Steadstyle Chicago
October 2009 Theatre Review by Joe Stead
Calls to Blood
The New Colony is starting off its second season with the World Premiere of "Calls to Blood," a four-character drama written by company member James Asmus. Originality is the calling card for this young company and they deserve a place on the Chicago theatre map. They also deserve a space in which their work can actually be seen! "Calls to Blood" is being performed in the studio space on the top floor of the Royal George Theatre, which might be appropriate for stand-up comedy but proves woefully inadequate for this production's simple needs. Unless you are seated in the front two rows you can pretty much count on 80% of your vision being obscured with the backs of heads. Most of the uncomfortable chairs are on a floor level with no rake and when the actors are seated, which is a good deal of this production, they are completely lost. It may be a bit unfair to begin a review by evaluating the space, but this one is a severe disability to a work that has a great deal of potential and deserves to be seen in a more appropriate venue.
Asmus introduces us to Jacob and Alison (Gary Tiedemann and Sara Gitenstein), a happily married couple who at the outset of the play are trying to set up their best friends Kirk (Evan Linder) and Suellen (Mary Hollis Inoben) on a blind date. It has gone disastrously and makes Jacob and Alison realize how lucky they are to not be out there "struggling through some obstacle course just in order to get laid". Suellen envies the kind of "perfect" relationship her friends enjoy and observes how rare it is to see two people so much in love and absolutely content in their marriage. "I deserve to be with someone amazing," Suellen pleads. "Stop holding out for this perfect man," Alison advises her. Even seemingly "perfect" situations have their challenges. Just as Jacob and Alison are about to find out.
Jacob accidentally blurts out to their friends that he and Alison have been trying to have a baby. Well, they've been doing more than trying it turns out. Alison has miscarried three times and is shouldering the blame for their reproductive failure on herself. "The question isn't whether I'm broken but how" she tells Suellen. Having a child means the world to these two. Jacob was adopted and feels a void in not knowing his birth parents. Alison admits to having once hated kids and now wants nothing more than "to make more of you and me and send them out to fix the world". An unexpected revelation, which I will not spoil here, turns Jacob and Alison's world inside out. It challenges the perception of true love, the kind that Jacob and Alison are so lucky to share that everyone else searches for.
This is a heartbreaking piece that is fueled by four honest and emotionally intense performances. Asmus can also turn a witty phrase, such as the encounter with Jacob and Kirk in a bar where the latter discovers he can download porn from his cell phone. "You're barely a good person," Jacob chides his pal. "That makes me a good lawyer," Kirk replies. Indeed, all four characters are grounded and fully believable human beings we instantly empathize with and like. They wear their hearts on their sleeves a bit, but the performances are never less than spontaneous and sympathetic. It makes the limitations of the present venue that much more frustrating. The New Colony is on a mission though that deserves to be supported and nurtured. I couldn't have been more delighted to see a packed house for their Saturday evening show, which hopefully will continue throughout the run. Now if only they can find decent digs for their next brilliant world premiere!
Beginning October 29, 2009 "Calls to Blood" moves to the larger Cabaret Theatre at the Royal George Studio, located at 1641 North Halsted in Chicago. The show is currently running through November 28, 2009. Performances are Thursdays through Saturdays at 8:00 p.m. The play runs 90 minutes with intermission. Show passes are $25 General Admission, $20 for Seniors, and $15 for Students/Industry. Passes are on sale online through Ticketmaster or by calling the Royal George box office at (312) 988-9000. All passes to New Colony productions allow the purchaser to see the show for which the Pass was purchased an unlimited number of times. The New Colony also does not issue a printed program, but the online version is available for download. Visit www.thenewcolony.org for further information.
About Joe Stead
Joe
Stead has enjoyed a lifelong passion for the theatre, which has
involved acting, directing, producing, designing and reviewing for
the past twenty-five years. He served as founder, producer and
Artistic Director of Curtain Up Productions in Baltimore, Maryland
and Four Star Players in Tampa, Florida. Favorite productions
have included "Life With Father," "Deathtrap,"
"The Odd Couple," "The Miracle Worker,"
"Brighton Beach Memoirs," "You're A Good Man, Charlie
Brown" and "Godspell". He has also performed
leading roles in "Fiddler on the Roof," "Pippin,"
"The Phantom of the Opera," "The Front Page," and
most recently as Hucklebee in "The Fantasticks" for
Waukegan Community Players. Joe holds a degree in Commercial
Art from Tampa Technical Institute. As a critic, he has
reviewed everything from Broadway to community theatre and major
regional theatres throughout the United States including the Kennedy
Center in Washington, D.C., Paper Mill Playhouse in New Jersey,
Goodspeed Opera House in Connecticut, and the Asolo Theatre in
Sarasota, Florida.
Since 1998, he has been a proud resident of Chicago, the greatest theatre city in America. He served for two years as Theatre Editor for College News and Central Newspapers. He created the website Steadstyle Chicago in 2000 to showcase the city's outstanding and diverse theatre scene. Joe was proud to serve alongside a distinguished panel of theatre professionals as a judge for two seasons of Speaking Ring Theatre's "Vitality" Festival of original short plays. His most fulfilling role, in addition to reviewer and all-around theatre fanatic, was as director of the 2007 production of Peter Shaffer's "Equus" at Actors Workshop (now Redtwist) Theatre, which was nominated for five Joseph Jefferson Award Citations and won for Best Actor (Peter Oyloe).