Jack’s Precious Moment
Written by Samuel D. Hunter
Directed by Azar Kazemi
CI Theater, 1420 W. Irving Park (map)
thru Feb 25 | tickets: $5-$20 | more info
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A painfully funny look at the nature of patriotism and fundamentalism
Will Act For Food presents
Jack’s Precious Moment
Review by K.D. Hopkins
So what’s happening in the rest of America? I have been asking that question lately. It’s easy to get caught up in the mood of the culture where you happen to be at any given time. Will Act For Food Theater Company presents an interesting and painfully funny look at the nature of patriotism and fundamentalism. The play takes place in Idaho and at the Precious Moments Theme Park in this surreal farce.
The Lewis family are the survivors of bad seed turned "martyred American" Jack. They live in a stark apartment that is a step up from the trailer park according to patriarch Jim Lewis, played with delicious fervor by Kevin Mullaney. Jim is a man deep in denial and furiously holding on to a vanishing ideal. Mullaney gives a superb portrayal of Mr. American that is spoken of on the news. Jack’s glue-sniffing widow Karen is brilliantly played by Havalah Grace. She careens from angelic widow to cursing like a Tourette’s victim just barely on the edge of sanity.
Bib (Ed Porter), the surviving twin of war-martyr Jack, who’s caught in his own version of post traumatic stress syndrome, is asked to eulogize his brother Jack. Porter is at once heartbreaking and hilarious when asking about the meaning of life and what it means to be on the vengeful end of God’s wrath. Bib’s eulogy is the push over the edge for the Lewis family.
In trying to keep the façade of order and respect for his dead son, Mullaney’s Jim is given the perfect opportunity to show his fealty to God and America. Mullaney plays him as a man caught in the past listening to Elvis on a portable tape deck and feigning shock at coarse language because he is born again. The scene of him talking to his longtime minister is beautiful and heart-wrenching, all while the humor rumbles beneath the surface.
Porter and Grace share some magnificent scenes as the Lewis family sojourns to the Precious Moments Theme Park in Missouri. It is there that family secrets are revealed, and the actors are top-notch as emotions come to a boil. Additionally, the scene at the Missouri Walmart is one of the funniest things that I have witnessed as – after being brushed off by the giant corporation that is Precious Moments – Karen decided to take matters into her own hands.
This trip to Missouri also serves as Bib’s moment of truth when meeting psychotic carnival worker Chuck (Bryan Hart). Hart’s Chuck is a study in pure energy and non sequitur comedy. He is a crazy carny, telling stories of mutilations on rides at various fairgrounds across America. He travels with a bargain basement carnival ride called the Octopus. He has his own guerilla carnival on the outskirts of the theme park. Chuck is a man speaking straight from the unfettered Id (with possible help from crystal meth and liquor).
Jack’s Precious Moment is a wild trip. Will Act For Food has pinned down the art of blending the American Dream and Nightmare. The acting is superb and gives life to playwright Samuel D. Hunter‘s vision. This is a trip through a Jack-Kerouac-meets-David-Lynch America. Small towns, glue sniffing, a giant angel, lust and passion on a carnival ride and the real meaning of redemption thrown in the face of fundamentalism. Get on this ride and experience the thrills of America in the conservative belt.
Rating: ★★★½
Jack’s Precious Moment continues through February 25th at Chemically Imbalanced Theater, 1420 W. Irving Park (map), with performances Thursdays-Saturdays at 8pm. Tickets are $5-$20 – with $1 taken off for each food item donated – and are available in advance at tixato.com. More information at WillActForFood.com. (Running time: 90 minutes with no intermission)
All photos by Paul Metreyeon
