It’s not as if these three companies couldn’t find places to perform. One of them, Theatre Zarko, even has a little studio of its own, suitable for putting on shows.
Best of Chicago voting is live now. Vote for your favorites »
Of the bunch, Livewire is dealing with the most conventional material. Playwright Bekah Brunstetter has been through the MFA system and clearly absorbed its lore, so her Oohrah!, unsurprisingly, is a smart, well-structured, just-goofy-enough, small-cast dramedy dealing with a current social issue at the domestic level. Ron is a U.S. army captain who’s just returned from his fourth tour of duty in Iraq to find his wife stressed, his tween daughter training for combat, his Vietnam vet father-in-law sliding into dementia, and his live-in sister-in-law having second thoughts about marrying her sweet, stupid slacker boyfriend. What am I going to say next? You’re right: Into this mix walks a stranger with a problem.
If Brunstetter departs from pattern, it’s in never permitting that stranger to take control of the narrative. She might’ve ended up with a more interesting play if she had. What she’s got instead is a neatly symmetrical, rather pointless tale that the Livewire cast can nevertheless act the hell out of. Oohrah! is just the sort of thing people used to criticize Steppenwolf for staging back when ensemble members were making more of the decisions and seemingly picking scripts on the basis of one or two really cool roles. Calliope Porter and Joel Ewing manage a bittersweet nuance as the sister-in-law and her fiance. Madeline Long is age-appropriate as the tween daughter, a tomboy trying to fight back boobs. And Josh Odor’s Ron registers as a quiet yet vivid paradox: a rock of a man who’s also a terrible mess.
Still, the exploited women of He Who have got nothing on the gay men, lesbians, and crossdressers of the Inconvenience’s Hit the Wall. Ike Holter’s fiery, funny play recounts the Stonewall riots of 1969, when customers at a Greenwich Village gay bar—the Stonewall Inn—fought back against a police raid, sparking a revolt that became symbolic of the struggle for LGBT rights. And Eric Hoff’s cast bring it stunningly to life.
Through 4/8: Wed-Sat 8 PM, Sun 4 PM, check with theater for repertory schedule, Steppenwolf Theatre Company, 1624 N. Halsted, 312-335-1650, $15-$20 per play, $45 for a three-play pass.
