Playwright: Jon Steinhagen. At: Signal Ensemble Theatre, 1802 W. Berenice Ave. Tickets: 1-773-698-7389; www.signalensemble.com; $20. Runs through: March 2
The city isn't named but it has a Bungalow Belt, a Brown Line, a working-class ethos and a mayoral family named DeKoven (as in DeKoven Street, where a certain Great Fire began in 1871). In fact, a DeKoven has been mayor for 86 consecutive years, father, son and grandson. Now Kenton DeKoven has decided to retire rather than die in office like his predecessors, and all hell breaks loose at the family's Labor Day gathering as Kenton's ambitious adult children wrangle over the line of succession, goaded by potty-mouthed Lou Tedesco, who is Kenton's nephew and politically shrewd chief of staff.
This world-premiere comedy by estimable writer/actor/composer Jon Steinhagen is loaded with funny linesmany mouthed by Steinhagen himself playing Lou to throw-away-comedy perfectionand the shifting quick sands of political fortune, but ultimately it does not conclude with same roar with which it began. The play is a steamroller as it methodically flattens the three wannabe mayor DeKoven kids (a daughter and two sons) but you can see the plot twist coming that ends Act I, and at the end of Act II Steinhagen softens the acerbic energy in order to render Kenton (played with authority by Vincent L. Lonergan) more sympathetic. This is neither right nor wrong, but as you like itor not.
The play also has many characters12 in all, six or seven of whom often are onstage at the same time. Steinhagen is better than most authors at keeping that many characters engaged in dialogue and situation, but Successors may have two or three characters too many. The youngest DeKoven kid, a garage-band slacker who happens to be alderman of a ward populated mainly by shuttered factories, probably could be written out, along with his girlfriend. It's not that they aren't funnythey arebut that they aren't essential to the plot. Ditto Kenton's older sister (and Lou's mother). She supplies important expository information, but there are others who could supply it.
These structural details aside, this play will raise laughs and rueful, knowing smiles for anyone the least bit aware of family politics in Chicago, Cook County and/or the state of Illinois ... and that should mean every voter and taxpayer! Whether characters are necessary or not, they are sharply drawn and generally well-played by the large cast, as directed by Signal co-artistic director Ronan Marra.
Scenic designer Melanie Lancy scores with a postcard-perfect bungalow backyard with an authentic back stoop, lit by Julie Ballard. On the other hand, the costumes by Elsa Hiltner suit each character just fine but don't seem to have been altered to fit the actors, which really is distracting.