In her self-indulgent new play, writer-director-performer Sharon Lanza wanders the corridors of her own mind without showing much regard for the feelings or thoughts of her audience. The shape-shifting characters in this Rescuers production include an astronaut who becomes a doctor, a ballerina/cleaning lady, and a mermaid/singer/motivational speaker. Only Brad Smith as a security guard makes his character at all genuine; the other performers take a distanced, ironic approach, like space aliens parodying bad TV. As a result Lanza’s supposed exploration of love and loss has no emotional impact at all–it’s simply bewildering. And the almost total lack of movement (stiff ballroom poses don’t count) is odd in a work advertised as a “series of movement-based theatrical episodes.” –Laura Molzahn a Through 4/1: Fri-Sat 7:30 PM, Sun 3 PM, Chicago Cultural Center, studio theater, 78 E. Washington (enter at 77 E. Randolph), 773-742-8497, $10-$20.
