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Ten Cent Night
By Marisa Wegrzyn
Directed by Richard Shazin
At Chicago Dramatists Theatre
1105 W. Chicago Ave.
Chicago, IL
Call 312-633-0630 www.chicagodramatists.org
Thursdays thru Saturdays at 8 pm
Sundays at 3 pm
Running time is 2 hours, 50 minutes with 2 intermissions
Through October 26, 2008
Offbeat comedy/drama has hints of Langston Wilson and Sam Shepard
Now entering its 30th season of nurturing emerging playwrights, Chicago Dramatists Theatre presents Marisa Wegrzyn’s (“The Butcher of Baraboo and “Psalms of a Questionable Nature”) latest offbeat comedy/drama “Ten Cent Night”—a quirky, funny and poignant story filled with themes found in classic country songs. With loads of Texas flavor including authentic Texas twang accents and country & western music, Wegrzyn’s play, now in its world premiere, is a nicely written piece loaded with rich and telling symbolism featuring two sets of twins in a most dysfunctional Texas family in 1973.
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This is a sprawling work with well developed characters working on an intertwined plot that plays out unpredictably. I was fully engaged early with the earthy Roby (Anna Carini), a minor country singer playing a honky-tonk bar in New Orleans. This salty woman is overwhelmed when Danny (Joshua Rollins) drops a $100 bill into her guitar case. She quickly talks him into letting her stay with him for a few days. Danny doesn’t speak but he is smitten by Roby’s cowgirl toughness. A few days later we see Roby handcuffed to a folding chair in Danny’s room. She is drunk and feisty and she upsets Danny who storms out of the room. Roby reads a letter from her younger sister Sadie (Lauren Patten) where Sadie tells Roby that she needs open heart surgery to save her life.
Roby finds Danny’s suitcase and opens it to discover thousands of dollars in cash. (Is Danny some kind of courier for the mob?) Roby steals the cash, putting it in her guitar case. She leaves for Burkeville, Texas still handcuffed to the folding chair.
Meanwhile, Dee (Maura Kidwell)—Roby’s twin sister returns from Dallas to tend to family business after to the suicide of her father—a once famous country singer who penned the hit tune “Ten Cent Night.” Dee wants to mother her younger twins—Sadie (Lauren Patten) and Holt (Ian Daniel McLaren) who live alone in the shabby house. Sadie and Holt are dangerously close as they turn sixteen years. The may be more that brother and sister.
While Roby is looking to hitch a ride by an auto repair show, she meets a most intriguing character—Roscoe (Freeman Coffey)—a fast talking and witty storyteller who seems enamored with Roby. He tells a story about how dimes—ten cents—and the song by Finley (Roby’s father) that saved him from despair. This clever speech and Roby’s cynical insults produced funny moments. We realize that there is more to Roscoe than a charming storyteller.
The four siblings converge at the Burkeville, Texas home to come to grips with unfinished business and past differences that each have been trying to avoid. Love, personal fulfillment and hope for a better future collide at the place none want to call home. What I was most impressed with in Wegrzyn’s play was the rich and well rounded female characters—each strong and determined. Dee who wants to do the right thing; Roby is scared but vulnerable and Sadie exudes love.
Anna Carini, as Roby, and Maura Kidwell, as Dee, gave the most heartfelt and truthful performances as the unloving twins. Carini and Kidwell lead the way with dominating character work. Each demonstrated their comedic timing and their emotional rage. They got help from Ian Daniel McLaren, as Holt—the shy teen pinning with forbidden love; Freeman Coffey and Morgan McCabe as the older folks ripe with wisdom and life experience. Joshua Rollins’ performance, using mostly body language and simple singing, had a subtle charm and honesty that was effective.
Playwright Marisa Wegrzyn deftly resolves all the complications and plot twists neatly and plausibly. This is well thought out play that is a tad long as it could use some cuts—especially in the bonding scenes with the younger twins and the handcuff scenes with Roby. As presented, “Ten Cent Night” is a refreshing original work with shades of Lanford Wilson and Sam Shepard but with more quirkiness and humor. The Finley’s are siblings you’ll not easily forget. We see if the Finley’s love each other too much for their own good. Can they overcome their past differences?
I am impressed with Wegrzyn’s writing and the fine acting by the leads (Carini and Kidwell). “Ten Cent Night” sure is worth more than a dime. Originality here makes for a fine evening of theatre.
Recommended
Tom Williams
Tom99@chicagocritic.com for comments
Talk Theatre in Chicago podcast
Date Reviewed: September 26, 2008
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