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Celebrity Row By Itamar Moses Directed by David Cromer At American Theater Company (ATC) 1909 W. Byron Street Chicago, IL Call 773-409-4125 www.atcweb.org Thursdays and Fridays at 8 pm Saturdays at 3 & 8 pm Sundays at 3 pm Running time is 2 hours, 15 minutes with intermission Through November 16, 2008 “Fact: For a time in the late 1990's, Colorado Supermax, the most secure prison in America, housed in neighboring cells, Latin Kings Leader Luis Felipe, WTC Bomber Ramzi Yousef, Unabomber Ted Kaczynski, and Oklahoma City Bomber Timothy McVeigh”. “Believers are strong. Unbelievers are weak.”--David Cromer on the theme of “Celebrity Row.” Critical political issues deftly dramatized in “Celebrity Row” Itamar Moses (“Bach at Leipzip,” “Yellowjackets”) and director David Cromer present the Chicago Premiere of “Celebrity Row”—a stunningly well staged and acted political drama. This powerful polemic is a fictionalized version filled with philosophical debates about the nature of criminal incarceration of convicted mass murders. How should American justice system deal with dangerous terrorists? Do we punish, even torture such criminals? Should we keep them in solitary confinement for long periods? Is humane treat folly? Where is the line between security and justice and human rights of prisoners?
Those are just some of the political issue Moses presents in “Celebrity Row.” He humanized the four terrorists-- Latin Kings Leader Luis Felipe (Joe Minoso), WTC Bomber Ramzi Yousef (Usman Ally), Unabomber Ted Kaczynski (Larry Neumann, Jr.), and Oklahoma City Bomber Timothy McVeigh (Christopher McLinden). Director David Cromer’s staging—a white sterile prison set with little furniture and two large windows and the orange full-body prisoner jump suits vividly shows the maximum security federal prison—Colorado Supermax. Casting here is terrific with the outstanding Larry Neumann, Jr. wildly portraying the crazy, math-spouting Ted Kaczynski. Christopher McLenden (a dead-ringer for McVeigh) nicely plays McVeigh’s pent up rage. Joe Minoso’s Luis Felipe (the Latin King Leader) was effective at portraying Luis’deep seated cunning.. Minoso’s nuanced performance was chilling. Usman Ally’s take on WTC Bomber and Moslem terrorist was authentic and insightful. Ally’s performance aptly demonstrated the zeal of a religious true-believer.
Kelli Simpkins, as the idealistic attorney, Maze Carrol, was truthful, emotional and convincing. Her passion equaled the four terrorist’s commitments. The exchanges of ideas, philosophies and beliefs between her, the four convicts, and the federal prison officials pits conflicting ideas—idealism against fundamentalist justice and fundamentalist terrorism. Much of this drama unfolds as debates with speeches wherein each terrorist and the idealistic attorney present their arguments to justify their activism. Playwright Moses smartly presents each side—including almost humanizing each of the terrorists—in a balanced presentation. Moses stretches his plot to create a dangerous scenario for dramatic effect. Director Cromer utilizes the terrorists to switch hats as several actors easily moved from terrorist to a guard or a federal agent— one even played a woman. The versatility of this fine cast made this work. While I found some of the speeches a tad too long, especially Kaczynski’s diatribes on math and social order, and some of the act two plots twists a little hard to swallow—“Celebrity Row” delivers a dramatically powerful discourse on the nature of crime and punishment in the turbulent 21st Century. This show will spark debates. It is worth a look. Recommended Tom99@chicagocritic.com for comments Talk Theatre in Chicago podcast Date Reviewed: October 22, 2008 |
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