“Red Light Winter” reviewed by Mark Reinecke

**** A finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, Adam Rapp’s “Red Light Winter” is a sobering, deeply passionate, well-acted story of a tortured, self-destructive love triangle that upends lives. Director Grayson Kennedy puts you onto a fast-moving conveyor belt and carries you through time, suffering, and loss. And at the end, the viewer is dumped into darkness. Rarely do you see the essence of the wounded heart in such a pure, raw and honest form. This is compelling, heart-squeezing theater with a straightforward, negligible plot as dense as a pound cake.

This stark and sinister story takes place in two acts beginning in a ratty hotel room in Amsterdam and concluding in an equally deary apartment in NYC. Matt (Derek Preston Ray) and Davis (Tom Cook) are 30-somethings, polar opposites, and should not be friends. After a couple of test runs, Davis hires Christina, a sex worker (Carol Kelleher) to service the depressed, struggling Matt, who hasn’t had sex in over three years. After a 45-second, speed-bump bang in bed, this brief encounter becomes a defining moment in Matt’s life.

Christina presents herself in a sexy form-fitting red dress and leaves it in Matt’s hotel room. This garment becomes an object of obsession and takes on a life of its own. Back in New York months later, the after-glow of Amsterdam is overshadowed by the devastating truth they discover when Christina passes through town.

The fine, convincing performances on this stage go to the heart of each character. Matt, Davis, and Christina are believable as a web of star-crossed lovers with carefully defined, multi-layered and distinct characteristics, independent personalities but intermingled in desire. Matt loves Christina, and can’t forget their one night together. Christina loves Davis, but he can hardly remember her months later. Rapp has turned the tables here. Usually the prostitute (Jane Fonda famously in “Klute”) puts on a good show to make the customer think he is a special man. Christina unfortunately thinks she is special to Davis. Her delusion comes crashing down when Davis confuses her with every other woman he slept with in Amsterdam. Davis then vaguely recalls Christina, and incredulously asks, “Oh. You’re that whore!”

These are exceedingly complicated, broken and flawed people. Charming on the surface, Davis is shown to be an alpha-male degenerate. A dangerous, odious figure, high on his own achievements. Matt is a struggling, sad-sack with a twitchy demeanor. He is ravaged by doubt, insecurity and poor self-esteem. Matt is a scholarly man, nerdy and needy, who is lost and in need of a break in life. Christina presents herself as French (her French-accented English is spot on), uninhibited, and confident. Cloaked in layer and layer of fabricated truth, she ultimately proves to be more fragile, puzzling, and scared than she initially appears. Ultimately, as her façade fades, she matches Matt for going nowhere and is burdened by heavy secrets she will eventually reveal.

Each of these actors is completely believable. They bring this story alive in a captivating way and punctuate the tense situations with carefully drawn movements and well-delivered lines. There is nothing gratuitous here. The rough stuff – sex, drug use, language, prostitution, AIDS, suicide, the objectification of women and the deeply unsettling abuse and deceit that unfolds at its near conclusion – are productive for the plot. This play is held together by its painful realism and its believability. And three actors who can pull it off.

Rapp’s writing is riveting and fierce. The two dark and dank sets, the lighting, and sound design reflect and illuminate this nightmarish drama. The creative team includes Grayson Kennedy (director and scenic design), Alex Branka (lighting design), Jason Pavlovich (sound design), Alex Kulak (composer, props design), and Matt Tenny (intimacy choreographer).

Under Grayson Kennedy’s direction, three powerful performances wring out every scrap of viciousness, tenderness, and darkly doomed outcomes. This rather bleak look at the dynamics of an unlikely friendship and the destructive grip of obsession and loneliness isn’t easy stuff. Red Light Winter is unabashedly graphic, realistic in its language, and consistently engaging and highly worthwhile.

Fact Sheet/Red Light Winter

Red Light Winter
By: Adam Rapp
Directed by: Grayson Kennedy
Presented by: Ego Death Theatre Collective
2 ½ hours including one intermission

Location:
Greenhouse Theatre Center
2257 N. Lincoln Avenue
Chicago, IL 60614

Dates:
Through March 8, 2026
Thurs, Fri, Sat 7:30 pm
Sun 2:30 pm

Tickets:
$27.00   call box office  773-404-7336

or visit www.greenhousetheater.org

To see what others are saying, visit www.theatreinchicago.com, go to Review Round-Up, and click at “Red Light Winter”.

Photos Matt Tenny and Sam Bessler.