Close Your Eyes

“Close Your Eyes” sounds like the wrong title for a play—radio, maybe, but on stage, no. But Chicago playwright Lance Eliot Adams wants to eniist our imagination as his new play takes us back to a cold Midwestern town circa 1957. In this dreamy land scape, Adams intends to reveal the lust, violence and tenderness in small-town America. “We have a skewed perspective of the supposedly innocent Eisenhower era,” Adams says.

“This play, which is a lot closer to ‘Far from Heaven’ than it is to ‘Father of the Bride,’ undermines the ’50s stereotypes that still endure.” A co-production by Pyewacket and Hunger and Dread Theatre, “Close Your Eyes” opens Tuesday in a staging by Jeff-nominated Kenneth Lee (who directed Pyewacket’s “Boom Town”). It’s a coming-of-age drama in which four teenagers unearth a murder mystery that makes thein grow up fast. “The ironic title refers to how a lot of us close our eyes to what’s going on around us,” Adams says. “I like how the characters realize the tough guy isn’t what he seems and sometimes the nice guy deserves to finish last.” Chicago Tribune