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WINDY CITY TIMES
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Unwilling and Hostile Instruments: 100 Years of Extraordinary Chicago Women
THEATER REVIEW
by Mary Shen Barnidge 2013-10-09
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This article shared 3808 times since Wed Oct 9, 2013
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Playwright: Seth Bockley, Brian Golden, Ike Holter, Elaine Romero, Emily Schwartz, Carla Stillwell, Nick Ward, Travis Williams, Lauren Yee. At: Theatre Seven of Chicago at American Theater Company, 1909 W. Byron St. Tickets: 773-409-4125; www.theatreseven.org; $20. Runs through: Oct. 27
If improv shows are essentially acting exercises that we pay money to witness, then Theatre Seven's Unwilling And Hostile Instruments ( subtitled "100 Years of Extraordinary Chicago Women" ) is a playwrighting exercise. The assignment was to write a snapshot portrait of a you-know-what whose accomplishments figure significantly in our city's history. Eight authors took up the challenge and their work comprises the body of the presentation currently occupying the American Theatre Company auditorium.
As with many anthology shows, the tone of the individual episodes vary widely: Carla Stillwell's dramatization of Ida B. Wells' agonized decision in 1891 to flee the KKK-dominated Southern states to continue her crusade for African-American women's rights in Chicago is followed by Emily Schwartz' rhymed 1913 vaudeville-style broadside for Cora Strayer's independently owned detective agency. Travis Williams' segment on Mavis Staples depicts the gospel singer's recorded voice comforting fugitives of the 1966 Marquette Park marches, while Ike Holter looks at the legacy of Jane Addams through a confrontation between two street canvassers in 2012.
These and the other plays sharing the bill would, by themselves, constitute an enjoyable and informative evening, but Theatre Seven artistic director Brian Golden escalates the educational factor by first introducing the framing device of a performance group rehearsing the show we are viewing, then having them spend their rest breaks discussing the issues surrounding its contentwhether Jane Addams was a lesbian, for example, or the closing of the Uptown Hull House ( its site conflated into that of the flagship settlement near the UIC campus )in the stilted heavily scripted dialogue so beloved of "youth-fiction" authors, e.g. a surfer-blond who insists, "You can learn a lot about famous women by watching Saved By The Bell!"
This conceitintended to "contextualize" the lessons of the pastis handy for the inclusion of additional expository data, but it also stretches the evening to two and a half hours, a major part devoted to actors sharing their observations on careers and aspirationspresumably to lend verisimilitude to the illusion of off-duty shop talk. All said, Elly Green's direction renders what, with some trimming, could have been an assembly-ready pageant, performed by a predictable squad of earnest young archetypes, in turn played by a likewise engaging ensemble deserving of fresher material.
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This article shared 3808 times since Wed Oct 9, 2013
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