Small budgets and even smaller venues are often part of the fringe theater equation. But what sets Chicago apart from most other theater towns is that our grass-roots scene blossoms with work created by artists who don’t view the storefront as just a steppingstone to “bigger” things, but as an opportunity to create work where intimacy and innovation provide the greatest rewards. Here are some of the best shows we reviewed in our “On the Fringe” column in 2014.
NINA METZ’S PICKS
“Haymaker” by the Neo-Futurists: Adolescent angst and action-movie tropes were embodied and analyzed in this sweaty, thrillingly thought-provoking show from director Kurt Chiang and creator and star Trevor Dawkins. This Indiana Jones-like show was based on a script that Dawkins wrote when he was a preteen. But in true Neo-Futurist fashion, no one on stage was able to get through a scene or two without stopping to break the fourth wall and offer droll commentary. Smart, funny and deeply entertaining.
Up next: David Commander’s Modern Toy Theater, which is part of the Chicago International Puppet Theater Festival. Performed on miniature sets, one piece is called “Sacrament Burger” and “explores the inherent need to ritualize the act of eating … within restaurant culture.” Running Jan. 22-24; neofuturists.org.
“The Submission” by Pride Films and Plays: Jeff Talbott’s searing comedy, about a playwright who enters a prestigious festival under a false name, giddily jumped through a minefield of taboos about race and sexual orientation — and eagerly debated who suffers most from casual bigotry and ugly stereotyping: black women or gay men? It includes first-rate sparring between stars Ginneh Thomas and Nicholas Bailey under Jude Hansen’s direction.
Up next: “The Book of Merman,” a new musical comedy about Mormons who ring the bell at Ethel Merman’s house. Running Jan. 15-Feb. 15 at Mary’s Attic; pridefilmsandplays.com.
“Dating: Adults Embracing Failure” at the Royal George: The recent death of Mike Nichols prompted many of us to revisit his wonderfully offbeat work with Elaine May, and though you don’t see many male-female comedy duos around much these days, Josh Lanzet and Lindy Voeltner are a bright exception. Performing sketches they wrote, they captured the absurd (but entirely relatable) idiosyncrasies of coupledom with wit and transgressive charm.
Honorable mentions: Brianna Baker’s solo “Phyllis,” about her maternal grandmother; the iO improv team The Late 90s; Penelope Walker’s one-woman show “How I Jack Master Funked the Sugar in My Kneecaps” at Fillet of Solo.
KERRY REID’S PICKS
“Caged Dames” by Hell in a Handbag: David Cerda’s campy musical tribute to women-behind-bars pulp fiction first played in 2006, though I missed it then. Thank God for recidivism! This new production gave the Handbag crew a pass from their usual tiny stage at Mary’s Attic to more elbowroom at Theater Wit, and they delivered a full-on bawdy extravaganza — loving and lascivious in equal measure. I saw some very funny shows in 2014, but there was nothing like these dames.
Up next: “Rudolph, the Red-Hosed Reindeer” continues at Mary’s Attic through Jan. 2. Coming in May, “Miracle” is Dan Savage’s drag-club take on “The Miracle Worker”; handbagproductions.org.
“Burn the Black Dog” by Wayward Productions: I really only saw half of Natalie DiCristofano’s blend of Arthur Miller’s “The Crucible” and the 1996 teen-witch film “The Craft.” That’s because DiCristofano’s piece, directed by Mary Patchell and Nathan Robbel, divided the audience into “faculty” and “student” tracks for a promenade-style staging at Luther Memorial Church for this tale of mass hysteria unleashed by mean girls and dark arts. But that itself was part of the intrigue — what you weren’t seeing became part of the story, and made you question what you thought you knew.
Up next: Wayward is developing what DiCristofano describes as a “WWE-inspired all-female wrestling show” for summer 2015; waywardproductions.org.
“Vieux Carre” at Raven Theatre: It’s not generally considered top-tier Tennessee Williams, but Cody Estle’s staging of “Vieux Carre” provided a stunning and often heartbreaking panoply of lost souls. Set in a New Orleans boardinghouse that, as rendered in Ray Toler’s detailed and moldering set, was almost its own character, this incandescent production allowed us to see hints of the later and greater works in the Williams canon while fleshing out the residents of a house where everyone is trying “to negotiate a truce with life.”
Up next: Estle directs the Chicago premiere of Horton Foote’s “Dividing the Estate,” opening Jan. 27; raventheatre.com.
Honorable mentions: “The Gun Show” at 16th Street Theater in Berwyn; “Lifeboat” from Filament Theatre Ensemble; “Hotel Aphrodite” at Factory Theater.
