Street vendors hawk hot dogs and novelties in a public square. Revelers in jeans snap pictures of one another with their smartphones, drink “Victory Beer,” and generally look like they’re headed for a football game. They’re so psyched that they start in doing a line dance, country-western style. A streamer overhead reads Veni Vidi Vici Motherf*ers.
Strangest of all, Caesar’s triumphal entrance is framed as an amalgam of pop savvy (an ad invites us to visit caesarforall.com) and National Socialist pomp (long red banners, emblazoned with an eagle and hung from pillars that could’ve been designed by Albert Speer). Clearly, we’re not in Kansas anymore, but where we are is anybody’s guess.
Teddy Ferrara is inspired by the case of Tyler Clementi, the gay Rutgers University student who committed suicide in 2010, soon after being humiliated by a webcam-wielding roommate. Shinn has turned the real-life facts inside out, however. Where Clementi’s been characterized as a quiet soul, just beginning to inch his way out of the closet, Shinn’s Ferrara produces his own webcam events, masturbating for the pleasure of an avid and apparently large audience. His on-campus death triggers a power struggle among various factions at a “large state university,” each of which wants to own Teddy’s narrative.
Through 3/24: Tue and Thu-Fri 7:30 PM, Wed 1 and 7:30 PM, Sat 3 and 8 PM, Sun 2 PM, Chicago Shakespeare Theater, Navy Pier, 800 E. Grand, 312-595-5600, chicagoshakes.com, $48-$78.
Teddy Ferrara
Through 3/3: Wed-Thu 7:30 PM, Fri 8 PM, Sat 2 and 8 PM, Sun 2 and 7:30 PM, Goodman Theatre, 170 N. Dearborn, 312-443-3800, goodmantheatre.org, $14-$45.
