Playwright: Samuel D. Hunter. At: LiveWire Chicago Theatre at the Greenhouse, 2257 N. Lincoln Ave. Phone: 773-404-7336;$20. Runs through: Dec. 17
The play opens on a moment that immediately leads us to anticipate a massacre. Our protagonist anticipates one, too. In fact, he prays for it: a merciless holocaust that will scorch the earth, leaving it cleansed of woe and corruption. We're talking, of course, about Armageddon, prognosticated in the Bible as the prelude to the righteous delivered into heaven while everybody else burns in hell for all eternity.
Our pilgrim didn't arrive at his position out of sheer misanthropy, we learn, but as a response to injustices inflicted upon him. The exclusivity of the apocalypticist community offering him sanctuary carries with it a semblance of order, but after inadvertently sending a youthful congregant to death at the hands of an overzealous pastor, Will confines his devotions to an online roman à clef as he attempts to reunite with the son whose loss launched our bereft dad's spiritual journey. Far from a gateway to salvation, however, the long-lost boy turns out to be a troubled adolescent adept at using hard-luck stories to manipulate kind-hearted citizens. (Only a child thoroughly assured of his worth threatens to killnot others, but himself, when not given his way.)
Samuel D. Hunter's provocative scenario risks descending swiftly into clichédid I mention that the Idaho state capitol's economy is seemingly driven by big-box chain stores, staffed by the expected bumpkins?spurring audiences to adopt hasty opinions and adhere to them with dogmatic obstinacy. Director Joshua Aaron Weinstein rejects such comic-book characterizations, instead instructing his cast to dig deep into their roles to amplify the emotional hunger that drives innocents to seek solace wherever it may be found in a chaotic universethrough their job, through their art, through a diet of romance fiction. Will's convictions reject earthly ministries, however, rendering himif not the "bad person" he fears he might bea doomsayer bringing naught but destruction and despair.
Hunter raises intelligent arguments, but the lugubrious pace necessary for full comprehension of his multiple-textured narrative stretches this LiveWire production to a staggering 105 intermissionless minutes. If our parable ended in some sort of resolution, this would be contemplative time well spent, but as it is, we go home burdened only by more questions over which to ruminate pessimistically in a dark world.