Playwright: Lisa Dillman. At: Rivendell Theatre Ensemble, 5779 N. Ridge Ave. Tickets: 773-334-7728; www.RivendellTheatre.org; $30. Runs through: Feb. 16
American Wee-Pie concerns a 40-ish brother and sister, somewhat estranged, who return to small-town Gardensend (take the name as you wish) for their mother's funeral. Both confront the fact that they are at social and professional dead-ends with unfulfilling and mediocre jobs. The hero is brother Tim (nicknamed Zed), who becomes apprentice to gourmet cupcake maker Pableu and his wife, Linz, a former high school classmate of Zed's.
This world premiere, by estimable Chicago-based playwright Lisa Dillman, receives an engaging production courtesy of sure-handed director Megan Carney, Regina Garcia's whimsical set and Joshua Horvath's creative soundscape which reinforces the play's magical realism (a ghost and mystical coincidences). Four of the five cast members are Rivendell veterans who contribute greatly to the show's qualified successfor instance, Mark Ulrich's irresistible exaggeration as the French cupcake geniusand newcomer Jennifer Pompa (Linz) is fully up to the veterans' game. However, as often happens with a world premiere, both the strengths and weaknesses of the play are revealed. American Wee-Pie has a very strong Act I and not-as-strong an Act II, leading to the thought that it might be better without an intermission.
Dillman draws her characters very swiftly and boldly. For example, the first five minutes of the playbetween the buoyant and colorful Linz and the drab and depressed Tim/Zed (Kurt Brocker)sharply delineate these two characters and also amusingly lay out all the exposition you need. But Tim/Zed really is completely colorless compared to every other character in the piece. He's a not-unlikeable lump, but he never changes. Even by play's end, when he's made several life-altering decisions and inspired his sister (Jane Baxter Miller) to do the same, he's as pale as at the start, and the void of his social life is unchanged.
Now, to suggest that Dillman should introduce a romantic partner for Zed might be too drastic; it is, after all, her play and not mine. But it seems quite do-able that she could strengthen the rekindled bond between brother and sister and the mutual pay-offs thereof, and add a brief follow-up scene to the play's abrupt ending that would carry it just a wee bit further into the future. Also, the local postman (Keith Kupferer) reveals comments the mother made about her kids. It's a good device that might be extended with great benefits. If Dillman did that, and edited the slow spots in Act II, it just might be the equivalent of perfecting the recipe for a chocolate-pear-daikon radish cupcake which is so important to the story.
A new comedy by a Chicago author, a fine cast, an off-beat look at life and happiness: These make up the essence of off-Loop Theater and are worthy of attention.