PicksInSix Review: Topdog/Underdog-Steppenwolf Theatre Company

Sterling Version of “Topdog/Underdog” at Steppenwolf!
PicksInSix® Review | Guest Contributor | Ronald Keaton

There is a great deal to admire about the fast-moving production of “Topdog/Underdog” at Steppenwolf, now running through November 1 in their Downstairs Theater. Originally done here in a lauded 2003 production, this sterling version of the remarkable Suzan-Lori Parks play lives up to every bit of expectation a theatregoer might conjure. The writer won a Pulitzer, after all. And it's steered by one of America's great, innovative directors in Kenny Leon, whose previous experience with this piece would seem to offer an expert's path to its fruition.

Let's begin with the language in the play. Ms. Parks has created an endlessly rhythmic verbal sound with a tempo and pace that rapidly pulls us along. It's nothing short of miraculous in its thoroughly absorbing word-music approach to the story, while in the next moment, it's guttural and emotional and rhapsodic all at once. It's a unique retelling of the Cain and Abel saga of two brothers sharing a dingy apartment—appropriately depressing and sparse in its design by Arnulfo Maldonado with gorgeous noir lighting by Lee Fiskness—as both try to survive as best they can. Then again, these brothers have been given names that rival any pair in American history for recognition and impact—Lincoln and Booth. Once we understand that they were saddled with parents of a dubious humor, we can go along for the ride of a lifetime—literally so.

Mr. Leon conducts all this so eloquently. Such conflicting ebb and flow lives in one moment, while a kind of intellectual rocket is strapped to the next in everything that is said—impactful and immediate in its layers of poetic persuasion. Enough praise cannot be offered for his guidance here, with some of the best directing strokes seen in Chicago at present from a current master of the trade.

Okay, consider some brass tacks. The brothers are thrown together in survival mode from their boyhood abandonment by their parents. And they've been stuck there. There's only one bed and no bathroom in the apartment unit they share. It belongs to Booth (a riveting, cutting portrayal by Steppenwolf ensemble member Namir Smallwood), who has no job and doesn't seem to mind it, as he's always looking for a bigger score. He constantly works on his slick three-card monte moves and patter—he has even named himself "Three-Card"—as he attempts to take up his brother's old way of working. Lincoln (Steppenwolf ensemble member Glenn Davis, so intense and emotionally committed), on the other hand, has been in limbo since his wife dumped him and simply wants to hang on to his new job as a Lincoln impersonator, complete with whiteface, at the arcade down the street. He studiously avoids the deck of cards, despite his legend, as he doesn't wish to be drawn back into hustling yet again.

But Lincoln loses his job at the arcade—budget cuts being the culprit—and the temptation of the street threatens to envelop him again. Booth tries to convince him that it's a righteous move and wants to learn more from his brother to make himself the street king he wishes to be. The brothers reflect each other in all this until a moment between them changes everything into its own kind of tragic mirror at its nadir.

This needs to be said: the chemistry between two great actors is palpable and consistent. Both these men own a real hand in sharing the Parks language and the endless rhythms so elegantly built in. Mr. Davis and Mr. Smallwood challenge each other as peers and as talents here, eye to eye. What a pleasure to see truly committed actors at the top of their game.

GUEST CONTRIBUTOR | RONALD KEATON received an Equity Jeff Award for the performance of his one-man show CHURCHILL. Coming soon, his new solo play about Ben Franklin, THE FIRST EMBASSY. www.solochicagotheatre.com.

PHOTO|

Steppenwolf Theatre Company
presents
Topdog/Underdog
Downstairs Theater
1650 N. Halsted St.
through November 1, 2026

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PicksInSix Review: You Will Get Sick - Steppenwolf Theatre Company

Electric performances, Impressive Illusions, Frustrating Script. 
PicksInSix® Review | Guest Contributor | Catey Sullivan

The irrevocable breakdown of the human body comes for all of us sooner or later, the inevitable manifestation of the most primal fear. Coping when you can no longer deny your end is nigh is a treacherous obstacle course of grieving, profundity, surrealism and gallows humor. Or so it is in Steppenwolf Theatre’s production of Noah Diaz’ “You Will Get Sick,” directed by Steppenwolf Co-Artistic Director, Audrey Francis. But for all its undeniable humor and electric performances, “You Will Get Sick” ultimately delivers a confused web of references that are more baffling than meaningful. 

The plot magically moves through time and space (terrific magic and illusion design by Skylar Fox) as a something-like-friendship develops between Callan (Steppenwolf ensemble member Amy Morton) and an unnamed man suffering from a  mysterious illness (Steppenwolf Ensemble Member Namir Smallwood). Smallwood makes the man rich, layered, and just cryptic enough to add a dash of mystery to the proceedings. His illness is never named, but his symptoms are horrific. His legs give way from under him. His smile has gone lopsided. He bleeds and vomits hay. To deal with telling his family, he plans a rehearsal. He’ll pay a stranger to call him, and to listen to him divulge his illness. Callan answers the flier he puts on a phone pole.

