PicksInSix Review: Windows - PrideArts
Living Room Drama: Peeping Tom Edition
PicksInSix® Review | Guest Contributor | Perse Grammer
From the moment we step into the Hoover-Leppen Theatre, the “Windows” world premiere—produced by PrideArts—has already begun. Olivia (Lucabella Sangin) lounges on the living room couch, staring at two colorfully lit windows. Behind her hang a dozen white window frames and a gauzy black drape, courtesy of Hayley Wallenfeldt’s scenic design. Behind those are the neighbors in 14E (David Lipshutz and Ashley Kramer) getting ready for the day. This is the quietest moment before the show begins—because once it starts, we’ll hardly have time to catch our breath.
“Windows” takes place in the apartment of old friends and roommates, Natalie (Vinita Dixit) and Clay (River Ruiz). Their living room has been invaded by Natalie’s girlfriend, Olivia, whose soccer career was ended by a life—and leg—shattering injury. While the roommates drown in work and relationship induced stress, Olivia adds to the growing pile of trash (designed by Maddi Waneka) and daydreams about tragedies befalling the 14E neighbors. Tensions rise as Clay’s toxic ex-boyfriend arrives, Olivia picks apart his life to avoid her own and Natalie spreads herself too thin to prevent the household from imploding.
The humor is consistent and strong. Director Taylor Pasche has successfully coalesced playwright Matt Schutz’s dialogue and the cast’s delivery into pure hilarity. The quips are bountiful, many with a subtle Gen Z flavor. Whether a character is attempting to hide a cereal bowl or perform a dramatic dance, choreographed by Mads Wren, the physical comedy isn’t to be ignored either. Every actor had the audience in stitches, but Kramer’s performance of Emily, Natalie’s supposedly quiet new friend, merited a round of applause upon her exit. She and Lipshutz are cartoon characters who come to life when acting out Olivia’s melodramatic fantasies of the 14E neighbors. Valerio Gardner’s sound design and Lea Davis’s lighting gel seamlessly to transport us into these silly daydreams. Slow moments are exceedingly rare, if not extinct altogether.
Though she initially enters raving emphatically about her flaky coworker, Dixit’s performance as Natalie grounds us in this chaotic household. She’s the glue that keeps Olivia from spiraling further and Clay from kicking her out. But unfortunately, “Windows” doesn’t allow Natalie to be more than that. We know she is hanging on by a string—rejected from medical school, working a stressful furniture sales job and caretaking for Olivia. But in a story about rebuilding futures, Natalie’s is left unexplored. Unlike Olivia and Clay, she has no grand outburst forcing others to acknowledge her struggles. Dixit is heart-wrenching when she bursts into Olivia’s daydream and confronts her about no longer being the woman she loves. But we never hear what the real Natalie thinks, just Olivia’s version. While the play recognizes Natalie’s difficult position, it doesn’t give her the opportunity to grow out of it as her own person. “Windows” ends with all three roommates looking toward a brighter future—but Natalie’s is only an extension of Olivia’s and Clay’s.
The character of Olivia, however, does an excellent job at capturing two coexisting truths, those being: what happened to Olivia is devastating, and, that she’s often awful to be around. Schutz doesn’t shy away from or sanitize the anger and depression prominent in recently-disabled people. Sangin slips easily between sweetness, snark, and a deep sadness. She pries into Clay’s personal life, refuses Natalie’s attempts to keep her healthy, and lies to both of them about cleaning her rising mountain of trash. But side by side with Olivia’s unbearable presence is her looming fear of the future. She can’t imagine being anyone worthy if she’s not a soccer player, and her window-watching daydreams are rife with tragedy to ignore the one haunting her own life. Emily Brink’s costume design only aids the sensation that Olivia is in stasis. Through most of the show, she’s stuck in the same dark shirt and sweatpants, while everyone else is in quick change city. Olivia’s eventual improvement doesn’t come from reinventing her future. It comes from knowing that she can. A lesson that is repeatedly presented to her by others, but in a very human fashion, it’s one she can’t internalize until she figures it out on her own time.
At first glance, “Windows” is a quippy play. But when you pull back the curtain and peer inside, it’s also a poignant reflection on transitioning from escaping your life, to changing it. Relentlessly funny and endearingly emotional, it is a play for anyone who’s been scared of an uncertain future—that is to say, everyone.
GUEST CONTRIBUTOR | PERSE GRAMMER is a multidisciplinary writer and theatre artist based in Chicago. Grammer is currently developing their latest play through a mentorship with Sandy Shinner at Shattered Globe Theatre. They hold a BFA in Playwriting from The Theatre School at DePaul University. www.persegrammer.com
PHOTO | Logan and Candice Conner, Oomphotography
PrideArts
presents
World Premiere
Windows
3656 N. Halsted
through August 23, 2026
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