The first time I saw a Free Street Theater performance was back in the '70s. I was on a school field trip, and the performance was an unexpected highlight. I have seen other performances over the years and watched as Free Street developed programs and advocated for underrepresented communities. Last Friday, I saw their latest, called Rupture and Repair, with concept and direction by Tanuja Kagernauth. The show is described as a performance devised by the cast rather than having a traditional playwright.
Opening night featured Marilyn Carteno, CJ Willette, Sharaina L. Turnage, and Liz Haas, who was the understudy for Marya Spont-Lemus. The cast worked well together, with good timing on the dialogue. It was well-paced and had good comic timing in its spoof of reconciliation buzzwords. They skewered 'Drill down,' 'extractive,' 'dive deep,' 'synergize,' and the one that makes my teeth clench: 'Let's unpack that.' There was an attempt at shadow puppets with an overhead projector, but it did not go over well. It was blurry, and perhaps that was intentional, but the shadows cast by the fabric stage walls were clearer and more in keeping with the mystery of what causes a rupture.
The production runs 45 minutes without an intermission, which would be the length of a team-building exercise or a conflict-resolution exercise. Eleanor Kahn's set is a cool industrial style with lovely mobiles floating around the stage. One of the actors appears in a beautiful red gown and intermittently floats through the scenery. I think that it may have been representative of the conflict or rupture. Nothing was made clear, and that may have been deliberate. The seeds of conflict can be hazy or convoluted, which fits with conceptual theater. Director Kagernauth is participating in a three-year directing residency with Free Street Theater. It's a decent start, and I am interested in her development trajectory. I recommend checking out Rupture and Repair, with the caveat that it is brief and in a nontraditional theater style.
'Rupture and Repair runs Fridays and Saturdays through March 7 at the Pulaski Park Field House, 1419 W. Blackhawk St. Please visit freestreet.org to learn more about the company. This theater group is dedicated to social justice for BIPOC and LGBTQIA+ people on the West and South Sides of Chicago.
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