As Smallwood’s garish symptoms become more debilitating, Callan and the sick man form a singular bond. But this is no “Beaches.” Their relationship is as contractual as it is emotional. Callan charges every time she wipes the sick man’s brow. 

Diaz wraps a layer of magical realism around the bleak plot. Dinosaur-like birds are plucking humans up for dinner. A latter day snake oil salesman (Steppenwolf Ensemble member Cliff Chamberlain, quadruple cast and displaying comic brilliance as an overly earnest acting student) peddles “bird insurance.” Set designer Andrew Boyce pays a striking homage to Hitchcock’s 1963 masterpiece, “The Birds” (specifically the jungle gym scene where a playground is overtaken by winged predators). There are also repeated references to “The Wizard of Oz.” Late in the 85-minute drama, we see a replica of Dorothy’s costume in the 1939 movie, Raquel Adorno’s recreation detailed down to the bows on those iconic ruby slippers.

In addition to Royce’s towering web of a set (complete with massive reveal), “You Will Get Sick” is bolstered by Jen Shriever ’s lighting which veers from golden to blackout, all of it deployed with cinematic verve.

None of the above can stop the script from spiraling into whimsy. The final moments feel abrupt and incomplete. “You Will Get Sick” brings up a universally relatable existential crisis – but in the end, it is more nonsensical than not.

GUEST CONTRIBUTOR | CATEY SULLIVAN has been covering Chicago theater for more than 30 years. Her work has been published in the Chicago Sun-Times, Chicago Reader, Windy City Times, Playbill, Chicago Magazine, Chicago Tribune and New City, among others. She has an MFA in creative writing from the University of Illinois. 

PHOTO|Michael Brosilow

Steppenwolf Theatre Company
presents
You Will Be Sick
Downstairs Theater
1650 N. Halsted St.
through July 20, 2025

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BOX OFFICE: (312) 335-1650

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PicksInSix Review: The Book of Grace-Steppenwolf Theatre Company

“That is yours. This is mine.”
PicksInSix® Review | Ronald Keaton

A thought-provoking play by Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Suzan-Lori Parks is being offered at Steppenwolf’s Ensemble Theater through May 18. First produced in 2010 at New York’s Public Theater, “The Book of Grace” seeks, it seems, to create a universal story out of a particular family’s struggles. Not only does it succeed, it makes one think—hard—as the walk home from the performance begins. And because the play’s locale is the Texas/Mexico border, the relevance could not be timelier—one of the characters is a border patrol officer.

Example: “Borders and fences. They say it all without saying a word. That is yours. This is mine.” Not only does this single line reflect what’s ahead in the story, but it also applies to each character in the play. Vet (Brian Marable, a riveting, articulate presence) is that officer, a man of powerful presence and command. He’s much like who’s being honored for his work at a gathering of his peers. Vet lives in a small border town with his partner Grace (a simultaneously strong, almost impulsive performance by Zainab Jah) who is writing a book. It’s partially autobiographical in nature and observational in tone, and it’s entitled “The Book Of Grace.” It’s full of drawings and photos and essays on family, on dreaming, and on life itself. Grace is the one in the house who constantly points toward the good in life; she does her best to live it, because we see a consistent specter in Vet’s presence of threats and potential domestic abuse. Appropriately, her book is a secret from the world. It’s the one thing in her existence that is hers and hers alone. She even hides it under the living room floor, afraid of Vet’s reaction.

Enter Buddy (Steppenwolf Ensemble member Namir Smallwood in a nuanced, fascinating offering), Vet’s son and a young man who’s been through his own challenges. He’s also a veteran, one who’s earned a Bronze Star, and yet he feels forgotten in his return to a previous life of sorts. Buddy is seeing his father for the first time in 15 years, accepting an invitation from Grace to attend Vet’s presentation dinner. In limited contacts, Buddy infused himself with accomplishment (working as a kind of computer specialist for the government) and bravado; he’s a storyteller of some note, although he could be halting and hesitant as he shares about himself in toto. Vet naturally learns the truth in time, as Buddy finally shares the real purpose of his visit—he needs a job and asks Vet to help him find one with the border patrol.

The tension through the play builds as each character ‘solos’ for the audience. Grace eloquently takes us through chapters in her book, pointing out the good as well as the bad. This is her major milieu, as it is for many people with a harrowing background. Vet and Buddy are, quite frankly, two peas from the same pod in how they both are so stoic as to how life has evolved for them. Vet simply refuses to look at life in any way other than his own perceptions and demands the others in the house accept it as gospel. Buddy only identifies with how unfair life has been for him since he left the service and just wants to ‘blow something up’. We get a forceful impression that he’s hustled more than a bit for attempted comfort. And Grace stands oh-so consistently in the midst of it all, wondering how she can be heard through the din of a strong example of toxic masculinity and dealing with her own trauma in the house.

