Playwright: Margot Bordelon and Cassy Sanders with the ensemble . At: Theatre Seven of Chicago at Chicago Dramatists, 1105 W. Chicago. Phone: 773-853-3158; $14-$18. Runs through: Aug. 30
Theatre Seven of Chicago's world premiere of Lies & Liars stylistically dazzles on just about every level.
The comedy's overall tone of office politics is cleverly conspiratorial. The slick production design ( sets by Courtney O'Neill ) ingeniously incorporates mounds of multimedia ( great work by video designer CJ Arellano and sound designer Christopher M. LaPorte ) . And each member of the cast is physically and comically in sync with the play's sneaky humor.
What's the only disappointment with Lies & Liars? The ultimate plot payoff comes off as a letdown.
Stylishly directing the whole production are co-writers Margot Bordelon and Cassy Sanders ( with input from the acting company of nine ) . They tantalizingly offer such a nefarious buildup that we're expecting a huge corporate conspiracy. But all that Lies & Lies uncovers is office politics of the heart and an emotionally shattering personal secret.
Lies & Liars takes place entirely in the Cook County branch of the international Big Brother-like corporation ALCOR ( All Lies Censored or Revealed ) . Sometime in the near future, ALCOR finds a way to catalogue all the lies that are told throughout a person's life. When the time is right, each person's lies are revealed.
Our introduction into the world of ALCOR comes with a hilarious employee orientation video that catalogues five different types of lies ( ranging from little white lies to bald-faced lies ) and frequent appearances by academic lecturer ( Ina Strauss ) doing visual-aide assisted theorizing on falsehoods. There's also an amusing rundown off all the branch's employees ( annotated just like a Road Runner cartoon ) .
The employee that allows us to discover the ins and outs of the company is new janitorial hire Benjamin Willard ( an amiably low-key and lanky Brad Smith ) . Benjamin has been recently dumped by his girlfriend, and his single status sets off some suspicious speculation by his supervisor, Michael Jones III ( a sneaky Brian Stojak ) and two potential office romance prospects in fellow janitor Liz ( a mild-mannered Jennifer Waldrip ) and the stickler-for-truth administrator Vikki O'Sullivan ( a happily high-strung Marjorie Armstrong ) .
Stress over missing and misplaced files drives the plot, entangling long-time security guard Polly ( a grimacing Cyd Blakewell ) , secretary Melaina ( a perky Calliope Porter ) and the perpetual goof-off Dale ( an amusing Nick Ward ) . Popping in and out is the boss Marcel ( an adept Joe Zarrow ) , whom we think will have a larger role in the plot than he ultimately has.
Co-directors Bordelon and Sanders position their characters and props with plenty of panache onstage. Aiding and abetting their efforts is Justin Wardell's focused lighting design.
Some may write off Theatre Seven's Lies & Liars as all style over substance. But if you skip it for that reason alone, then you'll miss out on all the dynamic design work and theatrical fun.