Playwright: Jose Rivera
At: Teatro Vista and Goodman Theatre, 170 N. Dearborn
Phone: 312-443-3800; $15-$30
Through: April 22
BY SCOTT C. MORGAN
Scream! Wail! Schizophrenically revel in the blood of that evil allegorical boogeyman before mentally and physically assaulting your fellow killers! Then cower in fear with plenty of self-loathing and doubt when that terrorizing boogeyman comes back to life!
These commands aren't stage directions in Jose Rivera's pretentiously heavy-handed play Massacre ( Sing to Your Children ) , but they might as well be. Rivera's none-too-subtle symbolic indictment of America is a harangue that wears out its welcome almost immediately.
Things certainly start off with plenty of high energy. Murky silhouettes seen through windows appear to be brutally murdering someone outside. Unsettling screams and jagged body blows are deafeningly heard. Then lighting designer Mary MacDonald Badger's blood-red light spills out into the audience ( as if to say we're all culpable ) as the cast bursts in all spattered with blood and grasping all sorts of bloodied sharp blades.
Things start to go downhill from there. First of all, you're wondering why the murderers start cleaning up before disposing of the carcass dripping blood on the porch. Then you try to piece together what the situation is and question what kind of rage would drive a seven-member group of Latino-Americans to kill.
When the answers don't appear soon, you just get frustrated as the cardboard-character cast starts speaking in overwrought emotions that unbelievably turn on a dime from murderous euphoria to recrimination-filled screams of pain. Rivera strings you along until it becomes all too apparent that this whole play is just an allegorical microcosmic response to America's self-obsession and subsequent violent actions after the terrorist attacks of 9/11.
The self-reflection and questioning that Rivera wants Americans to consider in relation to that horrific day is a noble cause, which is probably why the Goodman Theatre and Teatro Vista fast-tracked a production of the play. Unfortunately, Rivera's overly flowery text is a shambles of self-loathing and overdramatic flailing and wailing in response to the nebulous forces of terrorism.
Rivera's text certainly doesn't do the actors any favors. I've seen many members of the cast do far better work before, but here they're all grasping and gasping with oversized emotions that ring false. ( At least they get the humor down right. ) Normally strong director Chuck Smith also seems to be stymied by Rivera's aggrandized writing that sacrifices character development in favor of broad-stroked generalizations.
Massacre ( Sing to Your Children ) certainly has something important to say; Rivera's execution just assaults multiple victims. You'll see them strewn throughout the theater: They're the actors on stage, the director behind the scenes and ,especially, the audience stuck in the auditorium.