In “Our Suburb,” a new play on stage through March 29 at JCC CenterStage, Thornton Wilder’s 1938 Pulitzer Prize winner,
“Our Town,” is repurposed for a new generation.
Originally
set in a fictional New Hampshire town in the early 1900’s, Wilder’s classic
dissected family cyclicality and the fragility of life: teenagers growing up,
getting married, eventually coming to their life’s
end. Playwright Darrah Cloud uses this framework to establish her own world, but in a real life setting and in a
more accessible time — Skokie, Illinois, 1976. The results become not so much
an improvement upon Wilder’s American classic, but an intriguing variation.
The play
opens with the Stage Manager (Lauren MacDonough) who
arranges props on stage and welcomes the audience as they sit down. As Wilder’s
original play stretched the limits of traditional theater, “Our Suburb” also
invests in metatheatrical elements. The Stage Manager
both narrates the story and sits in for various characters along the way. MacDonough owns the role entirely. She is hilarious, pushy,
and charming. It’s refreshing, not only to see this classic men’s role given to
a woman, but to see it done so vibrantly. She then introduces two side-by-side but
socially disparate neighbors, who become the center of the story: The Edelmans, a talkative Jewish family in the midst of
celebrating Hanukkah, and the Majors, a repressed, Protestant family
celebrating Christmas.
Their
teenage children, Ricky (Justin Borak) and Thornton
(Alana Silber), eventually begin dating and bond these two families. Ricky and
Thornton are not the idealistic, manner-laden (and arguably boring) teenagers
of Wilder’s “Our Town.” Borak and Silber bring an
unquenchable chemistry to these characters and to the stage. These two feel
real. They cuss, make out, do drugs, and emotionally explode at one another.
While their three-act trajectories are the same as in “Our Town,” the eventual
tragedy feels earned, like the loss of a close friend instead of an outdated
ideal.
Adding depth and connectivity to 1976
Skokie, Cloud’s script inserts various real life cultural and religious
references. With society evolving, women are pursuing careers and earning
advanced degrees. Mrs. Edelman (Jodi Beckwith) is excelling in law school, and frequently,
she hears quips from her threatened, butcher store owning husband (Jeff Siuda). And when Mrs. Major (Jillian Severin)
suggests a career in sales for herself, her husband (Colin Pazik)
laughs it off entirely. Post-war tensions also linger. When neo-Nazis plan to
march in Skokie (another real life event), the families’ safety is threatened,
as well as the suburban ideals they have come to depend upon. It is an added
emphasis of shifting culture that works well for “Our Suburb,” helping to
relieve the pressure of homage and elevating it instead into a poignant period
piece.
“Our Suburb”
debuted in 2014 in Washington, D.C. Now, in its second production, local
director Kerry Young takes on this ambitious project. The scope of the story is
daunting, and at times, maybe doing too much. Thankfully, Young manages to
reign it all in with sharp focus. Even when the story gets layered, busy, and
messy, the results are never sloppy.
The artistic
staff also excels impressively. Virginia Monte (Costume and Scenic Design) and
Thomas Habecker (Lighting Design and Technical
Direction) establish an easy atmosphere that perhaps links strongest to
Wilder’s original vision. The stage design is barren, using only tables, chairs,
and scaffolding, all working together to create a symmetrical layout that
engenders 1970’s suburban tract housing. The background, too, is unfinished.
With brick, it almost feels abandoned. When the lights change, however, the
stage transforms to fit the scene. It’s fun to watch.
Playwright Darrah Cloud approached Thornton Wilder’s 1938 drama, “Our
Town,” and walked away with something that’s hard to pin down. So what is it?
It’s not exactly a riff, not necessarily an homage, it’s just something else,
something more in the middle. This undefined spirit strangely defines the
production. A flimsy state of proximity and borders: homage or parody, love and
hate, life and death, the audience and the cast, intimate but worlds apart — like
a white picket fence.
This article appears in Mar 11-17, 2015.
