By: Jonathan Pitts and the ensemble
At: Piven Theatre, 927 Noyes St., Evanston
Phone: ( 847 ) 866-8049; $10
Runs through: Feb. 3
BY SCOTT C. MORGAN
Everyone is a storyteller, set designer and costumer in Storybox ( which is both the name of the ensemble and the show ) . Dressed all in black, the actors build and improvise a play with fabrics, sticks and their own acting skills based upon an audience member's suggestion.
So don't be shy when Storybox director/conceiver/actor Jonathan Pitts asks whether on not you want the play to be about a woman or a man. After ritualistically approaching by clattering wooden poles on the floor, the ensemble launches into the play's main character's description, appearance and frame of mind immediately after the first audience member speaks up.
I'm unable to go into a lengthy plot description of Storybox since it's very likely the show changes at each and every performance. The night I attended focused on a cat-loving librarian who falls in love with an auto mechanic who loves to dress up in a bear suit. And when that story didn't quite run 90 minutes, Storybox filled out the intermission-less running time with a fairy tale acted on the spot from an audience's suggestion. ( We got a revisionist Hansel and Gretel with a lot of dubious German accents. )
So you can't really comment on whether the plot is satisfactory or not based upon the variable beginnings and endings of where the actors take the show. What can be commented on is the firm commitment and playfulness the ensemble brings to the story and characters they concoct.
The ensemble of Maria Caceres, John Hildreth, Elise Lammers, Jonathan Pitts, Kristala Pouncy, Jenn SavaRyan, Jeremy Schaefer, Kelly Williams and Joe Yau all work together smoothly and adeptly.
The initial tale feels like a certain amount of polished rehearsal and preset guidelines are part of the process, while the Hansel and Gretel was improvised in a more by-the-seat-of-their-pants style. Backing all the actors up is Jonathan Wagner, playing a solid musical accompaniment on percussion and sampled keyboard.
Yet for all the improvised creativity, there's an element of pretentious preciousness about the whole affair if you're not in the mood for such artsy creation. Oh there's no doubt that the show is frequently funny and clever, but the unwieldy nature of the spontaneous construction might not be to everyone's personal taste.
But at $10 for a ticket, you can easily give away 90 minutes of your time to watch this dedicated ensemble prance, prod and play around as they each work together as a team to be storytellers. Storybox does stress the elemental importance of imagination and ritual in theater and, on that level, it succeeds.