The Dream of the
Burning Boy
Written by David West Read
Directed by Joe Jahraus
Profiles Alley Stage, 4147 N. Broadway (map)
thru April 28 | tickets: $35-$40 | more info
Check for half-price tickets
Read entire review
What’s never said never dies
Profiles Theatre presents
The Dream of the Burning Boy
Review by Lawrence Bommer
In only 80 taut minutes in this Midwest debut staged by Joe Jahraus, Playwright David West Read presents a convincing range of reactions to the sudden death of teenager Dane (Vic Kuligoski). Following an unsuccessful negotiation with his literature teacher Larry Morrow (Darrell W. Cox) over his grade, the young man collapses in the corridor, dead of a brain aneurysm.
The responses–grief, anger, frustration, guilt, and indifference—unleashed by Dane’s death are as characteristic as the mourners’ DNA, protective coping mechanisms to wall off the pointless ugliness of a life lost well before its expiration limit.
Excessively eager to heal all wounds and to help this suburban high school “process its emotions,” guidance counselor Steve (Eric Burgher) puts up feel-good slogans like “Everything will be all right” and “When you see someone, say something nice.” Any mourning from Dane’s supposed girlfriend (Marilyn Bass) is subdued by her awareness of her own infidelity. Dane’s mother (Sarah Chalcroft) tries to reconnect with Larry, even as she blames him for being the last to see him and having nothing significant to say about the boy’s last moments alive. Dane’s buddy Kyle (Joel Collins) is not so messed up that he can’t write a halting eulogy about this friend in deed. Most ferocious in her rage and recriminations is Dane’s sister Rachel (Alaina Stacey), a spitfire of teen angst who wants to convince herself that everyone had failed Dane and so he had to die. (She keeps a list, possibly for future vengeance, of anyone who missed Dane’s memorial service.)
Most tortured is teacher Larry’s reaction to a boy who wasn’t just another student and whose desire to reshape their final, fatal encounter forces him to recreate alternative endings to Dane’s last visit. Only when irritating Steve forces him to reprise their last talk can any hint of healing seem possible.
The Dream of the Burning Boy (the title referring to Freud’s description of a dream where a father would rather see a son in pain than imagine him dead) delivers an impressive cross-section of wide-ranging bereavement.
If the final breakthrough doesn’t quite convince, it’s because there are no easy answers to the non-negotiable messiness and unfairness of an early death where so much—for the living as well as the dead—remains forever unsaid and unfinished. Cox’ quiet anguish and Stacey’s adolescent indignation chart the extremes in a play that desperately seeks common ground but never closure.
Rating: ★★★
The Dream of the Burning Boy continues through April 28th at Profiles’ Alley Stage, 4147 N. Broadway (map), with performances Thursdays and Fridays at 8pm, Saturdays at 5pm and 8pm, Sundays 7pm. Tickets are $35-$40, and are available by phone (773-549-1815) or online through PrintTixUSA.com (check for half-price tickets at Goldstar.com). More info at ProfilesTheatre.org. (Running time: 80 minutes, no intermission)
artists
cast
Darrell W. Cox (Larry), Eric Burgher (Steve), Marilyn Bass (Chelsea), Sarah Chalcroft (Andrea), Joel Collins (Kyle), Vic Kuligoski (Dane), Alaina Stacey (Rachel).
behind the scenes
Joe Jahraus (director), Shaun Renfro (set), Mike Durst (lighting), Jeffrey Levin (sound and original music), Raquel Adorno (costumes), Jessica Winn (stage manager), Harmony France (asst. director).
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