Playwright: Samuel L. Kelley. At: ETA, 7558 S. South Chicago Avenue . Phone: 773-752-3955; $30. Runs through: Aug. 9
What most distinguishes American society from that of other nations is its mobility. In our country, status is not fixed by birth or region, children are not required to adopt their parents' trade, nor marry within their tribal caste. Each individual's fortunes are vulnerable to fluctuationboth for the better and the worseand Samuel L. Kelley's fable of six blue-collar African-American buddies reflects this phenomenon.
Our tracking device is that of the weekly parties in Joe's basement apartment, where his fellow steel-mill workers gather to drink beer, play cards and swap confidences. To be sure, some are seeking roads out of the industrial sectorEd has his sights set on law school, Al attends night school in pursuit of his real estate agent's license and Tony sees his future in sales. But Scott is immersed in memories of the glory days before injuries put an end to his hopes of a career in pro football, while Charlie, the oldest of the group and an immigrant from the agricultural southern states, looks forward to retirement after 30 years of keeping a low profile ( following a visit home that teaches him the folly of a Black man attracting too much attention ) . As for the host, Joe has plans, toobut the security of steady job exerts a powerful attraction.
Twenty years later, Ed has been hired by a prestigious law firm, where he faces harsh compromises. Al has achieved financial stability, but at the price of constant vigilance. Tony now has the money to purchase the trappings of respectabilityincluding a Spellman-graduate wife and a former doctor's mansion in the sumptuous "Pill Hill" districtbut still chafes under his humble origins. Charlie's patience is rewarded, while Scott is driven to operating on the fringes of the law in order to maintain his glamorous lifestyle. But all agree that only ruin lies in standing stilla precept illustrated by procrastinating Joe's downward spiral after the unions abandon him and the steel mills close altogether.
ETA director Aaron Todd Douglas has assembled a cast adept at concealing Kelley's symposial text under a veneer of masculine camaraderie as immediately engaging as it is convincing. ( When Joe, on the eve of eviction, cries out to his former chums, "Take me with you," his despair, and that of the friends who must leave him behind, is enough to break your heart. ) Likewise commendable is the technical team whose stage dressing reflects in pinpoint-accurate detail the progress of these pilgrims in their search for economic sanctuary.