A Dybbuk

Best of 2000 – THE BEST THEATER CAME IN SMALL PACKAGES – Richard Christiansen, Chicago Tribune 12/26/00. – ” Not by design, the roll call of ten best theater productions in this year of big events (the new Goodman, Steppenwolf’s 25th anniversary) includes mostly small-scale, small-budget shows presented in theaters ranging from 50 to 167 seats.

The lack of big shows on the list does not indicate a lack of quality in the major resident theaters. Both Goodman and Steppenwolf mounted worthy revivals and new works. But this year, the very best of theater seemed to come in small packages.  Here they are, listed in order of when they opened this year.

“All’s Well That Ends Well,” Chicago Shakespeare Theater: An exquisitely designed and enacted production that had no problem at all with Shakespeare’s complex “problem play,” directed with elegance and forthrightness by Barbara Gaines.

“Among the Thugs,” Next Theatre in Evanston: A young, gung-ho ensemble, directed with whip-crack momentum by Kate Buckley, rousingly brought to the stage Tom Szentgyorgyi’s impressionistic adaptation of American writer Bill Buford’s insightful book of journalism/anthropology on his immersion into the world of English soccer hooligans.

“A Dybbuk,” Red Hen Productions: Tony Kushner’s eloquent version of S. Ansky’s classic Jewish drama of a love beyond reason received a superb Expressionistic production, inexpensively but imaginatively conceived on all levels of the cavernous Chopin Theatre by director Curt Columbus. Giant puppets created by Hystopolis Productions shared honors with the live actors, who included Chris Conry, as the young zealot possessed with consuming passion for the fragile Tracy Coppola.

“Loot,” Writers’ Theatre in Glencoe: A peerless staging, by Gary Griffin, of Joe Orton’s savage black comedy about love and death in English suburbia, with Dale Benson, as a resolutely moral widower beset by irrepressible immorality on all sides, leading an inspired cast of zanies.

“Hunchback,” Redmoon Theater in the Steppenwolf Studio: With puppets and props and a bounty of tricks and trinkets, Victor Hugo’s enduring story about the disfigured bell ringer of Notre Dame was revivified in an intimate, freshly reconceived staging by the ingenious Redmoon troupe.

“Spite for Spite,” Writers’ Theatre in Glencoe: The premiere of American scholar Dakin Williams’ ebullient translation of a 17th Century romantic comedy by the Spanish playwright Agustin Moreto proved to be a theatrical treasure, unearthed by director Michael Halberstam and sparked by Sean Fortunato’s bravura portrayal of a cavalier set aflame by the frosty disdain of his true love.

“Endgame,” American Theater Company: Nussbaum, brilliant as the domineering, sniveling, comic and tragic old Hamm, triumphed in director Nicholas Rudall’s meticulous production of Samuel Beckett’s drama of hopeless characters inhabiting a barren no-man’s land.

“Early and Often,” Famous Door Theatre, still running in the Theatre Building: Barbara Wallace’s and Tom Wolfe’s riotous new Chicago comedy about election day in 1960, in the tradition of “The Front Page,” takes off like a sky-rocket, with a gallery of hilarious ward heelers and hangers-on stumbling all over themselves, but never missing a comic beat, in director Karen Kessler’s whiz-bang staging.

“Metamorphosis,” Lookingglass Theatre: This vivid, striking presentation of Steven Berkoff’s stage version of the Franz Kafka short story, directed by David Catlin, was highlighted by Geoffrey Curley’s virtuoso scenic design and a daring performance by actor/ acrobat Lawrence E. Di Stasi as the hapless Everyman turned into a giant bug.

Red Hen Production, a critically acclaimed professional theatre company in Chicago, is presenting the Chicago premiere of Tony Kushner’s adaptation of “A Dybuk”- S.Ansky well-known story of ghosts,

” A Dybuk” will be directed by Curt Columbus, Chair of the Theatre department at the University of Chicago whose work has been seen at the Steppenwolf Theatre and Victory Gardens Theatre.

Mathew- assisting director- 241-6558

“Working from Tony Kushner’s eloquent English adaptation, director Curt Columbus has staged a surprising and striking new production of “A Dybbuk,” one of the classics of Jewish drama…But the true passion of this passionate folk tale is conveyed by the actors. In particular, there is Chris Conry, an actor of laser beam intensity who portrays Chonen, the young student of mystic inclinations, so devoted to the village girl Leah (the fragile, beautiful Tracy Coppola) that, at his death, his soul takes possession of her body. Conry, his face painted chalk white, really does seem to be an obsessive creature in the fervent delivery of his lines. In the second act, with the aid of Hystopolis’ most ingenious (and most beautiful) puppet creation, he truly takes possession of his beloved’s body.