PicksInSix Gold Review: An Enemy of the People - TimeLine Theatre Company

What Is The Price Of Truth?
PicksInSix® Gold Review | Ed Tracy

Precisely timed at an inflection point for the long-term stability of the performing arts in Chicago, TimeLine Theatre Company has accomplished the nearly impossible dream of planning, funding and opening a state-of-the-art black box theater that has all the makings of providing not only a sparkling, much-needed new venue for creative artists, but also a shimmering anchor for the Uptown neighborhood. It is an unqualified, stellar, multi-faceted achievement!

The opening production—the Chicago premiere of Amy Herzog’s new version of Henrik Ibsen’s “An Enemy of the People” superbly directed by TimeLine Company Member Ron OJ Parson—teams veteran TimeLine talent with exciting new actors to present a riveting drama that feels fresh, edgy and of-the-moment. And as much as the play is the thing, the aura throughout the building at last Thursday’s opening can only be described as electric long before the lights came up on John Culbert’s impressive set design—a versatile, bi-level interior that towers over the thrust stage configuration. Indeed, the black box itself, seating 250 and rising nearly three floors, provides an unmatched view for the audience of the action transpiring only feet away.

The Ibsen classic is high moral drama, raising the stakes for a small community in the late 1800s Norway trying to survive in the face of a health crisis that threatens the lives and livelihood of everyone involved, including the present and future generations of one family at the center of the story. Will Allan plays Herzog’s Dr. Thomas Stockmann whose research has concluded that the town’s baths, the lifeline of the tourist economy, have been dangerously contaminated. When word of his findings begin to emerge within a close-knit group that includes his daughter Petra (Campbell Krausen), a family friend, Captain Horster (Charles Andrew Gardner), and those responsible for the local paper, Billing (Kenneth Hamilton), Aslaksen (Anish Jethmalani) and Hovstad (Grayson Kennedy), a wave of righteous indignation initially sets in supporting Stockmann’s plan to present his findings. But when Stockmann’s brother and town mayor Peter (Behzard Dabu) gets wind of the story and raises doubts, support quickly evaporates and the tenor shifts radically away from full disclosure to hysteria and resentment. Stockmann’s case is further complicated by his father-in-law Morten Kill (David Parkes) who tips the scales on another level altogether.

Allan’s raw, passionate and finely nuanced portrayal of Stockmann brims with confidence and turns with powerful conviction, especially in his point-blank confrontations with Peter that Dabu effortlessly unravels as Herzog’s sinister, calculating opportunist who sacrifices all decency to undermine any point of view that he does not share. That familiar toppling of opinion rapidly washes over everyone except Krausen’s endearing and captivating turn as Petra and Gardner’s poised Horster, whose stalwartly loyal support holds the key to what may come next. It is a story for our time and in Parson’s expert hands, carves a wide path of fire and fury.

The creative team delivers a visually stunning palette of the period merging Christine Pascual’s exquisite costumes, evocative lighting by Brandon Wardell, a signature sound design by André Pluess and a flurry of ingenious properties of all sorts and sizes by Nicolas Bartleson.

As TimeLine meets this moment, all that has transpired before is merely the foundation—and excitement—for what is to come. The pride in accomplishment for a permanent home is richly deserved and can be seen and felt around every corner. What lies ahead is a new era for TimeLine and their unique interpretation of works, the next chapter of a theater company that has never compromised itself, pushing forward and executing at the highest level again and again. And we will have the enduring pleasure of watching, learning and enjoying that work for years to come.

PHOTO | Brett Beiner Photography

TimeLine Theatre Company
presents
Chicago Premiere
An Enemy of the People
5035 North Broadway
EXTENDED through June 27, 2026

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PicksInSix Review: A Raisin in the Sun - Court Theatre

What Happens To A Dream Deferred?
PicksInSix® Review | Ed Tracy

Lorraine Hansberry’s arresting triumph “A Raisin in the Sun” is playing now in a brilliant production at Court Theatre. Directed by Senior Artistic Producer Gabrielle Randle-Bent, the 1957 play—penned by the 27-year-old Hansberry and largely based on her own experiences growing up on the South Side of Chicago—has been lauded since for its defining influence on American theatre, the sheer poetry of the text and its stirring depiction of an urban Black family and their individual dreams for a better life.

Randle-Bent has amassed a powerhouse company, led by the remarkable performances of Shanésia Davis as Lena ‘Mama’ Younger, the matriarch of the family; her impulsive son Walter Lee, played on an emotional edge by Brian Keys; a moving and truly sentient turn by Kierra Bunch as Walter’s pregnant wife, Ruth; Martasia Jones as the progressive daughter Beneatha; and, Jeremias Darville (who alternates with Di'Aire Wilson) as Travis, the youngest son and hope for the next generation in the family.

Set in a cramped South Side tenement in the late 1950s amid the segregation and racially restrictive covenants of the era that fueled the redlining of neighborhoods, Mama and the Younger family are expecting a $10,000 death benefit payment, the legacy of her late husband’s lifetime of service and sacrifice for the family. There is debate about how the money should be spent, but not about who is the decision maker.

On one side, Walter pleads with Ruth to join him in convincing Mama to invest the sum in a liquor store that he hopes will both raise his stature from the service job he has been trapped in and provide a better life for everyone. Ruth and Beneatha, who is studying to be a doctor, both agree that it is Mama’s decision, leaving Walter to make a direct appeal that Mama rejects in favor of her own dream: a home of their own. Once that decision sinks in, Walter embarks on a three-day bender that threatens his employment and alienates everyone in the family. In a true act of trust and love, Mama makes a concession that leads to trouble ahead for the Younger family.

Along the way, we watch Beneatha evolve from a bobby socks college student to free-spirit, influenced by the scholarly atmosphere she inhabits during the day and the attention of George Murchison (Charles Andrew Gardner), a relationship she is far less attracted to than the new ideals of Joseph Asagai (Eliott Johnson), a charming Nigerian suitor who introduces her to a culture that awakens a passion within her. Julian Parker (Bobo), Vincent Teninty (Karl Lindner) and J. Nicole Brooks (Mrs. Johnson) round out the superb cast.

Andrew Boyce’s robust scenic design—an elevated, angular stage framed in a series of large-scale urban-themed panels behind the detailed close quarters of the Younger’s meager row house flat—provides multiple obscure and semi-obstructed interior views while serving as a fascinating template for cast movement in, out and within the space. Maximo Grano De Oro evocative lighting, Willow James’s subtle sound design and superb costumes by Raquel Adorno with Jeanette Rodriguez elevate Court Theatre’s production of “A Raisin in the Sun” to a new artistic standard for this enduring American classic and the show to see now in Chicago.

PHOTO | Michael Brosilow

Court Theatre
presents
A Raisin in the Sun
5535 S Ellis Ave.
Chicago, IL 60637

Extended through March 23, 2025

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(773) 753-4472

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For more reviews, visit: Theatre In Chicago

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PicksInSix® is a registered trademark of Roxbury Road Creative, LLC