Playwright: Branden Jacobs-Jenkins. At: Goodman Theatre, 170 N. Dearborn St. Tickets: 312-443-3825; GoodmanTheatre.org/Gloria; $20-$85. Runs through: Feb. 19
The day after Mary Tyler Moore died, CBS broadcast a comprehensive biography of her. It was produced before she died, with only final details needing to be added. All large-market media outlets do this. The New York Times has 1,700 die-and-publish obits covering figures from politics, sports, entertainment, science, business and the arts.
Gloria begins at the offices of a New York conglomerate producing books, online media and magazines where the death of a young musical icon creates chaos because there's no prepared obit. While important to the play's theme, it involves only half of the six low-to-mid-level staffers we meet, and it's not what launches the story. The precipitating incident in Gloria has taken place before the play begins. It leads to office place terror that alters lives and puts the media company itself at the center of the news cycle. In this very crisp and well-acted staging by Evan Cabnet, it provides a sensational Act I ending. ( Goodman has asked reviewers to withhold spoiler details. )
Act II has scenes set approximately six months and several years later in which we witness the aftermath of Act I. Briefly, three characters—with highly different motives—write books about the horrible event, and the least-authentic author lands a film deal.
I confess I had to read the program notes to understand that the theme is what constitutes news, especially pertaining to death and horrific events. Someone is shot and the 10 p.m. news has a 15-second byte of a parent or spouse still too shocked to grieve. Is that newsworthy? Does it add value to the story? When does media intrude on privacy? How many books, blogs and plays do we need on Columbine or Orlando?
This tremendously important topic rarely is publically discussed by networks or publishers themselves, whether the New York Times or Windy City Times. But if I can't discern the theme from seeing the play, then something isn't working. I think playwright Branden Jacobs-Jenkins grimly satirizes media culture without taking a stand against it.
Should I be satisfied he addresses the subject at all? Those needing scrutiny are those who establish and police editorial standards, not Jacobs-Jenkins' low-tier types. Act I has no discussion about privacy or decency, and the issue remains unresolved in Act II. Finally, all the characters are Millennials aged roughly 21-37, as is the playwright. If Jacobs-Jenkins writes accurately, they are the laziest, most self-justifying, petty and self-absorbed generation ever born, and I don't care a fuck about any of them. Says the only decent one, "Is another human life anything to us but an excuse to think about yourself?" Gloria is vivid, biting and intelligent, but I mistook the characters for the theme.
