Freshly Fallen Snow
Written by M.E.H. Lewis
Directed by Meghan Beals McCarthy
Chicago Dramatists, 1105 W. Chicago (map)
thru Oct 28 | tickets: $32 | more info
Check for half-price tickets
Read entire review
The value of remembrance and pain
Chicago Dramatists presents
Freshly Fallen Snow
Review by K.D. Hopkins
The human mind is a labyrinthine wonder. The synapses firing and the wonders of childhood triggered by a passing scent have held sway through the ages since humans gave name to memory. Scientist Jane (Kristen D’Aurelio) believes that she has found the answer to erasing trauma through a drug therapy that keeps memories from reconstituting. Jane’s work is both altruistic and personal, but the value of trauma is revealed to her in a way that causes her to question her real motives – her mother Clothilde (Ann Whitney) was a child in Dresden during the crushing air raids of 1944.
Of course these words put Jane’s hackles up and make her ever more determined to find a cure, if only to stop the belittling from mother. Clothilde’s dialogue bring the horrors of intense heat from the bombs and mass cremations to vivid life. It is transfixing to watch the character go from elderly immigrant to young mother; reliving a time on the steps of Jane’s school making a snowman. It is the simplicity of the scene that is so affecting. She is a good mother to Jane who struggles to be perfect for her stern father who was a ‘real doctor’. Whitney’s reenactment of Clothilde’s childhood is a bravura performance. It is this memory revealed to Jane that gives her the other side of why memories need to be kept and relived. Her body language and expressions revert to a young and frightened child and her moment of impudence that destroys two families.
D’Aurelio gives a great performance as the pragmatic and by-the-book Jane. She acknowledges the sexism and back biting world that is academia with humor and a determination to succeed. The moments of levity in Freshly Fallen Snow are woven in perfectly to keep the mood from being leaden. The show opens with Jane being helped by another member of the staff (Michael McKeogh), helping her to present herself by wearing a blouse instead of her turtleneck uniform. McKeogh is really funny as he chides her for having makeup from another century and a criminal sense of style. I cringed knowingly as both he and the Dean (Abu Ansari) tell Jane that women who wear makeup are received better and succeed.
Ansari also tells her that there is an office pool betting on her failure before handing her an ultimatum of ‘curing’ an Iraq veteran so that their military funding continues. The condescending pat on the back and ‘good girl’ line underscores Jane’s competitive ire, and she agrees to meet the soldier. When AJ (Kelly O’Sullivan) enters Jane’s office, there is an electric feeling between the characters. Jane stares because AJ is a woman and because she is horribly scarred from an IED (Improvised Explosive Device). O’Sullivan is stellar as the soldier who grew up with a beauty queen mother (Miss Rutabaga!) that she barely tolerates, and a father that she adores. She emulates her father and brothers by going into military service and becoming one of the boys. O’Sullivan has AJ’s posture and lingo down perfectly.
AJ does not want her memories erased and Jane struggles to know why anyone would want to live with traumatic pain. D’Aurelio and O’Sullivan go round and round in a battle that recalls Anne Sullivan and Helen Keller only it is Teacher that gets schooled in an emotional parallel to her own family history. Lewis’ story is well balanced with the concurrent tales of the fall of Nazi Germany and the crimes against humanity in the Iraq war. This is my first experience with a play that explores being a woman in the military. O’Sullivan tells the story of patting down a pregnant woman on a road check. The Woman (Mildred Marie Langford) seems terrified so AJ reveals herself as a woman by taking off her helmet only to discover that the woman is wired with a bomb. It is a poignant reminder that everyone goes to war whether they wear a uniform or not.
The Ensemble members (Ansari, McKeogh, and Langford) play an amazing array of characters. They are skeptical academics at Jane’s symposium on the effects of the experimental drug on a monkey. Langford pointedly asks about the effects of the drug on the human soul that is made up of memories. She also plays Clothilde’s mother who tries to protect her daughter from the reality of war and her husband’s (Ansari) devotion to the Nazi party. Ansari plays the platoon leader Charlie who earned bronze and silver stars in Iraq and has an ignominious end despite his valor.
Freshly Fallen Snow is a world premiere from the Resident Playwrights program at Chicago Dramatists. M.E.H. Lewis presents a captivating story that is beautifully acted by the Ensemble. Director Meghan Beals McCarthy keeps the performances and action ins good balance. This is a volatile subject and many kudos on a job well done with what is still considered controversial in some circles. The play runs a bit long, and could use some trimming (particularly when it comes to the flashbacks of Clothilde and AJ – the parallels between the two women are very clear in my opinion).
Overall, I recommend Freshly Fallen Snow. The subject matter is disturbing but the journey, like the comforting thought of snow, is quite beautiful.
Rating: ★★★
Freshly Fallen Snow continues through October 28th at Chicago Dramatists, 1105 W. Chicago (map), with performances Thursdays-Saturdays at 8pm, Sundays 3pm. Tickets are $32 (students $15), and are available by phone (312-633-0630) or online through their website (check for half-price tickets at Goldstar.com). More information at ChicagoDramatists.org. (Running time: 2 hours, includes an intermission)
artists
cast
Ann Whitney (Clothilde); Kelly O’Sullivan (AJ); Kristen D’Aurelio (Jane); Abu Ansari, Michael McKeogh, Mildred Marie Langford (Ensemble)
behind the scenes
Meghan Beals McCarthy (director); Jonathan Nook (stage manager); Becky Mock (production manager); Jarrod Bainter (tech director); Courtney Jackson (asst. stage manager); Chris Rickett (fight choreographer); Courtney O’Neill (set); Casey Diers (lighting); Ruthanne Swanson (costumes); Michael Huey (original music, sound design); Ellen Ranney (props); Rasean Davonte Johnson, Anna Henson (projections); Izumi Anaba (makeup design)
12-0964
