How the Pandemic Has Affected Us

How Do We Navigate Space? — Strawdog Theatre

Living in Chicagoland during the past year, as the Covid-19 pandemic drastically changed everyone’s lives, people of all ages were forced to think differently about their existence. This was particularly true within the last few months, during a winter that seemed never-ending. This beautiful, often unusually poignant and sometimes humorous mixture of film and live performance is a poetic depiction of almost everything that’s touched our hearts and souls during this stifling quarantine.

Written with imagination, elegiac splendor and sensitivity by Karissa Murrell Myers, the 70-minute performance piece plays like a collection of prose and poems, short stories and essays. Each component is titled with a different heading, such as Boredom, Space, Silence, Touching and other topics that are certain to hit home with audiences of all ages. There’s a lovely piece entitled Bach that features one of the actors playing their own string soundtrack. Another particularly powerful piece is told by an African America actor who provides a face and raw emotion to the Black Lives Matter movement, especially when a dangerous virus is lurking everywhere. Yet another actor brings a personal point of view to how painful and fearful it is to be an Asian-American during these dangerous days.

There are moving accounts of what it’s been like to date or just connect with another human being during this past year. Zoom calls can only offer so much. Visits to the grocery store offer their own special challenges, more than simply the reality that the shelves may be empty. Even taking a walk and maintaining a six-foot-distance, or wearing a mask when others are flaunting that request, is portrayed in a modern dance-like performance on Chicago walkways. There’s a fierce montage about hand-washing that will bring a chuckle to some, while it may make others cringe. An homage to essential workers, the importance of pets and how many of us continue to experience unbelievable rudeness by the self-entitled during this time are topics that are explored.

This exquisite performance piece is thoughtfully directed by Denise Yvette Serna. Thanks to Kamille Dawkins’ artistry as the Director of Photography, Kyle Hamman’s superb video editing, Heath Hays’ pitch perfect sound design and Mah Nu for their evocative underscoring, this production looks and sounds exceptionally polished and professional. Becca Levy choreographs the company’s stylized movement design and Jos N. Banks costumes his cast perfectly. The talented cast consists of Yuchi Chiu, Terri Lynne Hudson, Josie Koznarek, Gloria Petrelli and Eric Strebig, all playing multiple roles.

Strawdog Theatre Company has skillfully and artistically blended film and live performance into a collage of color, light, sound and emotions. Inspired by surveys submitted by the people of Chicago, the company has created a gorgeous theatrical time capsule that looks at how the pandemic has affected everyone in this ever-changing world.

Highly Recommended

Reviewed by Colin Douglas       

Presented virtually March 19-April 18 by Strawdog Theatre Company.
Tickets are available at www.strawdog.org.

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