Stick with it-you'll eventually encounter
supremely innovative material
Because The Neo-Futurists have been producing quality innovative theatre in Chicago for nearly 30 years, they get the benefit of the doubt when they come up with a dubious idea. A pair of actors imitating Iggy Pop and Tom Waits and generating a found language song with the help of the audience sounds dubious indeed. If you're not a fan of these two classic rockers, you likely won't give the show a chance or hate it if you do. Even if you do enjoy those artists, you're prone to winding up disappointed by a pale imitation of their music and personalities. If you're not familiar with Iggy Pop and Tom Waits, you'll likely wind up baffled as to why one actor is screaming incomprehensibly while the other uses a ridiculous gravelly voice.
Next comes a pastiche of prepared songs, with Malic Whitecovering various Iggy Pop pieces and Molly Brennan performing her own Tom Waits-inspired music (purportedly because there were issues obtaining rights to Waits' actual songs). These get interspersed with White and Brennan alternately venting about their childhoods and playing for laughs with the Neo-Futurists' trademark self-referencing comedy .
After you endure roughly 60 minutes of aimless cover music and perfunctory audience participation skits, something incredible happens: the show improves. Really improves. White and Brennan begin discussing the reasons for their chronic depression and how performing and taking on alternate personas help them combat it. Their interactions provide a glimpse into their tender and unconditional love for each other counterpointed by feelings of inadequacy. Brennan reveals her struggle with trigeminal neuralgia, a rare condition dubbed "the suicide disease" due to the unbearable pain it inflicts. White deals with gender identity disorder, but doesn't get as specific, instead providing a litany of psychotherapy experiences that did not help with the condition.
For all of the production's problems, it does maintain high energy through very physical performances from White and Brennan and constant enthusiasm from a three-person band (Elisa Carlson, Nick Davio and Spencer Meeks). It's supremely innovative, from White's tarot reading with an audience member to her re-creating a trademark Iggy Pop stage dive into the audience. And if you stick with it, the content becomes very honest and compelling.
Brennan says that music provides her a mental vehicle for dealing with her pain, giving her the ability to "survive until the end of the next song" and go from there. If as an audience member, you can also survive until the end of the next song in Pop Waits , you'll eventually encounter some interesting and powerful material.
continues through March 12th at the Neo-Futurarium, 5153 N. Ashland (map), with performances Thursdays-Saturdays at 7:30pm. Tickets are $10-$20, and are available by phone (773-878-4557) or online through their website (check for half-price tickets at Goldstar.com ). More information at NeoFuturists.org. (Running time: 90 minutes, no intermission)
behind the scenes
Halena Kays (director), Kate Hardiman (production manager), Lizzie Bracken (set design, props), Archer Curry (technical director), Stacey Klingberg (stage manager), Bernadette Hagan (asst. stage manager), Jared Gooding (lighting design), Leah Urzendowski (choreography), Spencer Meeks (music director), Sasha Kostryko (asst. director), , (photos)
Tags: 16-0216, Archer Curry, Bernadette Hagan, Brave Lux, Chicago Theater, Elisa Carlson, Halena Kays, Jared Gooding, Joe Mazza, Kate Hardiman, Keith Glab, Leah Urzendowski, Lizzie Bracken, Malic White, Molly Brennan, Neo-Futurarium, Neo-Futurist Theater, Nicholas Davio, Nick Davio, post, Sasha Kostryko, Spencer Meeks, Stacey Klingberg, The Neo Futurists
Category: 2016 Reviews, Keith Glab, Neo-Futurarium, Neo-Futurists, New Work, World Premier
