Occasionally I see shows which don't have singing and dancing on the menu. Really, I do.
Recently I headed over to American Theater Company's deee-lightful space for The Mamet Rep: Oleanna/Speed-the-Plow, two of Chicago playwright David Mamet's most controversial pieces which are currently playing back-to-back.
Surprise Guest Blog! Chicago fiction writer JJ Accrocco contributed back in March, and we're thrilled to have him back sharing his thoughts about this intriguing piece of theater.
And as always, Guest Blogging is highly encouraged, so if you've got something you'd like to say just shoot us an email at obic@tribune.com
This was truly a gripping performance of Oleanna, a play which asks its audience to examine the education system in America, brilliantly acted by Darrell W. Cox, who plays the frustrating professor, and Nicole Lowrance who plays the struggling student. The experience was like being in a classroom yourself, with all the aggravation of trying to appeal to an embittered teacher. Let it be said that Oleanna serves as a warning to all mediocre educators. The intensity is palpable in this short piece without a moment of dead air, leaving its audience with a curtain call dripping with emotion.
In the brief break between the two works the stage is transformed into an entirely different world. Speed the Plow is lighter fare with equally intelligent banter which often has the rhythmic pattern of a sitcom. While there are a lot of comic moments in this play, Mamet is really asking us to examine our own moral value system. Cox and Lowrance again take the stage as two entirely new characters, along with Lance Baker, and for a second time blow the audience away with their true understanding of the characters. All three make very icy yet appropriate choices in order to get to the root of Mamet's cut-throat characters.
For all the Mamet fans out there, this production in repertory is spot-on; come for Oleanna, stay for Speed the Plow.
Filed under: American Theater Company
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