What differentiates Koogler’s play from other suburbia-as-existential-limbo stories is a wary, perhaps misanthropic suggestion that a bohemian fidelity to youth and adventure is equally as doomed and futile a course of action as giving in to the man. When we meet Suzan (Natalie West)—a housing-insecure aging folk singer with a broken car and breaking back—she’s suffering the indignity of a warehouse-mandated, stopwatch-timed walking test around a course of safety cones as part of an interview for a seasonal gig. Grasping for any sense of intimacy, she befriends a mysterious loner (Steve Schine) who is similarly haunted by bygone relationships.
Jess McLeod’s taut, volatile production for A Red Orchid Theatre features some truly excellent beat-by-beat scene work by a cast adept at humanizing some incredibly flawed human beings. And for all of Fulfillment Center‘s Joni Mitchell-scored angst, the glimmers of compassion and intimacy shared between characters read as authentic and earned. v
Through 3/24: Thu-Fri 7:30 PM, Sat 3 and 7:30 PM, Sun 3 PM, A Red Orchid Theatre, 1531 N. Wells, 312-943-8722, aredorchidtheatre.org, $30-$40.
