Knight

Susan Shunk plays the eldest, Charlotte (best known for famous British novel “Jane Eyre”), and Rachel Sondag rounds out the trio as the youngest, Anne, who history has overshadowed in favor of her more fêted sisters. Sondag typifies Anne’s more sharp, realistic and ironic writing style as a stark contrast to the romanticism exemplified by Charlotte and Emily.

Patrick Clear as Patrick Brontë – who plays their curate father and changed the family’s last name from Brunty to Brontë – masterfully oscillates from a temporary blind man to various other characters through the devices of dialect and mind/body renovation.

Gregory Anderson as the brother, Branwell, delves deeply into the mind of a man who was regarded by the family as its most talented member. Plagued by insurmountable expectations, though, he was driven to binge drinking. Only one scene in this production, though, harks back to the central addiction that launched the meeting of his grim reaper.

Together, these five Brontës stand the test of time as one of the most imperative stories in which to immerse in both written and theatrical form. This Chicago production of the family’s legend would sell even the Brontës themselves on the sweeping meaning of their message.

“Brontë” runs through May 4 at the Victory Gardens Greenhouse Theater at 2257 N. Lincoln Ave. in Chicago. 7:30 p.m. Wednesdays through Saturdays; 2:30 p.m. on Sundays. While tickets cost $35 to $40, they are half price with this link.

By ADAM FENDELMAN
Editor-in-Chief
HollywoodChicago.com
adam@hollywoodchicago.com

Top Chicago Theater Picks For March 27, 2008: ‘Driving Miss Daisy,’ ‘Dead Man’s Cell Phone,’ ‘Bronte’

HollywoodChicago.com — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 21:56:22 -0700

CHICAGO – Free or half-price Chicago theater and comedy tickets. No catch. Just click the link, take just a moment to make a free Goldstar account (or log into your existing Goldstar account) and you’re on your way.

This week, we feature the Pulitzer Prize-winning play “Driving Miss Daisy,” the quirky comic adventure “Dead Man’s Cell Phone” at the Steppenwolf, the Victorian literary drama “Bronte” at the Victory Gardens Greenhouse Theater, Neil LaBute’s acclaimed “In a Dark Dark House” at the Profiles Theatre and the first full-length Tennessee Williams play “Candles to the Sun” also at Victory Gardens.

For each of the Chicago productions we feature below, Goldstar requires you to create a free account, which takes but a minute. You’ll then have access to all the free and half-price tickets to top-quality productions that your heart desires. Here are this week’s selections and deals!

Title: “Driving Miss Daisy”
Venue: Mayslake Peabody Estate in Oakbrook, Ill.
Dates: April 2, 3 and 9, 2008
Full Price: $16-$26 Partner Price: $8-$13!
Description: First Folio presents Alfred Uhry’s Pulitzer Prize-winning play “Driving Miss Daisy”. This story details the relationship between an elderly Jewish matron and her African-American chauffeur over the span of several decades. Uhry has created two outsiders who come to a mutual respect based on their independence, strength and integrity.
Snag your “Driving Miss Daisy” tickets now!

Title: “Dead Man’s Cell Phone”
Venue: Steppenwolf Upstairs Theatre
Dates: March 27 to June 1, 2008
Full Price: $40-$68 Partner Price: $20-$34!
Description: Jean is sleepwalking through her life until she answers a dead man’s cell phone. It turns out to be a wake-up call that sends her on a date with the dead man’s brother, a drinking binge with his wife and a mysterious rendezvous with his mistress as Jean rediscovers herself.

Snag your “Dead Man’s Cell Phone” tickets now!

Title: “Bronte”
Venue: Victory Gardens Greenhouse Theater
Dates: March 28 to May 2, 2008
Full Price: $40 Partner Price: $20!
Description: This inventive drama examines the lives of three of the most studied and discussed writers of all time. Spurred by their brother’s tumultuous personal life, Charlotte, Emily and Anne Bronte write from their remote home on the Yorkshire moors. The real and the imagined collide as the characters the sisters have created come to life.

Snag your “Bronte” tickets now!

Title: “In a Dark Dark House”
Venue: Profiles Theatre
Dates: March 28 to May 11, 2008
Full Price: $15-$30 Partner Price: $7.50-$15!
Description: On the grounds of a private psychiatric facility, two brothers find themselves brought face to face with each other’s involvement in their traumatic past. In Neil LaBute’s powerful new play, these siblings must struggle to come to grips with their troubled legacy both inside and outside their dark family home.

