“Kitty James and Destiny’s Trail To Oregon” reviewed by Julia W. Rath

*** “Kitty James and Destiny’s Trail to Oregon” is an unusually imaginative show where the two-dimensional graphics from the 1980s-era video game are turned into three-dimensional characters for the stage. As playwright Phil Claudnic states in the program, the script is based on the question, “What if Indiana Jones took the Oregon Trail?” The happy result is a unique play where two stagecoaches of adventurers depart from Independence, Missouri, to journey westward on March 28, 1848. In the first stagecoach, we have Kitty James (Kim Boler), the “Coffee Queen”, who travels with her associate Norris (Vic Kuligoski) and their dog Mangy Willy (Danny Mulae) to seek her fortune. In the second stagecoach, Ursula (Abbi Bryson) travels with her almost boyfriend Reginald (Christopher Ratliff) along the same route.

In the first scene, a preacher (Donovan Lunches) sets up the rules of the video game: He states that the goal is to acquire a medallion, which can make whoever holds it all-powerful, so that they might rule over others. He consults his book of ancient prophesies and learns that Kitty wears half the medallion around her neck. He subsequently tells Ursula that not only must she steal that half-medallion from Kitty but she also must find the missing piece, which was left somewhere along the Oregon Trail. Once assembled and fastened together, the medallion would be an amazing treasure that can impart tremendous power to its owner. But first, there are lots of terrors and travails to go through. While Kitty feels destined to go on this trek, Ursula is willing to take it on because of the power she might eventually command. So she returns from Oregon to meet up with Kitty in Missouri and pretend to be her friend. In so doing, she secretly plots to steal her jewelry while working to find the remaining half of the medallion.

There are a number of moments when people are being attacked and stabbed; and of course, as in any cartoon, the characters who are dead don’t stay dead. They rise up again in the next round of the game. Maureen Yasko’s nicely accomplished fight and intimacy design works well if you like seeing lots of physical action involving people who literally push each other around and fight or kill them. Other moments reminded me of improvisational theatre, such as when members of the ensemble play horses. Then too, even though Mangy Willy is a dog, he suddenly develops human qualities (because this is supposed to be a video game with its characteristic unrealism)—so breaking character is not a sin.

What I liked best, however, are the analogies to the way computers operate and how video games can be so addictive. We start with the motherboard, the unseen mother who has given birth to two children known as Dead (Tierra Matthews) and Weight (Reginald Hemphill), who can be analogized as the bios. We often see how the bios (who normally run in the background) come forward and offer advice about how to succeed. The medallion can also be viewed as being the main chip, or central processing unit, of the computer. Then there is the competition between the unseen players who drive the two different stagecoaches up the trail. Each player wants to win, which involves navigating through a variety of exploits to get closer to seizing their prize.

The show is deftly directed by Jennifer Betancourt. Members of the ensemble include: Eric Frederickson, Johnny Moran. Mandy Walsh. and Sydney Hanson. The simple set design by Hunter Cole depicts painted scenery and computer commands, which is related to the two-dimensional prop design by Dugan Kenaz-Mara. We see the painted front of a stagecoach, which is moved between stage right and stage left depending on whose coach we are focused on at any one time. Props are flat (such as guns and milk bottles and a firepit) to represent the two-dimensional world of gaming. Costumes by Antonia DiValentin work decently for this type of production. I especially liked the purple worn by Dead and Weight and their father, the preacher; allowing us to differentiate their roles from those who wear clothing suited to cowboys (and cowpersons). Lighting design by Ellie Humphrys and sound design by Isaac Mandel work well for this show. I especially liked the lights, customary video game music, and computer-generated blips and boops between scenes that indicate a winning score.

This is a performance that puts you very much “in the moment.” It is meant to be frivolous and hokey and sometimes just plain weird: Expect some toilet humor and sexual humor… and the cheap laugh. And when it’s so bad, it can be good and ridiculously funny. If you like seeing an escapist sort of tale with the barest connection to reality (and which doesn’t educate you about the history of the Wild West as does the original video game), then this play might work for you. My guest was very impressed with this production and would have rated it four stars. I, on the other hand, was not as wildly enthusiastic perhaps because I haven’t played my fair share of video games (but I digress). To my mind, there are a few too many superfluous elements in the story and too many unnecessary minor characters. Plus the comedy didn’t necessarily align with my personal taste. Yet I could enjoy the incredible creativity involved when it comes to demonstrating the structure and content of video games using the example real people venturing on the Oregon Trail to seek their destiny.

Whether you view the production as perfect imperfection or imperfect perfection, it might look better with a can of beer in hand (which may be purchased at the Rogers Park Taproom and Coffeehouse just a few doors down).

“Kitty James and Destiny’s Trail to Oregon” is playing through March 29, 2025, at The Factory Theater, 1623 W Howard Street, in Chicago.

Tickets: $30

Performance schedule:

Fridays and Saturdays – 8:00 p.m.
Sundays – 3:00 p.m.
Thursday performances only on March 20th and 27th at 8:00 p.m.

Accessibility performance took place on Sunday, March 9th at 3:00 p.m. Touch tour at 2:00 p.m.
Understudy performance took place on Sunday, March 16 at 3:00 p.m.

For more information and to buy tickets, visit: https://thefactorytheater.com/portfolio/kitty-james/ or
call the box office at 312-275-5757.

For general information about The Factory Theater and their other offerings, go to: https://thefactorytheater.com/.

To see what others are saying, visit www.theatreinchicago.com, go to Review Round-Up and click at “Kitty James and Destiny’s Trail to Oregon”.