Empathy is a Bird

Do You Feel Anger? – Red Orchid Theatre

Brava to Mara Nelson-Greenberg, a talented, new playwright who, clearly, has a lot to say about toxic workplaces. In her comically absurdist one-act play, she depicts a place of business in which male stupidity dominates and the females have sadly been reduced to babbling idiots, trying their best to survive in this septic environment. Ms. Nelson-Greenberg’s play had its professional debut at the 42nd Humana Festival of New American Plays and went on to its Off-Broadway New York premiere at The Vineyard Theatre. Chicago audiences can now enjoy a powerfully intimate production of this play at A Red Orchid Theatre, under the sharp direction of Ensemble member, Jess McLeod.

The premise of this play is simple. Sofia is an enthusiastic empathy coach who’s been hired to inspire an office of insensitive loan collectors to acquire some compassion for and deal with the plight of their customers. Jon, the company’s supervisor, is an idiot in a suit. He makes Steve Carell’s Michael Scott, from the popular sitcom, “The Office,” seem like a Rhodes Scholar. Played perfectly by Lawrence Grimm, Jon says stupid things like, “I want to pretend that I’m a good guy.” He also tells Sofia that she would do a better job if she wore a dress. Really? And then he proudly tells her that his office now has a maternity policy in which they let women leave work AS they’re giving birth. Jon proclaims his fondness for blowjobs, without reciprocation. He also has a limited vocabulary and has to call his female assistant, for example, to ask what Sofia means when she talks about a woman’s period. Sofia says that there’s nowhere in the ladies room for disposing used tampons. The look on his face becomes pure horror as he hears his secretary’s explanation. And this is just the beginning.

Perky, likable Eva, played with bubbling enthusiasm by the wonderful actress, Sadieh Rifai (who was the heart and soul of Red Orchid’s recent hit, “Grey House”), is trying to fit in and stay afloat in this male-dominated workplace. She confides in Sofia that she recently broke up with her boyfriend, who she’s convinced is a serial killer, and whose name she can’t remember. His sexual demands were all one-sided and unreasonable. Eva speaks nervously, without pauses, and interjects that she’s regularly mugged in the breakroom by one of the other employees, whose face she’s never seen.

Not all of the staff members are present for Sofia’s workshops. Janie, one of the other employees, is missing, although her sweater hangs over the back of a chair. It seems she was excused to use the restroom and has never returned. Jordan, played with affability by Bernard Gilbert, is the self-proclaimed office poet. Naturally, he’s just as clueless as his boss. When shown a list of words that could be used for a more empathetic phone interaction with customers, he questions if they’re even real words. When Sofia asks if anyone knows what is empathy, Jordan proudly proclaims that it’s a bird. 

Howie is Jordan’s work buddy. He’s portrayed with violent vigor and vehemence by Levi Holloway (last seen in “Small Mouth Sounds”). Howie admits that he has anger management issues. When presented with transcripts of telephone conversations with his clients, it’s very clear that Howie needs a lot of help. He and Jordan continually proclaim that they’re horny and they begin hitting on Sofia. Later in the play a new character enters, played with authority by Paul Dillon. He’s the Old Man, who has arrived to blow up the office with his homemade bombs.

The glue that holds this sparse story together is Sofia. She’s magnificently played by Emjoy Gavino, a gifted actress who, unbelievably is making her Red Orchid debut, although her resume is filled with credits from every major Chicago theatre. Ms. Gavino creates a character who’s a real go-getter. She’s bold and brassy, but knows how to tread lightly around a male-dominated workplace and patronize their stupidity. Theatergoers will see Sofia as a strong, confident professional woman for whom this isn’t her first rodeo. She’s cautious around the men, empathetic with Eva, but is only slightly affected by her mother’s constant plaintive phone calls and voice messages. Emjoy Gavino is the backbone of this production.

For audiences who aren’t put off by frank dialogue and enjoy a new, contemporary Theatre of the Absurd production that’s pretty funny, this surreal one-act by Mara Nelson-Greenberg will be an unexpected pleasure. The more conservative theatergoer might simply feel confused and offended by the frankness of this dark comedy, but the playwright’s message is clear amidst her off-the-wall humor. She’s painted a satire of a typical workplace in which the men rule, but who are dumber than a box of rocks. The play says a great deal about the world in which we live and provides a lot of food for thought.

Highly Recommended

Reviewed by Colin Douglas 

Presented January 23-March 15 by A Red Orchid Theatre, 1531 N. Wells Ave., 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.