Director Steve H. Broadnax III creates a genuine mini-symphony of emotional movement that is demanded here from the Parks script. The Ensemble Theater stage is in the round and entirely utilized in Arnel Sancianco’s elegant scenic design with the living room, kitchen, outdoor patio and hallways to the rest of the house. It’s greatly complimented in the projections of designer Rasean Davonte Johnson with three large screens overlooking the stage containing chapters in Grace’s book, a home movie of Buddy as a child, and a suggestion of graffiti-drawn walls that reflect Vet’s immovable attitudes toward “aliens” and keeping one’s place. Pools of moody shading and gentle assistance for the storytellers is seen in Jason Lynch’s impressionable lighting design.

There are strong reflections here from other similar moments and characters in other pieces. Vet offers sharp echoes of Troy Maxson in August Wilson’s great treatise Fences. Buddy’s desperate nature is reflective of the younger Walter in A Raisin in the Sun who just wants his own piece of the American pie. And Grace, well, it’s her book, after all. But in doing her optimistic best to retain a stance of ‘good’ she unknowingly feeds into Vet’s intense anger and distrust. From there, “The Book of Grace” is rapidly steered to a tragic closure of those ‘dreams deferred’ that Langston Hughes carves into our conscience.

RONALD KEATON received an Equity Jeff Award for the performance of his one-man show CHURCHILL. www.solochicagotheatre.com  Coming soon, his new solo play “Echo Holler.” www.echoholler.com

PHOTO | Michael Brosilow

Steppenwolf Theatre Company
presents
Chicago Premiere
The Book of Grace

Ensemble Theatre
1650 N. Halsted St.
through May 18, 2025

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PicksInSix Review: Seagull - Steppenwolf Theatre Company

A SIGN OF THINGS TO COME
PicksInSix® Review | Ed Tracy

There were many standout performances on Saturday night at the press performance of the Steppenwolf Theatre Company’s “Seagull,” the first-ever production in The Ensemble Theater in Honor of Helen Zell, the crown jewel of the Liz and Eric Lefkosky Arts and Education Center. It’s all part of a multi-phase $73 million expansion plan for the Steppenwolf campus on North Halsted. And it’s magnificent!

With no slight intended to the superb cast that translator/adapter/director Yasen Peynahov has assembled for “Seagull,” the most significant performance of the night was the gleaming Ensemble Theater itself – a steep pitched, in the round 400-seat gem outfitted with state-of-the-art technology that extends well past the visually arresting stage to areas above and below that will serve Steppenwolf’s aspirations for the campus as a complete performance and educational center for decades to come. Bravo!

In the midst of Peynahov’s crisp and concise adaptation of Chekhov’s “Seagull” was Steppenwolf co-founder Jeff Perry—one of Chicago’s most celebrated actors—in the role of Peter Nikolaevich Sorin, the patriarch of the family whose summer estate by the lake is the playful setting for Chekhov’s generational drama of unrequited love. There is a special chemistry that Perry shares with Lusia Strus, who plays Sorin’s sister Irina, a renowned stage actress. Their heartfelt stage presence and the compassion for each other is palpable and central to the evolving story of Irina’s son, a young struggling playwright, Konstantin (Namir Smallwood) whose love for Nina (Caroline Neff) becomes an obsession that ultimately drives Nina away and into an affair with Boris Trigorin (Joey Slotnick) who is a well-known author and Irina’s lover.

Konstantin is oblivious to the affections of Masha (Karen Rodriquez) who is the daughter of the caretaker Ilya (Keith Kupferer) and yearns for his affections, sharing confidences with the doctor Yevgeny Dorn (Eric Simonson) who is coupled with Polina Andreevna (Sandra Marquez). John Hudson Odom plays Semyon Medvedenko, while Elijah Newman is everywhere as Yakov.

Peyankov has found a unique accessibility in Chekhov’s work, expertly compressing it to two well-paced acts and building around the sordid affair between Nina and Trigorin. Things smolder when they are together and their passion resonates, fanning the rejection and remorse that drive’s Konstantin’s own frustration with Nina early on. For a time, we believe in the possibility that Konstantin, who lives in the shadow of his famous mother, might rise above the torment and heartache that is all encompassing. But it is not to be. When Nina finally returns, broken and deranged, she is still undeterred in her love for Trigorin, a final rejection too great for Smallwood’s keenly introspective Konstantin to bear.

The stunning scenic element of the night is an impressive multi-purpose hydraulic system courtesy of scenic designer Todd Rosenthal which combines with evocative lighting by Marcus Doshi and sound design by Pornchanok Kanchanabanca, who also contributes original music. Ana Kuzmanic’s stellar costume creations, particularly for Strus, are a highlight. Overall, one of the most impressive aspects of this new space is the natural and rich acoustic design that allows even the hushed whispers to be heard with clarity and nuance from every seat in the house. A sign of things to come. 

Casting Note: Scott Jaeck joins the cast in the role of Sorin from May 24-June 5.

PHOTO|Michael Brosilow

Steppenwolf Theatre Company
presents

SEAGULL

Ensemble Theater
1650 N. Halsted St.
through June 12, 2022

(312) 335-1650

WEBSITE

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