THEATER REVIEW Lucinda's Bed. Playwright: Mia McCullougH. At: Chicago Dramatists, 1105 W. Chicago. Tickets: 312-633-0630; www.chicagodramatists.org; $25-$30. Runs through: Nov. 8
Mia McCullough's new play surprised me in the best way. Scene One introduces Lucinda ( Elizabeth Laidlaw ) on the verge of pubescence, perhaps 11 or 12. It also introduces the Monster under her bed, a handsome young man ( Lucas Neff, a handsome young man ) about whom Lucinda is curious rather than fearful. His looks, body-hugging clothes and subtly suggestive dialogue quickly establish that this scene is about a girl's psychosexual awakening. It's amusing at first, but the play's darker colors soon emerge.
The second scene, with Lucinda now a high-schooler, introduces "good" boy Adam ( Doug MacKechnie ) who loves Lucinda but dares not touch her. In a quick 80 minutes, the play follows Lucinda through loss of virginity ( near-rape by a college jock ) , marriage to Adam, parenthood, infidelity, divorce and, finally, death due to Lucinda's heart turning to stone, literally. In the surprising final scene, Lucinda is reborn as the Monster in the closet of a pre-adolescent boy as the cycle sets to repeat itself with variation. Throughout, Neff plays all the bad boysand Lucinda is attracted to themwhile MacKechnie plays the good guys.
Well, they play pretty good guys: Adam does have an affair, and it hardens Lucinda's heart less because of the infidelity and more because Adam dared to do it. "You can't forgive me because you wanted to do it," he says. "I discarded expectations, that's why you can't forgive me." As they part, he delivers the cruel but truthful coup-de-grace: "You may still be right, but does that make you good? And will it keep you warm at night?"
McCullough has packed a great deal into this pithy work of magic realism, including impressively rich subtext deeply interpreted by director Jessi D. Hill and a flawless cast. Physically impressive Laidlaw often plays Amazons ( she was Xena in About Face's adaptation of the TV show ) , so it's a breath of fresh air to see her play a charactergirl-to-womanof fragile and changing nature. Neff emerged last year as a young actor to watch, and has not disappointed through several leading roles to date, playing innocence and worldliness with equal aplomb. MacKechnie is excellent in the least-showy role of three, and is consistently persuasive as Adam ( and a few others ) . Grant Sabin's uncluttered, ever-changing bedroom set cleverly mutates from American Girl Place pink to sophisticated neutral tones, from single bed to marriage bed to no bed at all. Kat Doebler's costumes use simple variations on one or two basic outfits for each actor, helping to create a clean, fast show.
I never expected an entire life's journey or such truth ( so it seems to me ) about men as well as women. Lucinda's Bed shows why McCullough has earned her stripes as a playwright.