Playwright: Nick Digilio & Anthony Tournis. At: Factory Theater at Prop Thtr, 3502 N. Elston Ave.. Phone: 866-811-4111;$15-$20. Runs through: Sept. 3
Once upon a time, there were two brothers, one who rooted for the Cubs and the other, for the Sox. Jake and Tommy met regularly at their father's tavern for the "crosstown classic" matches ( neither one being willing to enter the enemy's stadium ) , where they quarreledloudly, passionately, incessantlyover the merits of their respective champions. Then came the day in 1997 when they proposed a wager on whose team would score the highest number of wins over the next 10 years, with papa Sonny deciding the prize.
This would have comprised another harmless beer-fueled bet if America's national pastime had been the only bone of contention between the siblings instead of the focus for deeper rivalries that their widowed sire ( himself, a football fan and thus, nonpartisan ) struggles to address. Time passes, but Jake and Tommy ( according to the former's wifea likewise neutral hockey devotee ) continue to bicker "like a pair of 13-year-old girls", oblivious to both the bad and good examples presented them: movie buffs wholly absorbed in their chosen hobby, a mixed Cubs/Sox female couple who trounce the squabbling sports fanatics at Trivial Pursuit. The advice of bartender Cassell and regular customers Milt and Mickey is also lost in the morass of adolescent insecurities that threaten to prevent the lads' ever achieving maturity. "You're bitter young men who'll turn into bitter old men." warns Cassell.
Playgoers inclined to accuse co-authors Nick Digilio and Anthony Tournis of exaggeration in choosing baseball as their metaphor may want to explore a section of Graceland cemetery bearing the familiar blue-and-red insignia, set aside for Cubs supporters whose loyalty extends, literally, beyond the grave. This may be a Chicago play on its surface, but the stories of intratribal animosities born of frivolous differences and continuing beyond their proper life span are as universal as the intractable personalities who perpetuate them.
This 80-minute Factory Theater production carefully walks the line between its twin aesthetics of slam-bang comedy and home-grown wisdom. Tournis and Greg Caldwell's Jake and Tommy may command center stage, but what we take home with us are the archetypes created by an ensemble of versatile actors, notably Laura Deger as the testosterone-tolerant Mrs. Jake and Brian Amidei as the patient paterfamilias Sonny. Wrigley Field will be shuttered for the winter eventually, but Black and Blue is a parable for ALL seasons.