Video complements of Jim Poole Creative Productions
July 26th thru September 1st, 2007
Thurs, Fri and Sat nights at 8pm
3902 N. Sheridan Road
Where Sheridan meets Sheffield
.
Saturday, August 4, 2007
Teaser Trailer for INSIGNIFICANCE
Play the Trailer!
Video complements of Jim Poole Creative Productions
July 26th thru September 1st, 2007
Thurs, Fri and Sat nights at 8pm
3902 N. Sheridan Road
Where Sheridan meets Sheffield
.
Video complements of Jim Poole Creative Productions
July 26th thru September 1st, 2007
Thurs, Fri and Sat nights at 8pm
3902 N. Sheridan Road
Where Sheridan meets Sheffield
.
Chicago Sun Times Review
Monroe, Einstein meet smart
August 1, 2007
BY HEDY WEISS Theater Critic
In 1982 (about seven years after E. L. Doctorow put a slew of historical figures from the early 20th century on a collision course in his novel, "Ragtime"), Terry Johnson, the British playwright and director, put his own time-warping cosmic spin on America, homing in on the mid 1950s. In the process, he saw to it that characters evoking Albert Einstein, Marilyn Monroe, Joe DiMaggio and Senator Joe McCarthy (the rabid anti-communist), crossed paths in a hotel room.
Johnson called his play "Insignificance" -- a title at once deeply ironic and deadly accurate. And along the way he not only unspooled Einstein's mind-altering theories about the most elemental laws of the universe. But he tapped into the whole spirit-draining notion of celebrity and the corrosive battle of the Cold War era's political "isms," and also imagined his own particular version of the big (and perhaps final) nuclear bang.
"Insignificance," now in a first-class production by Steep Theatre (the little Wrigleyville storefront that just enjoyed a huge success with Brecht's "The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui"), works a neat trick by lacing the most complex ideas with iconic personalities. My companion, a physicist, was mightily impressed with the fullness and accuracy of Johnson's explanations of Einstein's theories. But the fact that Johnson has Marilyn Monroe (who wants nothing more than to be valued for her intellect), do most of the play's heavy intellectual lifting is a huge plus. And even if you don't comprehend everything, Johnson has devised enough vivid metaphors to let you catch enough.
It is 1954, and The Professor (Toby Nicholson, perfectly understated as a 70-year-old Einstein), is in town for a lecture at a conference on world peace. But there is to be no peace, for banging on his door is McCarthy (a perfectly bullying Vince Teninty), who demands he testify before the House Un-American Activities Committee. (In fact, Einstein was never called to testify, though a massive F.B.I. dossier was amassed on him.)
A ferocious self-improver, McCarthy prides himself on his vocabulary, and Johnson uses the senator's infatuation with the word "solipsist" (one who believes the self is the only reality) to giddily riff on other theories of existence.
Enter The Actress (a virtuosic performance by Julia Siple, who not only brilliantly parses Einstein's theories, but captures the emotional mess that was Marilyn). In town shooting "The Seven Year Itch," she is determined to gain validation from the genius. The possibly pregnant actress also is fleeing her wildly jealous husband, the world-famous Ballplayer (Alex Gillmor, ideal as the tall, lean, gum-popping DiMaggio), a man almost as trapped by fame and intellectual self-doubt as his wife.
Director Brad Akin keeps the mix of tragedy, comedy and gargantuan ideas in a tight magnetic field. And the play's finale hints at just how short our stay in "Hotel Universe" might turn out to be.
'INSIGNIFICANCE'
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
When: Through Sept. 1
Where: Steep Theatre, 3902 N. Sheridan
Tickets: $18
Phone: (312) 458-0722
August 1, 2007
BY HEDY WEISS Theater Critic
In 1982 (about seven years after E. L. Doctorow put a slew of historical figures from the early 20th century on a collision course in his novel, "Ragtime"), Terry Johnson, the British playwright and director, put his own time-warping cosmic spin on America, homing in on the mid 1950s. In the process, he saw to it that characters evoking Albert Einstein, Marilyn Monroe, Joe DiMaggio and Senator Joe McCarthy (the rabid anti-communist), crossed paths in a hotel room.
Johnson called his play "Insignificance" -- a title at once deeply ironic and deadly accurate. And along the way he not only unspooled Einstein's mind-altering theories about the most elemental laws of the universe. But he tapped into the whole spirit-draining notion of celebrity and the corrosive battle of the Cold War era's political "isms," and also imagined his own particular version of the big (and perhaps final) nuclear bang.
