Playwright: Scott T. Barsotti At: Route 66 Theatre Company at Victory Gardens, 2433 N. Lincoln. Tickets: 312-871-3000; www.route66theatre.org; $25-$37.50. Runs through: Nov. 14
A friend observed that McMeekin Finds Out was like The Simpsons. Indeed, the simple characterizations and exaggerated premise of the play are very sit-com-like, and that's difficulty number one: theater should have greater dramatic weight and size than a 30-minute TV comedy. In episodic TVincluding sitcomswe know what happened the week before and we can watch next week to find out what follows. In McMeekin Finds Out, something important happened before the play begins and we never fully learn what, how or why. Then, the play ends with its major situation unresolved, so we never have satisfactory closure. More difficulty.
As the play opens, an obviously wasted teenage girl sexually straddles an equally wasted teenage boy lying on a couch. Returning home next morning, Carla informs her ranting 'rents that she raped a boy. It's not your typical comedy premise, but not to worry: McMeekin Finds Out isn't about teen rape. Having raised this entirely serious issue, playwright Scott Barsotti doesn't explore it. The focus is on the folks, Guy and Pam, both of whom are encased in casts due to an accident which has nothing to do with the premise at hand and the details of which are never explained. Carla's teenage brother defends his sister's honor ( as he sees it ) by kidnapping the abused boy, who spends most of the play mummified in duct tape ( don't ask ) . A final character, a dyke-like friend and cop, hauls Carla and her bro off to the police station for rape and kidnap respectively. End of play.
This unsatisfactory structure leads to a work that's goofy rather than funny, and forced rather than believably flowing from character. Indeed, Barsotti doesn't take sufficient time to establish his characters, so he's shooting himself in the foot. The rape/teen storyline and the parent storyline never impact each other, so the play goes nowhere for the first hour. If it weren't for a surprise close to Act I, there wouldn't be sufficient reason to return from intermission. Barsotti has a few good linessuch as "Life begins with parents, it doesn't begin with conception"but not enough to sustain things. The mostly veteran cast ( such as Kate Buddeke and Randy Steinmeyer as Guy and Pam ) are game and committed, and director Damon Kiely plays to the work's goofy strengths but cannot hide its flaws. Danielle Brothers turns in a robust cameo as the rugby-playing cop.
Comedy often embraces serious subjects with successAristophanes, Moliere, Shaw come readily to mind and even Neil Simon's Lost in Yonkersbut don't set up a serious premise only to ignore it. Barsotti needs to make some choices, write real characters and build some comic business into the format. What would Chaplin do with two people in casts?