Playwright Randall Colburn had quite an auspicious beginning with his production of Pretty Penny at The Right Brain Project . Despite little-to-no technical support, the production expertly explored the interplay of sex and power and featured some excellent performances from Right Brain’s ensemble. Clearly the Right Brain folk realized they had found a good thing, and so they are now producing Colburn’s Hesperia.

In many ways Hesperia treads the same ground as Pretty Penny. A porn star, Claudia (Natalie DiCristofano) has fled her LA life to retreat to a small town in the Midwest near where she grew up. There, she has become born again and is engaged to a local schoolteacher, Trick (Nick Freed). However, she is pursued by her former co-star and childhood friend Ian (Billy Fenderson), who is also on the run from some shady folks to whom he owes money. Ian tries to follow Claudia’s path to spiritual fulfillment, but his presence has the potential to derail Claudia’s carefully constructed new life.

Pretty Penny’s success lays in Colburn’s ability to weave a story that took you down some strange paths without ever sacrificing believability. You bought a phone sex operator’s increasing involvement with one of her customers and the ensuing complications. Hesperia doesn’t succeed on the same level. There are fewer surprises. The sexual tension never really develops between Claudia and Ian, and Colburn seems to shy away from giving it overt room to appear. Perhaps he intended something more subtle, but if so, director Nathan Robbel doesn’t explore it and DiCristofano and Fenderson don’t seem to have it. In fact, it’s hard to imagine DiCristofano as the former porn star at all. She doesn’t have that sensuality, and you expect it to be there, even if the character is trying to repress it.

Still, Hesperia is worth watching, not just because Colburn is a talented young writer. Katy Albert, who played the lead in Pretty Penny has a smaller turn here as another young lady in Hesperia who falls for Ian. And she is excellent. Freed does a great job of physicalizing the awkwardness of a man who is both completely confident when he’s on his home turf, and thoroughly unsettled when sex enters the picture. In fact the final scene between DiCristofano and Freed succeeds wonderfully, because we get to see them trace the thin, thin path through all the things that could go wrong on their wedding night and finally reach, hopefully, a complete relationship.

While this play might not work as well as Pretty Penny, there’s no doubt that Colburn can weave a strange tale. So even if Hesperia has flaws, which it does, it should be seen. He will not be at Right Brain forever.

Hesperia, Right Brain Project

Nina Metz, Tribune—“I would argue that Right Brain’s minimal aesthetic actually renders this story into something remarkably dull. In a key misstep, director Nathan Robbel’s staging has all the self-seriousness of an acting class, with a noticeable lack of visually compelling ideas. Too often he has his cast sitting and talking in groups that don’t vary much from scene to scene. Under the weight of all that earnestness, the dialogue becomes overwrought and precious, not to mention repetitive. It’s a prime example of a cast pushing too hard. Let up on the gas a little, vary the rhythms and use the bareness of the space as an asset rather than an obstacle, and Right Brain might be onto something.”

Zac Thompson, Reader—“[P]laywright Randall Colburn avoids both easy laughs and easier moralizing, offering instead an intimate, insightful, achingly sad portrait of two people desperate to regain their innocence. Inadvertently, the pair set their carefully drawn romantic foils—a youth minister for her, a sheltered churchwoman for him—on the opposite course, from naivete to disillusioned experience. Nathan Robbel’s talented cast act their parts with a stillness and understatement worthy of a cinematic closeup, giving the play its quietly shattering impact. Nick Freed is especially strong as the youth minister, an intriguing mix of dogmatism and openheartedness.”

Kris Vire, Time Out—“There are some hitches in Colburn’s script; weeks seem to go by between Ian’s arrival for the wedding and the actual event, for instance, and Colburn’s secondary characters (played by Katy Albert and teen actor Danny Mulae) are devices rather than people. But the nuance and lack of judgment he brings to subjects such as born-again Christianity and his deft way with dialogue are impressive. While Robbel’s direction is physically clunky (featuring the most awkward scene transitions in recent memory), he elicits terrifically honest work from his leads. Freed stands out as the youth minister whose outward confidence masks inner complexity.”