"Insignificance," now in a first-class production by Steep Theatre (the little Wrigleyville storefront that just enjoyed a huge success with Brecht's "The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui"), works a neat trick by lacing the most complex ideas with iconic personalities. My companion, a physicist, was mightily impressed with the fullness and accuracy of Johnson's explanations of Einstein's theories. But the fact that Johnson has Marilyn Monroe (who wants nothing more than to be valued for her intellect), do most of the play's heavy intellectual lifting is a huge plus. And even if you don't comprehend everything, Johnson has devised enough vivid metaphors to let you catch enough.
It is 1954, and The Professor (Toby Nicholson, perfectly understated as a 70-year-old Einstein), is in town for a lecture at a conference on world peace. But there is to be no peace, for banging on his door is McCarthy (a perfectly bullying Vince Teninty), who demands he testify before the House Un-American Activities Committee. (In fact, Einstein was never called to testify, though a massive F.B.I. dossier was amassed on him.)
A ferocious self-improver, McCarthy prides himself on his vocabulary, and Johnson uses the senator's infatuation with the word "solipsist" (one who believes the self is the only reality) to giddily riff on other theories of existence.
Enter The Actress (a virtuosic performance by Julia Siple, who not only brilliantly parses Einstein's theories, but captures the emotional mess that was Marilyn). In town shooting "The Seven Year Itch," she is determined to gain validation from the genius. The possibly pregnant actress also is fleeing her wildly jealous husband, the world-famous Ballplayer (Alex Gillmor, ideal as the tall, lean, gum-popping DiMaggio), a man almost as trapped by fame and intellectual self-doubt as his wife.
Director Brad Akin keeps the mix of tragedy, comedy and gargantuan ideas in a tight magnetic field. And the play's finale hints at just how short our stay in "Hotel Universe" might turn out to be.
'INSIGNIFICANCE'
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
When: Through Sept. 1
Where: Steep Theatre, 3902 N. Sheridan
Tickets: $18
Phone: (312) 458-0722
Recommended: A "Must See" Show
CENTERSTAGE: "MUST SEE"Steep Theatre rolls a romantic comedy and free physics lesson into one show.
Those close-shouldered, ensemble-minded bruisers at the Steep Theatre take on a play about four singular stars. Marilyn Monroe, Jospeh McCarthy, Joe Dimaggio and Albert Einstein, trapped in some sort of metaphysical hotel room, debate reality, relativity and relationships. Reviews of past production have tagged Terry Johnson's 1982 script as either clever or pointless, but director Brad Akin did an excellent job with Steep Theatre's "Book of Days" in 2005, making this "Insignificance" worth checking out.
The Centerstage Review, by Elisabeth Kilpatrick.
Tuesday Jul 31, 2007
Who knew that science could be so romantic?
Apparently scrappy storefront Steep Theatre did. The ensemble caps off its 2006-2007 season with "Insignificance," an elegant dark comedy that meshes physics and intimacy in a 1950s New York hotel room.
Ensemble member Brad Akin directs British playwright Terry Johnson's 1982 work, which asks an off-the-wall question: What if the lives of Marilyn Monroe, Joe DiMaggio, Albert Einstein and Joseph McCarthy collided one evening? Johnson boldly places the American-as-apple-pie celebrities in fact-based fictional situations, challenging our perceptions of who these stars really were and letting their personalities shine through.
On the eve of Einstein's trial for suspected communism, his attempts to work keep getting interrupted, first by pushy McCarthy and, much later, by the disheveled but glamorous Monroe. A kooky, charming explanation from the starlet on Einstein's theory of relativity helps to forge a sweet bond between the duo, at least until Monroe's mad-as-hell husband, DiMaggio, shows up.
Ensemble member Julia Siple plays Monroe as a breathy confection dying to be taken seriously. She's a wonderful complement to ensemble member Alex Gillmor's meathead DiMaggio, whose character Gillmor seems to have seasoned liberally with the guy from SNL's "2 A-Holes" sketches. Their snippy banter carries large chunks of the play, as do DiMaggio's conversations with Einstein, played with understated aplomb by Toby Nicholson.
Vince Teninty's McCarthy simply doesn't get as much stage time as the others, and his character is less layered and engaging. Still, while the performances lack a little polish (tripping over lines was a regular occurrence at Thursday's premiere), they all showcase real talent through the crackling onstage chemistry. Akin has scaled "Insignificance" nicely for Steep's 40-seat space, and each audience member straining forward to see what happens next is rewarded with a close glimpse of the action.
In the long stretch of night before dawn, the celebrities’ edges soften, and we see them as people, not stars. A few overly melodramatic moments do sneak in, but for the most part the ensemble uses a deft touch, and the intimate conversations that take place are as mesmerizing as the dozens of prisms of light floating onstage at the end of the show.
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