Recent Tragic Events
Uma Productions

Best of 2005 - Timeout Chicago; #1 show to see now - New City 9/29/05. "Don't Miss" - Time Out Chicago

" Number 1 show to see now" - Newcity Chicago
"Don't Miss" Time Out Chicago


9/10/2005 - 10/15/05

Thu-Sat 730p. Sun 3p


" Number 1 show to see now" - Newcity Chicago
"Don't Miss" Time Out Chicago

"In the world of TV news, where tragic events are reduced to a series of vexing images, looped and repeated ad nauseam, a certain metaphysical dilemma arises: If a catastrophe doesn't have its televised moment, did it really happen? Craig Wright, who spent the past few years writing for the HBO series "Six Feet Under," knows a thing or two about the intertwining of television and misfortune. Look no further than his 2002 play, "Recent Tragic Events" ?currently in an excellent staging by Uma Productions which grafts the aftermath of 9/11 onto a sitcom-ready format. "Friends," quite thankfully, never bothered with a post-9/11 episode. No scenarios in which terrorists attack the World Trade Center and then the next day Rachel goes on a blind date! Wright, on the other hand, has no qualms about plunging down that rabbit hole. If that sounds off-putting, it's not. Especially in the hands of director Mikhael Tara Garver, a young up-and-comer whose skills have steadily sharpened since she helped launch Uma in 2001. This time, she has picked a script that's well-matched to her talents and sensibilities. Puttering around her Minneapolis apartment, Waverly (Elaine Robinson) primps for a blind date. All seems normal, except the day is Sept. 12, 2001. And she has yet to hear from her twin sister, who lives in New York and was possibly in one of the twin towers the morning before. The TV is on but the sound is muted; the images have a numbing, hypnotic affect on all who enter the apartment. (The pop tunes emanating from Waverly's stereo suddenly take on new meaning Tom Petty's "Free Falling" and Dave Matthews' "Crash" in an amusing combination of bad taste and black humor from sound designer Scotty Iseri.) Soon the mystery man arrives, bearing cheap wine and a novel by Joyce Carol Oates. He is Andrew (Eric Evenskaas, the one casting misstep), an awkward beanpole of a fellow. Things progress haltingly between the pair, and while they don't really seem compatible , she's a crisp slice of apple; he's an overcooked noodle, they read the same books and drink the same wine, so it's a match made in TV heaven. Minus chemistry. The wacky neighbor barges in next (of course!), a guy called Ron and played by actor Paul Noble as a tangy, more abrasive version of The Dude in "The Big Lebowski." When he sticks out his paw for introductions, he solemnly intones, "The taking of hands". It's funny and stupid and you can't take your eyes off him. The trio bonds over pizza and shots of tequila, and their conversations, peppered with sidelong references to the terrorist attacks, are elliptical, erudite and wacked. Fans of "Six Feet Under" will recognize the juxtaposition of the daffy with the bathetic. Fresh insights, however, are in short supply. Ron eventually drags his glowering lady friend over for the party, and then things get really weird when Oates, the famed author herself, shows up in the form of a sock puppet. (Audrey Francis simultaneously plays both girlfriend and Oates in a funny bit of schtick.) All the while, Waverly attempts to keep her head on straight as she waits for news of her sister. The Chopin Theatre's basement space has always been a challenge for troupes, forced to work around the blocky support columns that cut the room at awkward points. Brian Sidney Bembridge, one of Chicago's busiest set designers, has utterly transformed the space so that the audience is inside the living room itself. It's a great move. The dimensions and floor plan feel realistic. Late arrivals must crawl through the window curtains to get to their seats. More companies should be this creative with the space" - Nina Metz, Chicago Tribune 9/28/05

" "Don't make that face. Yes, this is a September 11 play, but it's not a lugubrious dirge or a paean to fallen heroes. Instead, Wright has scripted an odd duck of a piece, a dramedy that uses that horrific day as a backdrop to explore how the rest of us not first-row witnesses or, worse still, victims of the day's events processed the tragedy. Robinson plays Waverly, an ad exec living in Minneapolis, who on that fateful day has a blind date with Andrew (Evenskaas), the manager of an airport bookstore. The date, of course, is sidetracked by world events, and they end up spending the evening holed up in Waverly's apartment, eating pizza and watching the news. If that sounds mundane, it's not. In fact, it's frequently comic. Wright accurately creates the odd, heady holiday feeling that takes over when normal life is suspended and all one can do is helplessly watch events unfold. And in a move that mostly succeeds, he deepens the philosophical implications through the dramaturgy of the play itself, using drama as a metaphor for the larger questions raised by the tragedy. Director Garver supports the action by putting the audience directly in the midst of it: Chopin's basement theater space is transformed into Waverly's apartment by Brian Sidney Bembridge. Robinson's utterly naturalistic playing style, coupled with some nice chemistry with Evenskaas and Noble (a hoot as Waverly's crunchy musician neighbor), seals the deal" - Kay Daly, TimeOut Chicago 9/29/05

"Craig Wright used to write for Six Feet Under, and it shows. Like the HBO series, his play combines self-entranced characters with self-impressed narrative gimmicks to create a perfect storm of self-regard. Only, where the TV show was satisfied to watch itself explore the navels of a few Californians, Recent Tragic Events has bigger fish to trivialize. Using pretentious pseudo-Pirandellian devices, Wright shows us 9/11 through the eyes of four young urbanites (and a sock puppet) to whom the catastrophe they call "the thing" is merely a backdrop for personal traumas and undergraduate philosophizing. The result is profound only in its smirking, sitcom-ish egocentric dissociation from the real gravity of the material. A little sadly, the Uma Productions staging is very good" - Tony Adler, Chicago Reader 9/20/05

Author
Craig Wright

Director
Mikhael Tara Garver

Performers
Eric Evenskaas, Audry Francis, Sasha Gioppo, Devin Kirck, Paul Noble, Elaine Robinson, David Scott

Production
Candance Thompson, Sheila Willis, Brian Sidney Bembridge, Robert Groth, Heather Graff, Richard Peterson, Aly Greaves, Scotty Iseri, Beth Stegman, Chris Plevin, Jon Faris

Tags: Theater, American, 2005