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Life’s Tremors
By Tommy Lee Johnston
Directed by Peter Forster
At The Actor’s Workshop Theatre
1044 W. Bryn Mawr
Chicago, IL
Call 773-728-play, tickets $20 - $25
Thursdays thru Saturdays at 8Pm
Sundays at 3 PM
Sunday evenings at & PM on Dec 11 & 18
Running time 1 hour 50 minutes with intermission
Through December 18, 2005
Life’s Tremors is a touching World Premiere
The Actor’s Workshop Theatre does more than producing outstanding plays, they train actors and they give voice to fledging playwrights as in Tommy Lee Johnston’s splendid new play, Life’s Tremors. Johnston’s play is a polished, tightly written, intelligent work befitting an experienced writer. Johnston combines a workable plot with rich, fully developed characters speaking smart words filled with tender moments.
Carl (Michael Colucci) is in his sixties and suffers from Parkinson’s disease which slowly is killing him. He is surrounded by Janice (Jan Ellen Graves), his lifelong housekeeper and personal assistant. Carl has acquired wealth and has been a benefactor to many needy souls. He had a loving daughter who waited by the window at 5:30 PM each evening for his return home from the office. Carl gave work to a drifter/handyman who, one night, abducted and killed his five year old daughter. This family tragedy led his wife to leave him and filled him with tremendous guilt.
He married again to a woman who used him for his money, then left. Her daughter, Sylvia (Christine Rosencrans) was a wild teen who left the home to get away from the nasty mother. In Carl’s loving generosity he continued to help her and even sent her $1000 weekly after she ran away. She returns home to comfort Carl in his evermore debilitating condition where his body stiffens and shakes at it slowly ceases to function.
Janice, the strong caring housekeeper, dotes over Carl offering him support, companionship and unconditional love. She is his rock of stability. Jan Ellen Graves is wonder as Janice.
Carl goes from grumpy invalid to spunky father as his dreams of Natalie (Marisa Sanders) allow him to see her as an adult. These recollections of their time together help Carl accept his coming death. Natalie tells him he has nothing to fear and he shouldn’t harbor guilt for what happened to her. She relates that her entire life was filled with love. Eventually he realizes that death will reunite him with Natalie for eternity.
Carl’s increasing illness is marked by visits from Josh (Tommy Lee Johnston) a physical therapist who cajoles Carl to keep fighting the debilitation. As we see Carl slide toward death, his acceptance of that reality is marvelously presented in several poignant scenes including one with Greeley Smith (Joseph E. Hudson) the dead spirit of Natalie’s killer.
Michael Colucci demonstrates why he is one of the finest actors in Chicago with his moving performance. Colucci plays Carl as a kindhearted soul who switches from fighting his illness to giving in to the pain and back again much as most of us would do. Colucci plays Carl with a quiet dignity as a man who comes to grips with his mortality as he realizes that he did much with his life. He dies content with the satisfaction that he has loved and been loved my Natalie, Sylvia and the ever present Janice.
Director Peter Forster paces the story so that the dramatic tension peaks at just the right moment. We are saddened by Carl’s death yet we admire his humanity and we secretly hope we’ll be as brave as Carl toward the end. The moving last scene where Janice is saying her ‘good-by’ to Carl was wonderfully written and expertly played by Jan Ellen Graves and (her real life husband) Michael Colucci.
Life’s Tremors contains a reassuring message of hope and surly is a tribute to the indomitable human spirit. You’ll be moved by this show. Tommy Lee Johnston is a welcome new playwright with a keen sensitivity and deft understanding of humanity.
Highly Recommended
Tom Williams
Tom99@chicagocritic.com for comments
Chicago Stage Talk Radio Show
This show eligible for a C.S.T. Equity Theatre Award
November 20, 2005
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