"Radio Golf" at Raven Theatre Company - Highly Recommended

Radio Golf by August Wilson, which had its last performance this evening at the Raven, is another great example of what can be reached by a community theater when they have the resources of an excellent play and a dedicated company. That's not to say that the various elements - play, acting, and set - were without flaws, but rather that it was a rousing evening where I really got the sense that this performance meant something important to everyone - and the audience willingly came along for the ride.

The last of Wilson's "Century Cycle" plays, Radio Golf takes up the difficult topics of assimilation, success, and ethical behavior in a story that stumbles a bit in the beginning, but gains strength and depth as it proceeds. Ultimately, it paints the choices with less ambiguity than I might have preferred, making our protagonist Harmond Wilks (Michael Pogue) more predictably heroic than conflicted.

The characters of Elder Joseph Barrow (David Adams) and Sterling Johnson (Antoine Pierre Whitfield) are clearly and powerfully drawn - and realized by their actors. It helps that Messers Adams and Whitfield also appear to have been the strongest actors in the company, as their monologues were a joyful blend of street sense, common sense and comedy, delivered with great timing and just the right spices.

Wilson's characterizations of the wealthier characters - Wilks, Roosevelt Hicks (Warren Levon) and Mame Wilks (Demetria Thomas) seemed less nuanced, at least until the final scenes of genuine conflict. And while Mr. Levon gave a strong and enthusiastic performance, I found myself wanting to call out "Slow Down!!!" too often in all three of their performances.

The set was fine for the play - if anything, it had more detail around the edges than was called for, especially given the (appropriate) starkness of the center. The lighting cleverly implied motion in a direction opposite to the source (the shadows of the blinds on the floor), a nice rendition of the play's essential tension.

It's a pity I wasn't able to review this in time for others to get out and see it - but it speaks highly to the quality of the Raven Theatre - definitely a gem in Chicago's theater crown.

PS: I've decided to change my ratings to Highly Recommended / Recommended / Somewhat Recommended / Not Recommended, as I wanted to give tonight's play a strong review - without it being a 5 out of 5.

"Tree" at Victory Gardens - 4 of 5 stars

Tree, by Julie Hébert, is a great example of the strength of community theater in Chicago. Certainly, Victory Gardens is one of the better "second tier" theaters here, and as such I've come to hold it to higher standards than others. Tonight, it lived up to those standards - quite nicely!

Probably the best dimension of this play is the writing. Ms. Hébert knows her characters: their voices, their demons, their desires. And she's not afraid to take us into the magical realism of Alzheimer's, trusting the audience to piece it together. The puzzle parts are richly offered up, and they eventually coalesce to tell a deeper, more moving story than we thought was in store for us.

The presentation of difficult issues - racism, abandonment, neglect, Alzheimer's, gender stereotyping - are portrayed authentically and with an excellent balance of humor and pain. Only once did one of these issues get "short shrift" - Leo and Didi's exchange at the very end about her love life - and I take that one lapse as the exception that proves the rule. Well done, Ms. Hébert!

The acting is fine by community standards, and in particular Leslie Ann Sheppard as JJ (the strongest of the lot, despite her relative youth) and Celeste Williams as Jessalyn give spirited and well-rounded performances. While it may seem trivial, I was particularly moved by Ms. Sheppard's singing at the end of the play - her voice carried the angst of the entire story in a way that was profound.

Be ready for some coarse language, though I never found it offensive. It worked best for me when it was surrounded by the humor that Ms. Hébert is quite skilled in evoking, but less so - mainly on the strength of the acting, in my opinion - when it was purely the servant of anger.

The set was a visual treat, though the choice of the boat rising from the mist at the play's opening seemed overly symbolic. The lighting design was also quite good, and the use of a few audio tricks was in the main effective.

The "bookends" of the story were the weakest, particularly the ending. Stop reading now if you don't like spoilers.