PicksInSix Review: Come Back Little Sheba - American Blues Theater

Tight, Immersive ‘Sheba’ at American Blues
PicksInSix® Review | Guest Contributor | Ronald Keaton

There is a fascinating little piece of trivia connected with the lead character Lola in William Inge's breakthrough classic “Come Back Little Sheba” now playing in a tight, immersive production at American Blues Theater's studio space through March 22. Directed in subtle, loving strokes by Associate Artistic Director Elyse Dolan, the play itself was a landmark in its frank portrayal of alcoholism and many of the features of how people deal with it. Film buffs, of course, recall the great 1952 version with Shirley Booth and Burt Lancaster.

Lola and Doc Delaney are a middle-aged couple in a 20-year loveless marriage, thanks to Doc's drinking issues, which have receded for the moment, but have cost him a promising medical career. It's obvious there's not much affection in this house. They have taken on a boarder, Marie, a young college student with lots of energy and ambition—and two boyfriends. Doc sees Marie and does his best to create time with her. He makes breakfast. He comments on her clothing and her appeal. Lola likes her as well; she sees Marie as a reminder, it seems, of her lost beauty-queen youth. Now Lola does everything she can to not be obvious, but she engages in mild flirtation with both the milkman and the mailman, and to them, well, it's pretty obvious. But she perseveres. In fact, one of the great things about Lola is her endless optimism, no matter what it might cost her.

One evening, Marie invites Turk, a star athlete at school and someone she's been dating, over to study. Eventually the evening goes farther in its youthful way, and Marie and Turk spend the night together in her room. In the morning, Doc—who disapproves of such actions in a staid, conservative way—sees Turk leave. It's a trigger for him, a strong one, and he goes out on a drinking binge. It leaves Lola frantic and wondering what happened to make Doc fall off the wagon. She calls Doc's AA friends, who come to fetch him to hospital—but not before Doc has threatened his wife with a hatchet and insults her to no end. After some time in recovery, Doc comes home hesitantly to a wife who is absolutely petrified but remains loyal in an almost misguided way. They vow yet again to try harder to keep their marriage alive.

This writer admits that at first, the play seems creaky and showed its age. After all, our world has grown up and dealt with alcoholism in more mature material, especially on film. But when the engine kicked into gear as the play's conflict is played out, it took us along strongly. It is indeed a play of its time and really was a breakthrough in its willingness to lay out the alcoholic's plight from Mr. Inge's well-established Midwest platform, which in later years produced “Bus Stop,” “Picnic,” and “The Dark at the Top of the Stairs.”

Let there be no doubt that the play belongs to Lola. She's lonely. She's almost broken in spirit, but her commitment to her marriage is rock-solid, and she tries everything she can to keep it alive and filled with whatever passes for love in this house. To be honest, it would be easy to assess her chosen kindness for classic nagging and a kind of mournful cry. The cry displays itself in Lola calling out for her missing pup Sheba every night. There is also no doubt that ABT stalwart Gwendolyn Whiteside is at the top of her game. She's practically unrecognizable as Lola. Her face takes on some of the traits of her husband's disease. She's frumpy and desperate. Yet she's constantly busy with a smile and an emotional exhaustion that makes us riveted in watching her. Ms. Whiteside offer a master class in detail and in disposition in scene work, and it demands our attention.

Philip Earl Johnson is the earnest, shaky Doc, who is like many men of his generation, burying inside the issues they need to face. Maya Lou Hlava gives her Marie the tightly wound, youthful energy needed to stimulate Lola to her own dreams. Ethan Surpan as Turk and Justin Banks as Bruce are Marie's two eager suitors. Joslyn Jones is a bright light as Mrs. Coffman, the next-door neighbor. Scenic designer Shayna Patel has done exceptionally richly detailed work here. And, about that little piece of trivia: When the playwright Inge was himself in AA, he met and observed the wife of another AA member. Her name was Lola and she became the model for the character in this fine play—Mr. Inge’s first—that undeservedly may have fallen in memory. It remains an honest and compelling examination of one of society's great ills.

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

PHOTO| Michael Brosilow

American Blues Theater
presents
Come Back Little Sheba
ABT Studio
5627 N Lincoln
through March 22, 2026

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PicksInSix Review: ON CLOVER ROAD American Blues Theater

“One memory can save a life.”

Many of us cherish items that have a rich personal storyline connecting us to another time when we felt safe and that remind us of someone we love. We surround ourselves with these things because they bring us joy; A photograph from long ago. A song sung at the holidays. These things divert our thoughts away from the present. As we reminisce, we are vulnerable to outside influences that can be used to alter our state of mind in ways both good and bad. Rational people understand the difference and how to cope with these feelings, but what about those who have otherwise lost their own free will, have rejected everything and everyone from their previous lives, and who run toward something—anything, really—that will free them from a life they feel trapped inside?

More than 1.6 million children run away each year in America from abusive homes: sexual or physical abuse, bullying or substance abuse. They simply can’t cope. The question then, as a parent, is what can be done to reconnect with these children? How can behavior that drove the children away in the first place be wiped away to start again? Who can be trusted to help? And, perhaps most importantly, what are the consequences of the desperation, anxiety and fear of facing up for the child who does not want to be found?

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Something happened to Jesse Hunter at a mall with friends on March 11, 2014. Two days later, she was several states away in the company of two men. Then, she vanished. At one point, a substantial ransom was paid for information about Jesse, but nothing came of it. As the American Blues Theater production of Steven Dietz’s mind-bending thriller, “On Clover Road,” begins four years later, it’s dawn in a seedy, ramshackle room of a deserted motel. An all-business investigator of sorts—Stine—has located Jesse in a radical commune. He briefs Jesse’s emotionally wrought mother Kate about his plan to rescue her. Kate has brought along a small box of Jesse’s favorite things because, Stine tells her, “One memory can save a life.”

