Navigating Loneliness

Fulfillment Center – A Red Orchid Theatre

The lights rise on the loading dock of a mail order business that ships packages from its New Mexico facility to the rest of the country. Suzan, a former, semi-famous folk singer (“I had a couple of fans”), is interviewing for and trying to land a seasonal job with the company. She’s recently fled a failed relationship and has found temporary shelter at a nearby campground, while trying to earn enough money to repair her broken-down car. Suzan convinces Alex, the kindhearted, 20-something supervisor of the shipping firm, that she’s capable of handling the stressful, physically demanding work load, despite her age.

Alex, himself, has only recently been hired to manage this company, but he’s determined, despite some recent career mistakes, to make this job work. Being the nice the guy that he is, he reluctantly agrees to hire Suzan for a trial period. Back at his apartment, Alex doesn’t seem to be able to manage his personal life much better. Newly arrived from New York, Alex has convinced his reluctant girlfriend, Madeleine, to join him. As an African American woman, she feels out of place in this predominately conservative, Caucasian town. Because she has no job, Madeleine finds life boring in their hot, desert apartment, so she spends her time hitting the bottle and cruising the internet for excitement. When Alex tries to romance his girlfriend, or get her to leave the apartment for some cultural stimulation, the experience always ends in a fight.

John, who also happens to be spending time at the same campsite, is a drifter. Suzan discovers him sitting alone one night and offers to share her snack food and some conversation with him. But John seems to be a very private guy, extremely withdrawn and given only to short, brusque verbal exchanges. With Suzan, John’s reluctant to become socially involved, although she eventually wears him down a bit. John has made a connection, however, with Madeleine on the internet, although their clandestine meetings always end up in an altercation.

Abe Koogler’s 100-minute one-act plays out like an actual slice-of-life. The drama opens in the middle of Suzan’s interview with Alex, and it ends after a series of other two-person conversations, without offering any resolution to the four characters’ problems. What the audience experiences through Koogler’s drama is a clear look at how ordinary people do their best to navigate loneliness despite their inability to make any real connections.

The play premiered to critical acclaim Off-Broadway two years ago, at New York’s Manhattan Theater Club. Red Orchid’s production is more intimate and every bit as powerful. Through his play, Koogler reminds us how, in today’s world, people tend to connect only superficially. Someone may have a lot of Facebook friends or Twitter followers, but how many true companions or intimate soul mates can a person realistically claim? With caution and uncertainty we meet so many others during a day, but often we immediately forget their names or who they were. What we really long for in life is a deeper connection with someone, anyone. The audience cheers for each of the characters in this play, but, in the end, there’s no winner.

Directed with care and sensitivity by Jess McLeod, the talented resident director of Chicago’s production of “Hamilton,” this production feels very realistic, as if each theatergoer was simply a voyeur, secretly peering into each character’s world. His cast is superb and, because of how Abe Koogler’s constructed his script, no single actor stands out as the lead. The playing ground is uniform and each actor shines with equal radiance. 

Company member Natalie West, last seen in Red Orchid’s “Traitor,” is wonderfully cast as Suzan. This actress is a master of the casual line delivery. Ms. West’s strength in this story is how she comes off as purely conversational, when deep inside there’s tension because her character is pining for a kindred connection. Red Orchid Artistic Associate Steve Schine brings authenticity to John, a man desperate for some kind of romantic interaction, but who doesn’t know how to control his impulses. John’s feelings and patience is often tested through his relationships with others, and anger overrides his other emotions. The result is a sad, socially awkward man who may never be capable of knowing any kind of love connection.

Toya Turner returns to her home town to play Madeleine. Here she creates a restless young woman who can’t find satisfaction in anything or with any one person. She leaves behind the excitement of Manhattan to share her life, or at least an apartment, with Alex. But despite her boyfriend’s attempts at affection and helping her adjust to a more laidback lifestyle, Madeleine is continually bored and always looking for more excitement. She thinks that if Alex can get promoted to a job in Seattle, her life may improve. But none of those things are certain. Instead, Madeleine remains frustrated. Ms. Turner expertly creates a tetchy character who can’t seem to personally connect with anyone—not with her boyfriend nor with John, the “ugly, but in a hot” stranger she meets online. Alex, played with genuine likability and youthful vulnerability by Jose Nateras, was seen recently in “Frankenstein” at Remy Bumppo Theatre. In this production, the actor portrays an earnest young man who harbors considerable insecurities and doubts about his relationship and his future. With his current job and his love life on the rocks, Alex, for all his open honesty, is just as disconnected as everyone else in this play.

Throughout a series of individual scenes, four characters desperately try to make meaningful connections with someone else. Their efforts are familiar, honest and heartbreaking, but for all their attempts each character ends up alone. There are moments of awkwardness, of uneasiness and even an air of sinister motivation. The people in Abe Koogler’s drama aren’t perfect or completely innocent; but their sincere need to find someone else in this crazy world, with whom to share their hopes and dreams, makes this play worth the time it takes to navigate the loneliness. 

Recommended

Reviewed by Colin Douglas 

Presented January 31-March 24 by A Red Orchid Theatre, 1531 N. Wells, Chicago.

Tickets are available at the box office, by calling 312-943-8722 or by going to www.aredorchidtheatre.org.

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