Playwright: Julie Brudlos
At: Organic Theater Co., 1125 W. Loyola
Phone: ( 773 ) 561-5600; $25-$30
Runs through: Sept. 14
Playwright Julie Brudlos' world-premiere work, now being given a handsome mounting by the Organic Theater Company, and starring Chicago veteran talent Mike Nussbaum, is a work that wants to be great, but still has some miles to travel before it reaches that point. The story, about the last day at a large state mental hospital before it is converted into a state prison, harbors great dramatic potential, but needs to streamline itself and pull back some of its author's linguistic and stylistic fancies. Centered on Dr. Isaiah Kazin ( Nussbaum ) , who was born and reared on the grounds of the hospital, Brudlos attempts to pull us into the aging doctor's world and to demonstrate the part memory and forgiveness play in helping us become whole. The story winnows down to a single childhood memory of the doctor's ( one that's none too pleasant, but has the unfortunate ring of the trivial ) and to show how that memory has affected his relationship with significant others, his staff, and his patients.
The problem is, for all her careful research, the playwright fails to make the asylum a credible place. Brudlos has some of the details right, but the play lacks the heart it needs to make her voice authoritative. Patients' problems are too easily analyzed and dispensed with. A good example is the doctor's treatment of a crazed young woman, Wanda ( Kati Brazda ) . She comes to him with a dream … and in the telling, we are treated to a catalog of symbolism, all of which the good doctor adroitly sends packing, ticking off meanings one by one. It's all too easy and neat. I realize time here is compressed ( we flit back and forth between 1969 and 1989 to get a grasp of how mental health has changed, showing how treatment has become more assembly line and drug-oriented ) , but we need to see the slow progress one makes to achieve breakthrough. And the pivotal scene, when the doctor re-experiences his repressed childhood memory, fails because it's too pat. The catharsis comes too easily for a memory buried so long and playing such a significant role. The memory itself is a letdown, because it doesn't carry much dramatic weight, so it seems unbelievable that the doctor would be so haunted by it.
Ina Marlowe has done a fine job; the play is deftly paced. Joseph Gleckert ( scenic design ) , Brian Hupke ( sound ) , and Neil Anderson ( lighting ) create theatrical magic in making the doctor's asylum office ( and his refuge ) an evocative, realistic place. Particularly, the cornfield looming outside the office works because it harkens back to the doctor's somewhat troubled childhood. But creative design and good performances ( particularly those of Nussbaum, Brazda, and Maureen Gallagher as a peer and lover ) cannot carry the weight of some of the playwright's conceits and inconsistency. Her fascination with language sometimes falls flat because it's overblown ( example: the doctor asks his coworker: 'How does one pack up a lifetime?' She answers: 'One box at a time.' ) . She also doesn't create enough tension and excitement … this is, after all, an insane asylum. It's far too serene. And we can't suspend our disbelief completely when, in the 1969 scene, we get relics of the present such as a current cigarette pack, a modern water cooler, and boxes that don't fit the period.
A Kind Asylum has a good play buried within its confines. The director and playwright need to work just a little harder on ferreting it out. It's kind of like therapy.
Note: This production was reviewed in its final preview.