Mary Shen Barnidge, Windy City—“The building’s echo-producing exposed brick shell, coupled with the operating noise of the room-sized air-conditioning unit, tend to blur the enunciation of actors speaking at conversational volume. And, in the role of the ambivalent penitent, Natalie DeCristofano’s babyish clothing and appearance verge precariously close to pulp-fiction parody. But Colburn’s is a mature drama asking serious questions, refusing to take sides or traffic in easy answers, and under Nathan Robbel’s direction, the cast’s wholesale commitment to their material are enough to overcome any impediments generated by the production’s physical limitations.”

After the Fall, Eclipse Theatre Company

Chris Jones, Tribune—“With Miller gone—and with his similarly themed last play, Finishing the Picture, still dancing in my head—After the Fall is still a welcome chance to pass time inside Miller’s thoughts. If you are a devotee to the writer, this production will stimulate greatly. Scott and his performers (Margaret Grace, Eustace Allen and, especially Susan Monts-Bologna are among a uniformly strong cast) are careful guides.”

Hedy Weiss, Sun-Times—“To get right to the point: The Eclipse Theatre revival of After the Fall, Arthur Miller’s three-hour, quasi-autobiographical drama—a work that is equal parts confessional, self-lacerating and self-justifying rant and Freudian self-analysis—is brilliant on every count. Director Steve Scott and his large, breathtakingly good cast have shaken the stuffing out of this fiendishly difficult work, succeeding in bringing it to life where other far more high-profile artists have failed. And by all rights, this is one of those Chicago gems that should be remounted in New York—free of the star treatment but stellar nonetheless.”

Albert Williams, Reader—“Steve Scott’s carefully crafted, finely acted staging for Eclipse Theatre features riveting performances by Nathaniel Swift and Nora Fiffer in the leads. Fiffer is especially compelling as the emotionally unstable Maggie. Evoking Monroe without actually imitating her, she’s charming, sexy, anguished, ferocious, cruel, yet always vulnerable.”

Zac Thompson, Time Out—“Scott’s staging for Eclipse, the second production in a season dedicated to Miller’s work, captures the murky fluidity of memory but fails to enliven its tiresome main character. Swift’s Quentin is as detached as Miller wrote him—forever explaining himself to the audience instead of engaging with the other people onstage. The remarkable thing here is that the women in the cast do manage to draw credible human beings from characters Miller almost uniformly depicts as harridans and nutcases. Monts-Bologna brings an earthy playfulness to the small role of Quentin’s ball-busting mother. And as Maggie, Fiffer deftly strikes a sympathetic balance between ‘Little Girl Blue’ and raging bitch.

Dennis Polkow, New City—“Clocking in at an epic three hours and serving as an autobiographical allegory for Arthur Miller’s own personal life, including his failed marriage to Marilyn Monroe, After the Fall has never enjoyed the popularity of his other more celebrated plays. That is a shame, for as Eclipse Theatre’s current and rare production that serves as the centerpiece of its entire season of Arthur Miller plays demonstrates, this is a remarkable work full of insight and revelation that can be appreciated even if you know nothing of the real-life events that spawned it.”

Mary Shen Barnidge, Windy City—“As played with weary resignation by the boyish-faced Nathaniel Swift, however, we have little reason to contradict his defense, or his conclusion that blame is pointless in a world bereft of innocence. His various nemeses, male and female, may protest—even dying for their convictions—but ultimately, their testimony supports the case he makes for himself. And the ensemble directed by Steve Scott remain focused—in particular, Nora Fiffer, whose 30-minute meltdown suffers not an instant of acting-class shrillness—to keep the action crisp and coherent for the entire three riveting hours of Miller’s problematic plea.”

Orestes, Dream Theatre Company

Justin Hayford, Reader—“Despite uneven acting, lumpy pacing, and the continual struggle to hear the actors over the air conditioning, it’s hard to miss the power and ingenuity in this final installment of the Agon Trilogy, Jeremy Menekseoglu’s new reimagining of the Oresteia… As director, Menekseoglu creates arresting images from ten wooden poles planted on an otherwise empty stage.”

