Ordinary People

Twilight Bowl – Goodman Theatre

Rebecca Gilman is a Chicago-based playwright who keeps close to her small town roots. She doesn’t write about lofty characters using elevated language. Her plays reflect the struggle of ordinary people who are trying to live the lives they want. Through such notable plays as “Luna Gale,” “Boy Gets Girl” and “Spinning Into Butter,” Ms. Gilman paints portraits of real folks, showing how, instead of being true to their own goals and aspirations, find themselves trying to meet everyone else’s expectations in life. This is the focus of her latest play, now enjoying its world premiere in Chicago.

A group of close friends, a couple of them even related, have grown up together in a small town in Green County, Wisconsin. They frequently gather at the Twilight Bowl, the local bowling alley that’s the town hot spot. While sipping beverages, truths are exposed, dreams become shared and friendships grow and blossom. Gilman’s latest play doesn’t so much revolve around a plot as it looks at how five young women grow and mature over the course of three years, when situation and happenstance direct their lives.

Always up for a celebration of any kind, the play opens and closes on two different parties. In the first scene of this 90-minute one-act, Jaycee is enjoying her final evening of freedom as she gets ready to head to a women’s prison on a drug related charge. Sharlene, the more conservative and thoughtful good girl of the group, has brought a cake, prompted the girls to bring gifts and offered a game wherein the girls share touching memories about their friend. The whole affair falls apart, allowing the audience a look at the details of why Jaycee is headed to the big house. We also begin to witness the complicated dynamics that keep this group of friends together.

Clarice is an edgy, easily-agitated young woman who hates working at the two, low-paying jobs that enable her to live in her own apartment. She’s intrigued when Sharlene tells her there’s a job opening at the senior living facility, where she works; and, while it’s just an entry level position, there are greater opportunities with larger salaries to be had. Brielle is the head barkeep and waitress at the Twilight Bowl. While she’s spent some time at a local college, she’s never been able to find focus for her life. By the end of the play, however, Brielle has some new, promising prospects ahead of her. Sam is a student at Ohio State on a bowling scholarship. She’s nervous about keeping her financial aid because her grades have been disappointing and her success on the lanes hasn’t been great.

The newcomer to the group is Maddy, a self-absorbed, self-entitled princess from the more affluent suburb of Winnetka, IL. Because of a traumatic event at school, she’s suddenly become bff’s with Sam. With Thanksgiving break looming ahead, Maddy’s asked her new friend if she could spend the holiday with Sam and her family in Wisconsin, not realizing just how rural and rustic the weekend will be. Maddy ends up butting heads with Sharlene over conflicting opinions about a woman’s right to make choices regarding her own body. The blowup reveals a new side of the two girls that was, here-to-for unknown.

Jeff-nominated director Erica Weiss has guided her cast of talented actresses with sensitivity and focus. She mines the reality of each character and situation, finding the truth in each portrayal and the honesty of their status. As Jaycee, Heather Chrisler is a tough cookie, easily riled and as defensive as an abandoned alley cat. From the first to the last scene, we see a marked difference in Jaycee, one of two characters in this play who undergo a dramatic change. Playing Sam, Becca Savoy shows a young woman who, at the beginning of this play, knows that her whole life hinges on her ability to maintain a sports scholarship. By the end of the play, we see an entirely new Samantha: confident, successful, a hometown heroine and a sports superstar. Each of these two girls are altered in very different ways, both managing to come out on top.

Mary Taylor launches a wall of confidence and homespun  humor to her portrayal of Brielle. She’s the buffer, the peacekeeper of the group. Brielle is the young woman who knows everyone and all their problems, yet keeps her own difficulties and dilemmas buried deep inside until they’re resolved. Clarice, as played by Hayley Burgess, is feisty and forceful. She’s a good buddy to her girlfriends, bristling with bile, but always supportive when necessary. She’s not a patsy, however, and won’t be manipulated or pushed around. 

The diamond in the rough of this group of girls is Maddy. As skillfully played by Angela Morris, this well-off, self-enfranchised college coed, has a lot more going on, just beneath the surface, than the audience realizes. When Ms. Morris finally lets loose and faces off against Sharlene, we see a talented actress at the top of her game. Anne E. Thompson has Sharlene down perfectly. She’s plays this kind, caring kid flawlessly as a mousy, young woman who’s the poster girl for sound, Christian values. Audiences will recognize this young woman, the sweet, sheltered girl who looks for the best in everyone, is candid to a fault and tries to live her life by helping others.

While Rebecca Gilman’s new play is one more group portrait of ordinary people, it’s probably safe to say that it hits home with a certain element of the population. Young women will find this play particularly appealing. Anyone who’s been brought up in, or has at least spent time in, a small town will recognize these characters and empathize with their passions and problems. But for the confirmed urbanite, this play may be a fresh, eye-opening experience, with a new look at how, deep down inside, we’re all cut from the same cloth.

Recommended

Reviewed by Colin Douglas                 

Presented February 19-March 10 by the Goodman Theatre in the Owen Theatre, 170 N. Dearborn, Chicago.

Tickets are available in person at the box office, by calling 312-443-3800 or by going to www.GoodmanTheatre.org/TwilightBowl.

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