Snag “In a Dark Dark House” tickets now!

Title: “Candles to the Sun”
Venue: Victory Gardens Greenhouse Theater
Dates: March 27 to April 25, 2008
Full Price: $25 Partner Price: $12.50!
Description: Eclipse Theatre Company presents the Chicago premiere of the first full-length Tennessee Williams play “Candles to the Sun”. Set during the Great Depression in Alabama’s coal-mining region, the play paints a portrait of the bleak lives of the miners’ families and their attempts to unionize.
Snag your “Candles to the Sun” tickets now!

By ADAM FENDELMAN
Editor-in-Chief
HollywoodChicago.com
adam@hollywoodchicago.com

Top Chicago Theater Picks For Feb. 21, 2008: ‘A Big Blue Nail,’ ‘Skin in Flames,’ ‘Botanic Garden’

HollywoodChicago.com — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 10:21:13 -0700

This week, we feature the phantasmagorical tale “A Big Blue Nail” at the Victory Gardens Theater, the mysterious drama “Skin in Flames” at Stage Left Theatre, “Botanic Garden” at the Victory Gardens Theater from Academy Award winner Olympia Dukakis, the award-winning musical “Ain’t Misbehavin’” at the Center for Performing Arts and the Pulitzer Prize-winning drama “The Time of Your Life” at the Viaduct Theater.

Title: “A Big Blue Nail”
Venue: Victory Gardens Biograph Theater
Dates: Feb. 21 to March 2, 2008
Full Price: $37-$45 Partner Price: $18.50-$22.50!
Description: This is a phantasmagorical tale that examines explorer Robert Peary’s fame as the first man to reach the North Pole, which obscured the contributions of Matthew Henson (his African-American cohort who could rightfully claim the title). Now at the end of his life with the estranged Henson knocking at his door, Peary is swept into a hallucinatory nightmare on the chaotic Polar Sea, the coast of Maine and the terrifying landscape of his guilt-ridden mind.

Snag your half-price “A Big Blue Nail” tickets now!

Title: “Skin in Flames”
Venue: Stage Left Theatre
Dates: Feb. 21 to March 29, 2008
Full Price: $20-$25 Partner Price: Free-$12.50!
Description: In this award-winning drama by Guillem Clua (translated from the Catalan), a young girl looks gently into the camera lens – her clothes and hair aflame – thrown through the air by an exploding bomb. Twenty years later, the photojournalist returns to this war-torn country and agrees to an interview with an upstart female reporter who challenges his standing as a national hero. But the hotel room where they meet holds more secrets than either expects.
Snag your “Skin in Flames” tickets now!

Title: “Botanic Garden”
Venue: Victory Gardens Greenhouse Theater
Dates: Feb. 22 to March 8, 2008
Full Price: $35 Partner Price: $17.50!
Description: Directed by Oscar-winning actress Olympia Dukakis, “Botanic Garden” is the story of Kate. She faces the daunting and humorous prospect of her first date since the death of her husband. Kate takes a stark look at her present and the choices she must make.
Snag your “Botanic Garden” tickets now!

Title: “Ain’t Misbehavin’”
Venue: Center for Performing Arts at Governors State University
Dates: March 1, 2008
Full Price: $33 Partner Price: $16.50!

Description: The joint will be jumpin’ when the Tony Award-winning musical revue “Ain’t Misbehavin’” transforms the theater into a Harlem jazz hall. It’s an evening of dazzling, jazzy fun with Fats Waller favorites like “Honeysuckle Rose,” “Tain’t Nobody’s Bizness If I Do” and “It’s a Sin to Tell a Lie”.

Snag half-price “Ain’t Misbehavin” tickets now!

Title: “The Time of Your Life”
Venue: Viaduct Theater
Dates: Feb. 22 to March 2, 2008
Full Price: $25 Partner Price: $12.50!
Description: It’s 1939 in San Francisco. Surrounded by a world on the brink of war and ravaged by depression, Nick’s Pacific Street Saloon attracts an assortment of “important nobodies” who share the common bond of searching for purpose. Their dreary routines of survival are sparked by brilliant flashes of hope and beauty as the events of a single day change their lives forever.
Snag your “The Time of Your Life” tickets now!

By ADAM FENDELMAN
Editor-in-Chief
HollywoodChicago.com
adam@hollywoodchicago.com