Neal Ryan Shaw, New City—“Dream Theatre’s sense of world creation is impeccable, with a forest-of-planks set, noirish lighting and edgy costumes. Design-wise, only the soundtrack, packed with big band jazz, British music hall and hard rock numbers, might be considered a misstep. Ultimately, the plot of Orestes meanders from set-piece to set-piece with too little urgency, caring more to comment somehow on mythology and storytelling (and why do the characters keep referring to us as the all-seeing “Audience?” What does that mean?) than getting to the nitty-gritty of Electra’s epic quest. DTC’s road to hell is indeed paved with good intentions, and little more.”

A Parallelogram, Steppenwolf Theatre Company

Chris Jones, Tribune— “I also thought A Parallelogram was one of [Bruce] Norris’ most compassionate plays, directed with [Anna D.] Shapiro’s usual uncompromising drive but also allowed to breathe a little. You can see Norris’ usual fury at characters who go through life apparently without the need for self-examination (that would be Jay here) and his use of counter-balancing characters who simply can’t resist blowing up a happy night by, say, suddenly asking an awkward question and retreating into their own neuroses as if they don’t deserve to be happy and thus need to kill the possibility.”

Justin Hayford, Reader—“And [Norris is] in rare form in his newest play, A Parallelogram, getting a smartly acted, handsomely designed premiere production at Steppenwolf under Anna Shapiro’s direction. While Norris’s last two Steppenwolf shows, The Pain and the Itch and The Unmentionables, took aim at the hypocrisy of monied white liberals, this time out he’s taking a swipe at the entire human race. With Albee-like, class-conscious acerbity and Beckettian existential gloom, he uses the disintegration of a couple’s relationship—coaxed along by a dumpy, chain-smoking old biddy who’s mastered the art of time travel—to demonstrate the utter futility of our every endeavor.”

Kris Vire, Time Out—“And it’s here where Norris’s work begins to feel like a clever puzzle but perhaps not quite a fully realized play. Future Bee is here to tell her past self about a major disaster looming in the near future—but also that there’s nothing to be done about it. There’s no escaping fate. For all of present Bee’s protests, however, she doesn’t really take any action; this is a script whose protagonist just lets things happen to her. And there’s no apparent reason for future Bee to have traveled back. Still, Shapiro coaxes fine acting from her small ensemble, and Burke kills in Norris’s direct-address monologues. Those expecting the heft of The Pain and the Itch or The Unmentionables will find a slighter, more introspective work, but it’s by no means a waste of time.”

Lisa Buscani, New City—“[Kate] Arrington appeals as she tries to make the most of a fate she can’t change; [Marylouise] Burke’s no-nonsense riffing is pragmatic fun. The standout here is [Tom] Irwin; he makes us feel for his self-centered sumbitch who thinks he has found love with a younger woman, only to watch her spin out. Anna Shapiro’s driving direction keeps the timing sharp and the humor crisp. Todd Rosenthal’s airy, geometric set hints at future possibilities. It’s a bit annoying that Norris asks us to suspend disbelief and accept the sci-fi/fantasy format only to cavalierly derail it, but the trip is worth the detour.”

Jonathan Abarbanel, Windy City—“Under Tony Award-winning director Anna D. Shapiro, A Parallelogram is sharply acted, especially by Tom Irwin as Jay, whose convincing throw-away naturalism and brisk cue pick-ups propel the performance, even in quiet moments. As Bee 2, Marylouise Burke has excellent comic instincts, but simply isn’t loud enough in the spotty acoustics of the 500-seat theatre. Kate Arrington, slowly melting down before us, and Tim Bickel complete the cast, respectively, as Bee and JJ, a Latino gardener and Bee’s lover after Jay. The play’s three locations are given an austere (large rooms with little furniture) beige treatment by designer Todd Rosenthal, who accomplishes surprise instant set changes via revolving platforms and trapdoors.”

Quote of the Fortnight:

“Call it M. Night Shyamalanism: a desire for narrative and moral symmetry so strong that it outweighs every other consideration, including coherence.”—Tony Adler reviewing playwright Jayme McGahn’s play The Sweet Stuff at Gorilla Tango in the Reader.