House and Garden

Southern Gothic – Windy City Playhouse

 

Walk into the Windy City Playhouse and, if you’ve reserved your tickets for their current production, you’ll receive your own glossy, formal invitation to the birthday celebration for Mrs. Suzanne Wellington. The party will be hosted by Ellie and Beau Coutier at their modest home on Peachtree Lane, in Ashford, Georgia. The invitation provides you with a guest list (the cast), as well as rules of the Coutier house. They include which seating guests should use (generally limited to the vast window benches lined with plush, red cushions), which snacks the guests may eat and where to find them (anything placed on the dining room, kitchen or patio tables is fair game), and instructions pointing out that guests should hang their coats in the lobby, turn off their cell phones, and are free to move from room to room (just, please, stay out of the way of the actors). Also, of course, there’s no photography or recording allowed. Oh, the invitation also indicates that we’ve been transported back to a summer evening in 1961.

This wonderfully inventive theatre company is always re-inventing themselves with unusual theatrical experiences. This time around, Leslie Liautaud has written a unique, immersive play, co-created by Carl Menninger and Amy Rubenstein. When the doors open, audiences will find themselves in the backyard of an actual life size, two-story home. Before the real show begins, theatergoers may congregate on the porch and patio to watch Ellie and Beau Coutier through the windows, as they perform some last minute preparations for the big party. When the house is opened, the audience is invited to stroll through every room before the scripted guests arrive. Theatergoers are offered food and drinks throughout the evening as Suzanne and Jackson Wellington, Lauren and Charles Lyon, Cassie Smith and Tucker Alsworth eventually arrive to join in the festivities.

The play is a character study of a family in turmoil. The script began life as a 1960’s melodrama played out on a traditional proscenium stage. But as the play soon evolved and took on a life of its own, the playwright felt that the piece would be more immediate and interesting if the audience was able to become flies on the wall. They’d be able to follow their favorite characters throughout the house during the party. So Scott Davis’ scenic design evolved into a realistically-detailed house in which both a limited-size audience and eight actors could cohabit and share the evening. The creators wrote eight separate scripts, one for each actor, allowing for a certain degree of improvisation while challenging the cast to adapt their characters to the situation.

The plot is basically a soap opera, a melodramatic story about the dirty secrets and lies harbored within a family. It’s as if Lillian Hellman’s “The Little Foxes” had been updated to the Kennedy era. There’s marriage infidelity, alcohol, substance and spousal abuse, eating disorders, illicit sex and a shocking pregnancy announcement. The play also addresses a political scandal, racial discrimination and personal drama, all of which is exciting when experienced first-hand.

The entire ensemble cast, creatively staged and directed with spirit by David H. Bell, is to be commended. Ellie and Beau Coutier, to whose house we’ve been invited, both open and close the play. As this loving couple, Sarah Grant and Michael McKeogh keep the evening going, offering cocktails and makeshift appetizers to all their guests (since the caterer has been involved in a car accident), and trying to smooth over the mini dramas and put out the emotional fires that continually erupt. They also have to deal with their own personal crisis, as well.

The guests begin to show up, with Suzanne Wellington, the birthday girl, the first to arrive. She’s played with gusto and overly-sweet Southern charm by Brianna Borger. Imagine Scarlet O’Hara without her hoop skirt, a spoiled, childish socialite who can’t control her alcohol consumption or her tongue, and you have an idea of Ms. Borger’s performance. Jackson, her lapdog of a husband, is played by terrific character actor, Paul Fagen. He’s the kind of man who’ll do anything to keep his wife smiling, until he discovers that he has a backbone and finally stands up for himself.

Brian McCaskill portrays abusive husband and dirty politician Charles Lyon. Lauren, his poor, put-upon wife, is played with tenderness by Christine Mayland Perkins. The character endures so many emotional and physical tirades by her horrible husband that theatergoers will worry for her safety. When finally Lauren gets the upper hand we cheer for her newfound strength.

The last couple finally arrives for the birthday bash, and we meet Tucker Smith, played with panache and charm by Peter Ash. He’s escorting stylish, sophisticated Cassie Smith, a sharp African-American newspaper columnist, whose presence becomes the center of interest, much to the chagrin of Suzanne. As the booze continues flowing and the music gets louder, so do the guests. Finally all decorum and social graces are thrown out the window and the evening turns into a Southern version of “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf.”

Leslie Liautaud’s immersive melodrama is a fascinating theatrical experience for everyone involved. Since audiences will be unique each night, the performances are bound to be different as the cast adapts to 25 additional partygoers in their home. David H. Bell’s difficult directorial challenge in what’s essentially eight different plays must’ve been like herding cats. But, despite so much going on at every moment, Bell has done a great job of keeping focus where it’s needed, both inside the house and outside in the garden.

In addition to a stunning scenic design by Scott Davis, there’s great work offered by both Eleanor Kahn for her many props and detailed set decor, as well as Elsa Hiltner for her period perfect costumes. Even though New York offers entertainment of this type, such as “Sleep No More,” this kind of immersive show is a rare treat for Chicago audiences. Windy City Playhouse certainly has an exciting hit on its hands, and one that should be experienced by theatergoers firsthand.

Highly Recommended

Reviewed by Colin Douglas

 

Presented February 7-April 22 by Windy City Playhouse, 3014 W. Irving Park Rd., Chicago.

Tickets are available by calling the box office at 773-891-8985 or by going to www.windycityplayhouse.com.

Additional information about this and other area productions can be found by visiting www.theatreinchicago.com.