Playwright: Jane Anderson
At: Brown Couch Theatre Company at the Athenaeum, 2936 N. Southport Ave.
Phone: (773) 935-6860; $15
Runs through: Aug. 28
When we first enter the auditorium, we wonder if the show we are to see might not still be in rehearsal, the stage a jumble of shabby scenic units—a saloon with two stools, a car's front seat, a sofa and coffeetable, all dominated by a huge projection screen depicting a slide reproduction of Claude Monet's 'Water Lilies'. But this faux-naïf arrangement is deliberate, its casually chaotic ambiance reflecting a likewise jumbled dramatic universe in which the so-called 'Father of Impressionism' might chat with NASA technicians, an acrophobic bartender, or an elderly couple touring the U.S. in a Winnebago. What they all have in common, however, are eyes turned toward the stars.
On Jan. 28, 1986, the interstellar shuttle Challenger—a vessel successfully completing several earlier voyages—took off from Cape Canaveral. Less than a minute and a half later, it exploded. All seven passengers were killed, including Christa McAuliffe, the first civilian astronaut. This incident, we are told, inspired author Jane Anderson to explore the lure of the galaxies and the history of those who would delve their mystery—beginning with Monet, whose paintings of a single object at different times of day first documented the changes engendered by the variations in light.
Anderson structures her homage to these fallen pioneers in mosaic, rather than linear, form: A toddler clamoring to be lifted so that she can touch the ceiling is contrasted with an adult who refuses to set foot on an airplane. A sketch artist discusses aesthetic with an amateur photographer. A mother and daughter suffer separation anxiety in widely diverse circumstances. An art teacher and her young students debate the social consequences of Gothic-era cathedrals and their reach for the sky.
Even at just over an hour, Defying Gravity needs to reduce the temptation to sentimentality (especially that business with the candy found amid the wreckage) arising whenever death and children occupy the same scenario. Overall, however, the Brown Couch ensemble make the most of their unpolished material under the direction of Heather Brown—in particular, Mark Pracht as a genial (if curiously accented) Monet, and Suzanne Lang Foder as the little girl whose mommy went to heaven by a different route than any before traveled.