Searching for Connection

The October Storm

After the success of “The Last Pair of Earlies,” Windy City playwright Joshua Allen’s first installment of a promised dramatic series, Raven Theatre is presenting the Chicago premiere of the second play in his Grand Boulevard Trilogy (the third drama has been commissioned for next year). Once again set in the same, three-flat apartment building as his first play, Chicago’s Southside becomes another character in this drama. This play, set in the 1960’s, is again about change and how people cope with it. The drama’s also about how we spend our lives desperately searching for a connection with someone or something and, when it happens, how we deal with it.

Mrs. Elkins is a morose, middle-aged widow who resides in the basement flat of the apartment building she owns. When her adult daughter walked out years ago, Mrs. Elkins was left as the caretaker and guardian of her granddaughter, Gloria. Raising a rebellious teenager, a fifteen-year-old who’s never really known her own mother, has made Mrs. Elkins brusque and bitter. She makes ends meet by working a nine-to-five job during the day, while also renting out the two flats on the upper floors. Lucille, a feisty, elderly retired schoolteacher, lives on the first floor, but the top floor is currently vacant. 

However, change is in the air, and one cold, stormy October morning, Louis, a young Korean War veteran from Alabama, arrives in Chicago. He’s heard that there are jobs available here for hard-working veterans and that the City of Big Shoulders is a much friendlier place to live and work in than his small-town home. Louis rents the third-floor apartment and is immediately hired for a job, thanks to the secret influence of Mrs. Elkins. 

Meanwhile, Gloria, who’s about to turn sixteen, is pining to reconnect with her mother, who walked out when she was only two years old. She yearns for the kind of independence that comes with being a teenager, especially freedom from her strict grandmother. Gloria also has big dreams of going to Hollywood and becoming rich and famous. Although Gloria’s sparked the affection of Charles, a shy, fellow classmate nicknamed Crutch, who follows her around like a lovesick puppy dog, Gloria’s set her sights on Louis. Mrs. Elkins has also fallen for her handsome, young upstairs neighbor, and Louis, at first, finds the romantic connection with the older woman agreeable. But along with the rainstorm that dampens Chicago in October, change is inevitable and all the human connections in this story become dashed and begin to short circuit.

Directed with care, compassion and the kind of dreamy reality found in the plays of Tennessee Williams and Horton Foote, Malkia Stampley has brought Joshua Allen’s latest play to life. She’s guided her cast of five talented actors with a firm vision and a gentle hand. Nicely lit by Jared Gooding, Sotirios Livaditis’ basement apartment is an authentic-looking building one would find on Chicago’s Southside. It’s outfitted in perfect 1960’s style, as are Alexia Rutherford’s costumes and, especially, Megan E. Pirtle’s wig designs.

Ms. Stampley’s cast is led by the talented Shariba Rivers as Mrs. Elkins. Ms. Rivers returns to Raven Theatre after her riveting performances in “Hoodoo Love,” “House of Blue Leaves” and “Dividing the Estate.” Any production that features this magnificent actress is well worth experiencing, and her portrayal of this embittered woman, who only wants to connect with someone—anyone—is both powerful and heartbreaking. Jaeda LaVonne is equally terrific as teenaged Gloria, another young woman tortured by a need for human connection. The actress conceals the hurt inflicted by a mother who abandoned her as a baby, and a grandmother who is determined not to let her granddaughter make the same kinds of mistakes. But the anger and loneliness eventually burst forth, and the final moments between these two talented actresses is one of the most powerful and poignant scenes ever performed on the Raven stage.

Having proven his theatrical skill in The Story Theatre’s Jeff Awarded “Marie Antoinette and the Magical Negroes,” Nathaniel Andrew is excellent as the courteous, soft-spoken Louis. His growing relationship with Mrs. Elkins is gentle and guarded, much in the way that Laura carefully maneuvers her fragile relationship with the Gentleman Caller, in Tennessee  Williams’ “The Glass Menagerie.” Brandon J. Sapp makes Crutch a real-life adolescent in his portrayal. Clearly believing he has a connection with Gloria, Crutch soon learns otherwise; the way she treats the boy in the final scenes is heartless and so sad. The audience, because of how Mr. Sapp stands up to her cruelty, knows that this young man is deserving of so much better. 

And the delightful Felisha D. McNeal provides welcome comic relief in her joyous portrayal of Lucille. As a woman who’s lived most of her life teaching young people, Lucille may be elderly and retired but she completely understands teenagers, like Gloria and Crutch. Shuffling down the stairs from her apartment to babysit, she loves watching Mrs. Elkins’ television with the kids, from “American Bandstand” to the new “Andy Griffith Show,” which she doesn’t think will last long. Ms. McNeal brings plenty of welcome warmth and humor to this production.

Joshua Allen’s second play in his Grand Boulevard Trilogy, each of which is set in a three-flat in Chicago’s Southside, is entertaining and moving. Like his previous offering, “The Last Pair of Earlies,” this drama features strong, well-drawn characters who are trying to survive changes in their world. They’re also people looking for some way to connect with one another, and his character-driven story is quite captivating. However, also like his earlier play, some fine tuning and a bit of editing might help move the story along, especially in the second act. All-in-all, however, this is a captivating tale of people who, like all of us, are just trying to survive everything that life throws their way.      

Recommended

Reviewed by Colin Douglas

Presented May 11-June 25 by Raven Theatre, 6157 N. Clark Street, Chicago.

Tickets are available in person at the box office, by calling 773-338-2177 or by going to www.raventheatre.com.

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