The Mercy Seat

Profiles Theatre
Uptown, Chicago

Now playing through November 15th

At the bequest of my good friend Amanda, I headed into the city to check out Profiles Theatre's production of Neil LaBute's The Mercy Seat. She was the Stage Manager.

(Not like the character, The Stage Manager, from Our Town. She was the actual Stage Manager. Just so we're clear.)

The play concerns two people in a New York apartment the day after the attacks of September 11th. One is married, one is not. One has decided to use the attacks as a means to get out of his fading marriage, as the ultimate Reset Button. A nice clean escape, only not so much.

Two people in a room, quietly talking, then massive shouty anger, then quiet again. It was like a Pixies song done as a 90-minute play.

LaBute's plays are about awful people doing awful things, and not even the horrors of Sept. 11th can cover the horrible choices pondered by these two people. It's real good.

Got the chance to meet a few of the Profiles crowd, and caught up with Amanda a bit. It's always wonderful to see her, and whenever we hang out we slip into this rapid-fire sarcasm-filled dialogue that wouldn't be out of place in a Howard Hawks film.

As usual, after consuming good quality Chicago theatre, I start wondering whether I could ever get involved with one of these groups. Sure I write and direct and run a successful (youth) theatre program, but I always wonder if I'm just a country mouse who would get laughed right out of them big fancy PRO-fessional-type places.

I've been told that I need to move on from my current station, and try something new, and I think about that sometimes, but then I'll get into a teaching groove, or Limelight will get more awesome, and then those plans fade away. The plan to publish The Last Dance is now over six years old, by the way.

We started working on a new play this week, speaking of Limelight. All These Will Be Worthless. So far it's a comedy about the fear of the end of the world, the fall of the Berlin wall, and a mutant-hunting Ronald Reagan. It'll be way better than The Mercy Seat.