Playwright: Jon Steinhagen. At: Chicago Dramatists, 1105 W. Chicago Ave. Phone: 312-633-0630 or www.chicagodramatists.org; $32. Runs through: Feb. 12
If the precipitation that heralded the opening night of this new play at Chicago Dramatists had been that of 1967, you wouldn't be reading this review until next weekor maybe even next month. Forty-five years ago, our city experienced 29 hours of steadily falling snow accumulating on the ground to a depth of nearly two feet, making it the meteorological disaster against which all future natural disasters would be measured. From this event, playwright Jon Steinhagen has fashioned atake a deep breathmen-at-war story.
Well, why not? Under attack by forces of, literally, superhuman proportions, it's not uncommon for a bunker mentality to set in after a disturbingly short time. The bunker, in this case, is a 1963 Ford with no radio or hornno communication with the outside world, in other wordscontaining four car-pooling corporate drones bound for the suburbs. They are a generically diverse company: Grumpy Landfield, stoical Bell and restless Emery are married, each one harboring unspoken insecurities and ambitions, and all envious of the serene, single, childless, mortgage-free, recently promoted Henkin. Surrounded by whiteout as dense and terrifying as outer space, every decisionGo on or turn back? Stay in the car or set out on foot? Assist strangers in distress or protect themselves?must be considered carefully in terms of its group dynamic.
Told as straightforward crisis-drama, it would be easy for us to wallow in the emotional hysteria, but Steinhagen's purpose isn't facile hankie-chewing thrills. Our unlikely band of brothers announce at the outset that they are recounting an adventure long concluded, and the fates of the disparate participants settled, in hopes that their hindsight will bring us wisdom, comfort and perhaps courage in the face of other seemingly overwhelming adversaries. Their final exhortation to "wrap up, stay warm and drive safely" is also a benediction, extended by those who survived (or didn't) an unforeseen cataclysm changing the course of their lives forever.
Four chairs, a table and some unobtrusive tech-effects make for a visually stark odyssey, leaving it to director Russ Tutterow and the sharply honed ensemble-acting of Andy Hager, John Gawlik, Andy Lutz and Stephen Spencer to convey the enduring trauma arising from fear as immediate as that of armed combat. Look for this fable to play theaters throughout America's northern regions for many winters to come. Better yet, see it herenow.