Playwright: Brett Neveu At: Strawdog Theatre Company at Hugan Hall, 3829 N. Broadway. Tickets: 866-811-4111; www.strawdog.org; $15 . Runs through: Dec. 17
The title leads us to expect a Qui Nguyen fantasy-with-a-social-message ( think Fight Girl Battle World or She Kills Monsters ), an impression reinforced by its featuring a superhero suffering existential angst and another gone rogue ( think Men of Steel ), but while our dramatic universe may teeter on the brink of Behind-the-Myth explication, it is careful to keep us at a safe distance from its protagonist's exploratory journey into his own psyche.
Our story begins in pulp-noir territory, with a serial killer on the loose whose identity baffles the police even after six corpses have been found bludgeoned to death. Detective Brad Baker requests the assistance of the masked vigilante known only as the Fantastic Phenomenon, a generic dark knight uniformed in yellow and black ( Pittsburgh Pirates fans, take note ), but this informant seems curiously reluctant to offer his services this time. He is lonely, you see, and craves the intimacy of male friendship. In the meantime, the murderer taunts Baker with hints as to why his targeted victims all died wearing Fantastic Phenomenon T-shirts. Finally, after our pursuer's investigation leads him deep into the underworld, his quarry proclaims himself to be Supernova, the keeper of the Light.
This revelation, ironically, does nothing to clarify a scenario likely to still leave audiences puzzled. It may help them to recall that its author is Brett Neveu, whose signature lies in the blank spaces rendering his narratives enigmatic, at best. Further diluting the continuity is the play's brevity, its running time stretched to an hour only through dialogue rooted in characters echoing each other's words ( i.e., I want you to know this." "You want me to know this?" "Yes, I want you to know this." "What do you want me to know?" ).
A work in progress, however, is as good as anythinga cabaret revue, say, or a comedy troupeto comfort Strawdog patrons unable to secure tickets for its sold-out mainstage production. Gus Menary directs a four-person ensemble whose U.S. archetypes display the appropriately frozen-lipped solemnity, while designers Stephen Ptacek, Kyle Land, Ryan Bourque and Aly Renee Amidei immerse us in the minimalist environment created by ( uncredited ) scenic decor incorporating Hugan Hall's fully operational bar into the mean streets where even the hardest-boiled urban warriors can lose their morale. The soothing tones and therapyspeak slogans invoked by our shamus' commanding officer are probably not a coincidence.