Stine raises doubts about whether Kate will recognize her own daughter after all the communal brainwashing and exploitation that has kept her under the emotional spell of the cult leader, Harris McClain. And while Stine’s maniacal deprogramming preparations and procedures seem ominous, when Kate considers the alternative of another failed opportunity and a long walk back, she agrees to go along. Let’s just say that it doesn’t take long at all to realize that things will go downhill quickly for Kate. Very quickly.

Director Halena Kays has assembled a superbly talented ensemble featuring ABT’s artistic director Gwendolyn Whiteside (Kate) with fellow ABT ensemble member Philip Earl Johnson (Stine). I found it especially satisfying to see these two fine Chicago actors rip through Dietz’s irresistibly suspenseful 90-minute work, which is set in three movements over the course of a single day. Jon Hudson Odom adds his formidable skills to the role of Harris McClain, and Grace Smith is terrific in the role of The Girl.

Lizzie Bracken’s scenic design will shock you as soon as you take your seat in Stage 773’s 78-seat Box Theatre. The production fits perfectly in the intimate confines and is framed in a striking neon effect by lighting designer Alexander Ridgers, ground-swelling sound effects by Rick Sims, and costumes by Alison Siple—which must entail a massive turnaround show-to-show. There’s more than enough eerie pleasure here to keep you wildly on edge, up a little later at night and hoping you never, ever end up anywhere along Clover Road.

PHOTOS|Michael Brosilow

AMERICAN BLUES THEATER
Presents
ON CLOVER ROAD
through March 16th

STAGE 773
1225 W Belmont Ave.
(773) 654-3103

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PICKSINSIX Review: AN ENEMY OF THE PEOPLE

"BETTER A LUNATIC THAN A COWARD."

Compelling new adaptation … Goodman Theatre’s Artistic Director Robert Falls has crafted, and directs, a compelling new adaptation of Henrik Ibsen’s An Enemy of the People based on a translation by Eleanor Marx-Aveling, a work that reflects the desperate and fractured time in which we live with such raw energy and emotion that it is hard at times to separate the superb dramatic styling from our everyday lives. All sides of our fractured national conversation are weaved within Falls' take on Ibsen's epic struggle of one man’s quest for truth at all costs.

Rightful purpose ... it is not always clear that the rightful purpose of bold, truthful action will justify the means to an end, particularly when that end may result in mass hysteria, conspiracy theories, financial ruin, and, ultimately, the collapse of our common understanding of liberty, freedom and democracy. There is also an insightful element of the flawed family dynamic between family members who each are competing for recognition, approval and self-interests. If this all sounds like the current social climate in America, imagine what Ibsen was feeling in 1882 when he wrote about a community in crisis and whose very existence depends on the healing nature of its luxury spa, which is now contaminated. To reasonable people, then and now, there is no choice when confronting the moral dilemma to cure a health crisis. Unfortunately, there are few reasonable people around so legislating an opposing position becomes surprisingly easy and pretty much guarantees that this may not end well.

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At the heart of the story … Dr. Tom Stockmann (Philip Earl Johnson) has confirmed his theory that a local tannery along with others have polluted the pristine waters with harmful toxins. The public dissemination of his findings are at the heart of the story. Running up against stiff opposition, he decides his best option is to hold a public hearing and let the people decide. To the community, firmly under the autocratic rule of his brother, Mayor Peter Stockmann (Scott Jacek), exposing the truth becomes a weapon. As a wave of personal and professional retaliation mounts, all unite in a lock-step revolt, fueled by deception, greed and stupidity. Lots of stupidity, according to Tom.

A powerhouse cast ... the superb Philip Earl Johnson leads a powerhouse cast, his delirious and impassioned frustration finally boiling over in rage as he wrestles the frenzied mob poised against him. But it is the razer-sharp, searingly-electric confrontations that have him under siege and at odds with his evil brother, a commanding performance by Scott Jacek, that delivers the explosive conflict between truth and deception. As a collaborative voice – a sort of Greek chorus – the characters of Billing (Jesse Bhamrah), Hovstad (Aubrey Deeker Hernandez) and Aslaksen (Allen Gilmore) descend rapidly from the moral high ground to frame the populus point of view. Only Tom's wife Katherine (sensitively played by Lanise Antione Shelley) and his ardent daughter Petra (a fine turn for Rebecca Hurd) consistently bring compassion to Stockmann's plight. The accomplished talents of David Darlow (Morton Kiil) and Larry Neumann, Jr. (The Drunk) add depth in featured roles.

Artistic impressions ... the extraordinary artistic impressions of costume designer Ana Kuzmanic’s are on full display in the two-story renderings that complement Todd Rosenthal’s industrial cantalever truss design - with lighting by Robert Wierzel - that frames the Stockmann home, the print shop and the public meeting space, which is mysteriously populated and an altogether visually stunning tableau. 

The takeaway ... reflecting the embittered discourse of our times, Falls has crafted a magnificent and explosive oratory that is ripe with political commentary, a consistent theme for the Goodman this season. Here brother faces brother, in the shadow of moral decay, where the bully pulpit rules the day against all adversity. There is a powerful score to settle in this startlingly familiar story examining the courage of our convictions, the devastating consequences of our actions, and, whether or not, it is better to be a lunatic than a coward.

PHOTOS|Liz Lauren

GOODMAN THEATRE
Presents
AN ENEMY OF THE PEOPLE
Adapted and Directed by Robert Falls
Based on a translation by Eleanor Marx-Aveling
through April 15th

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