Welcome Home,
Jenny Sutter!
Written by Julie Marie Myatt
Directed by Jessica Thebus
at Noyes Cultural Arts Center, Evanston (map)
thru Dec 23 | tickets: $30-$40 | more info
Check for half-price tickets
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Struggles of a returning war vet in a compassionate, quirky drama
Next Theatre presents
Welcome Home, Jenny Sutter!
Review by Joy Campbell
Jenny Sutter (Lily Mojekwu) is a 30-year-old marine just returned from Iraq. Sitting in a bus station rather than finishing her journey home, she meets the perpetually traveling Lou (Jenny Avery), a bubbly neurotic whose manic energy and nonstop chatter prevent her from noticing that Jenny isn’t looking for company. When she discovers that Jenny has no destination in mind, Lou convinces her to accompany her to Slab City, a sort of permanent camp of colorful misfits living off the social grid in the desert. For a woman like Jenny looking to lose herself, this fits the bill.
At Slab City an angry, taciturn Jenny is welcomed and accepted, but remains withdrawn as she seeks escape from the guilt over an oversight in her duty overseas that cost fifteen people their lives, and her, a leg. She screams in her sleep, feels ugly, cadges booze to block out reality, and comes on awkwardly to men in a grasp at self-esteem. Among other issues, she fears the reaction of her two daughters to her physical and emotional changes, so she delays going home although she misses them immensely.
While Jenny might try to keep people at arm’s length, they keep coming back, meeting her anger with their own quirky honesty and acceptance. The unsinkable Lou has given up everything she likes in an attempt to overcome her addictive personality, and can’t stay settled in one place for long, running from herself as much as to anything. Played by a vivacious and very funny Avery, Lou craves and denies herself everything, while encouraging Jenny to return home to the life Lou wishes she could have. The two confess to a common craving: to find something to believe in.
Lawrence Grimm is luminous as Buddy, Lou’s sometime boyfriend and Slab City’s informal preacher. Partially crippled by childhood beatings, Buddy is the compassionate, wise heart of the group whose “sermons” are simple observations beautifully delivered in an unassuming, honest voice that holds us spellbound. He is a gently candid, nonjudgmental man who pushes no platitudes, and whose gift is the ability to allow people to be who they are. When Jenny taps her prosthetic leg and asks him, “What will my daughters think of this?” Buddy’s honest reply, “they’ll probably want to try it on. No, I’m serious, kids love that kind of stuff,” is my favorite response of the show.
Kurt Brocker is wonderful as Donald, the misanthrope who misses people but can only engage with them through antagonism. He forms an improbable bond with Jenny, sensing a kindred soul. Brocker moves seamlessly from cynical jerk when among the group to awkwardly lonely when alone with Jenny, who warily responds to his attention. Their scenes together are quietly arresting.
Things come to a head when Lou and the others fail in their attempt to throw Jenny a welcome-home party and honor the other (unseen to us) veterans in their midst. In a powerful scene starkly contrasting the optimism of the attempt (perhaps a symbol for society’s expectation that scarred soldiers just need to put away the past, get over things, and move on?) with Jenny’s utter despair. Jenny’s passed-out form lies alone on the stage shared only by a candle-festooned cake and a boom box playing “Oh Happy Day.” The effect is a visual kick in the gut.
Mojekwu’s performance as Jenny evolves, but too late; too much of the show is spent with her snapping out lines in a one-note delivery. This may be designed to show Jenny’s anger and inaccessibility, but by making her too impenetrable, little of her as a person comes through. It’s not for lack of talent, since Mojekwu makes an impressively poignant transformation when Jenny lets down her guard and bares a bit of herself. She is an impressive actress with tremendous presence; some complexity to her delivery earlier on would make for a more compelling character.
In the end, pity has no place at Slab City, but kindness does. In the end, kindness and acceptance win, and Jenny makes her uncertain journey homeward. It is not a necessarily happy ending for any of the characters, and the show ends on a realistically doleful and incomplete note, but Myatt’s astute and contemplative script suggests that long as we take care of one another and persevere, there is always hope.
Rating: ★★★
Welcome Home, Jenny Sutter continues through December 23rd at Noyes Cultural Arts Center, 927 Noyes Street, Evanston (map), Thursdays at 7:30pm, Fridays and Saturdays at 8pm, Sundays at 2pm. Tickets are $30-$40, and are available by phone (phonenumber) or online through PrintTixUSA.com (check for half-price tickets at Goldstar.com). More information at NextTheatre.org. (Running time: 90 minutes with no intermission)
Photos by Michael Brosilow
artists
cast
Jenny Avery (Lou); Kurt Brocker (Donald); Hannah Dworkin (Cheryl); Max Fabian (Musician); Justin James Farley (Hugo); Lawrence Grimm (Buddy); Lily Mojekwu (Jenny Sutter)
behind the scenes
Jessica Thebus (director); Amber Johnson (stage manager); Rick and Jackie Penrod (scenic design); Melissa Torchia (costume design); Kevin O’Donnell (sound design); J.R. Lederle (lighting design); Jamie Karas (props design); Alexis Jade Links (dramaturg); Adam Liston (production manager); Michael Brosilow (photos)
12-1144
