Steadstyle Chicago
	November 2009 Theatre Review by Alan Bresloff
	Horrible There are so many young theater troupes, each trying to make a name for themselves in Chicago.  One of these troupes is Hobo Junction which started in 2004 doing original works designed to be "just for laughs".  This is the second show that I have seen by Hobo Junction, a roughly 75 minutes, designed to take one's mind off the everyday stress of life and give you something to laugh at.  While this particular story is a love story, it deals with death, cannibalism and lots of untruths. Our story is told/narrated by Gill (Keith Redmond) so that we can learn the meanings of the terms that are used in the story.  He tells us of love and cannibalism, etc between short scenes and I for one would have preferred that the script do this within the framework of the play instead of having the action stop to do so.  Often I find that a narrator is used to fill in the missing gaps of the playwright.  This play was written by Josh Zagoren, who impressed me more with his previous show "Bad Guys in Suits" last year, but he is young and will write more shows.  He may even take this one back to the laptop and spruce it up somewhat as it has potential, but for the moment is a work in progress. The play is directed by Breahan Eve Pautsch on a very small stage, which makes it difficult and awkward for the actors at times on a simple set by Andrew Marchetti.  There are two families, the Garrish family and the Goodly family.  Dr. Malcolm Garrish (a wonderful performance by Mike Tepeli) is a hard working doctor trying to build his practice.  He has no time for vacations, walks, hobbies or dating.  His brother Gordon (Kaelan Strouse) is his office manager/assistant and has his own little problems as a cross dresser.  This part has very little meaning to the plot.  Their deceased father is played by Elliot Fredland and their newly departed mother by Judi Schindler.  The boys can see the ghosts of their parents and speak to them as well. The Goodly family is composed of Holly (a charming and delightful Madeline Chilese), who is trying to keep her dearly departed father's flower shop going and her sister, the blind Meredith (a spirited performance by Cyra K. Polizzi).  They also have a dead mother (Tara Generalovich).  Their dead father (Tom Pries, who has great comic timing) and Mrs. Garrish are buried on the same day in cemetery plots that are adjacent, thus bringing Malcolm and Holly together.  They fall in love instantly. The subplots to this story involve a mass murderer who it appears is killing Dr. Garrish's patients and the fact that Holly is in such financial problems that in order to stay alive she has been cooking parts of corpses she finds in the river.  One of Malcolm's patients, Herman Manners, who has lots of medical problems (or thinks he has) is played by Christopher Rex Jacobs and another patient who also comes in often is Mr. Hunt, played by Bryan Campbell.  These two characters will play an important role in the ending of this mystery, so I will not tell you any more about them.  There are some clever moments in this production and some solid talent by the cast.  I think the talent of the actors outweighed the writing of the script and as a cast they do make the production worthwhile.  The stage being so small (I think about 16' x 12') gets a bit crowded at times, but Pautsch does use it wisely. There is some incidental music written by Dan Pearce who plays the guitar as well and is assisted by Alex Marianyi on the saxophone.  This is a very prop heavy show, what with body parts and flowers so let's give Josh Zagoren kudos for a nice job on these.  While some of the body parts do not seem real, this is after all a farce, so it makes sense for the chopped parts not to appear real.  If you are not a regular theater patron and would like to just give live theater a try and not spend an arm and a leg (get it?) you will find yourself enjoying your 75 minutes at the Apollo Theater Studio located in the lower level at 2540 N. Lincoln Avenue. This show will run through December 19, 2009 with no performances on the Thanksgiving weekend, and other performances on Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m.  The theater seats about 50 people so if you do want to go, I suggest you call 773-935-6100 to reserve your seat or online www.ticketmaster.com.  Tickets are a mere $15 and the theater is easy to get to by public transportation, plus there is a parking lot next door ($10) and onstreet metered parking, which on weekends may be tough.  Lincoln Avenue is a busy street with all the dining spots and bars, so my suggestion is using public transportation.   About Alan Bresloff Alan Bresloff, once an actor himself, has been covering the Chicago Theater Scene since 1993, first as the Theater and Arts critic for LaRaza newspaper, then with Salsachicago.com and then onto Extra Newspaper and The Epoch Times.  He also writes for ElImparcial and TeleGuia.  His reviews can also be seen on www.theatreinchicago.com.  Alan does not call himself a "critic" but a "reviewer" as he tries to educate the reader about theater itself, what is a good value, what to look for in a play or musical and more.  "Exposure to theater is a very important part of a young person's life" he says. "Learning about the arts and culture is in fact learning about life" and he tries to explain more in his reviews than just if it is good or bad.  Even some of the poor productions have some value, he often says and he would love your feedback on shows that you have seen.  You can write him here or at albresloff@sbcglobal.net.