Bus Stop - Highly Recommended

What a treat! Excellent writing, set design, and solid acting combine to produce a thoroughly engaging evening of theater at the Raven.

I've said it before, but this production merits it being repeated: Chicago is home to some of the best theater I've encountered. Allow me to explain:

Set outside Kansas City in 1955, Bus Stop explores three lines of romance between six of the eight characters: a high school girl and a drunken, pedophile professor; an abandoned woman and a bus driver; and the principal story line, a rough, abusive young cowboy and a "loose" nightclub singer that he has kidnaped, stranded in a bus stop/diner due to a winter storm. In the wrong hands - in fact, in any but the best hands - this could be a disaster.

But in the hands of the excellent playwright, William Inge, the director, JoAnn Montemurro, the crew (in particular the set design by Ray Toler), and the actors, the result is a drama that finds the right notes with drama, romance and comedy. In particular, Michael Stegall as "Bo," Jen Short as "Cherie" and Kristen Williams as "Grace" deliver first-class, enrapturing performances: their transformation into their characters was seamless and complete.

Even in the face of some broad comedic moments (such as the professor's drunken stumbling and Bo's attempt to carry Cherie out over his shoulder), the moments of drama were genuinely touching. I was particularly moved by Cherie's nearly ten minutes of silent emoting as others occupied the speaking parts; Ms. Short truly inhabited "Cherie" and allowed us in for those very intimate moments.

A couple words of caution: the Raven has seats along the side, but the blocking for this play doesn't accommodate those seats. As it's open seating, arrive early and find a place in the main, center section. And, don't forego the opportunity to acquire season's tickets to this wonderful theater company: they tackle solid plays with predictable success - and delight.

In the Next Room (or the vibrator play) - Highly Recommended

Sarah Ruhl's 2009 Tony-nominated play receives a top-shelf treatment by the actors and staff of the Victory Gardens Theatre. Directed by VG veteran Sandy Shinner, the play weaves together a broad range of issues and story lines without ever appearing too heavy or contrived. The humor is spontaneous and evocative, and the writing overall is elegant - taut, poetic, and incisive.

The cast of seven is well up to the challenge, even in preview. While some of the characters are broadly drawn, and the delivery is often intentionally "stuffy Victorian," we have no doubt that these are real people, and each of them faces real personal challenges.

Those challenges include infant mortality, infidelity, emotional isolation, racism and the strictures society places on strong women and homosexuality. To tackle any one of these effectively in a single play would be a treat; In the Next Room gives us enough of a taste of each that we know we have shared a new intimacy with those who face those struggles.

And yet the play never really loses its "light," produced by Mr. Edison's harnessing of electricity in both optical and mechanical ways. Ms. Ruhl offers up delightful one-liners ("Would you rather a Negro Protestant or an Irish Catholic?"), the nearly-mandatory excoriation of critics, and an interesting interpretation of the relationship between love and poetry. Clearly, she is having a great deal of fun with this play - fun she effectively invites us to share with her.

As for the vibrators? Oh, they are present, and while the application of those tools is discreet, the "paroxysms" of the patients to whom they are applied are compelling and superbly timed. The material is never prurient, but it is intimate - which is really what this play is all about.

Can intimacy become mechanical? Can the mechanical spark genuine intimacy? Are we "meat and bones," or do our souls live a couple of inches outside our eyes? Come enjoy the delicate handling that In the Other Room provides to these issues, and prepare to be tickled - and touched - by this wonderful production.