“Come Again”

** Often, I am asked about some of the smaller theater companies and the works they present. People ask why one even bothers to attend, and even review, these new projects that seem to have no meaning. I tell them that first of all, every story has a meaning, and often, what we see in one of these storefront theaters is something that once fully developed may be the story of the future. Stage Left Theatre is one of our smaller groups in Chicago, and while they do not have a home of their own, they do have a following. At present, they are doing a production at The Raven Theatre located at Clark and Granville ( an old grocery store, converted to two stages under one roof). The current production is a short one-act play written by Lisa Dellagiarino Feriend ( almost as long as the play) and directed by Kyle Aschbrenner.

The story begins when Miami hospice nurse, Marina Johnson ( played to perfection by Katelynn Shennett), wakes one day to find a stranger in her apartment, telling her she has been tapped to be God’s climate change prophet. Could this truly be Jesus Christ, in her apartment. In this case, Jesus is played by Cailyn Murray, who does a super job of being kind of “genderless” and at the same time quite cute ( in a comedic sort of way). Can this be real? Is it in fact, a stalker? Why out of all the people in the state, was Marina selected?

These are the questions that are answered as they meet with a priest, Father Carlos ( deftly handled by Sam Ramirez). Carlos is to arrange a meeting with the Governor, Gov. Anderson ( John Nicholson) about the ambitious request to change the ways of the word so that climate change will cease to continue at its pace.  While I found the topic one that might have meaning for the world, I was a little upset with how they were approaching the topic. I for one, do not feel that there is any way that Jesus would have a second coming clearly over the climate problem. After all, if you have looked at the TV or read a newspaper ( if there is one in yur area), you know that climate change is the least of our worries.

I will say that the acting, in particular , that of Ms Shennett and secondarily that of Mr. Ramirez was  strong enough to keep me into the story. Ms Murray, playing a gigantic role like Jesus, must admit it is difficult to grab an audience and expect them to truly feel that this story has merit. Nicholson’s role is one that causes you to NOT like him, so no matter what he does, his role becomes unimportant, until the last scene, which I will not speak about.

This is , in fact, an intense story and while the theater company calls this a “comedy”, I think that may be confusing. There are a few cute items, and of course, a few places where you will laugh, but I for one, do not feel that this one should be called a “comedy”. I would be interested to hear back from you as to what your feelings were. I think that this is still a play in progress, and that perhaps as time goes on, it will have changes that will make it a stronger story about a topic that deserves ( and needs to be) spending time exploring.