“Primer: An Audio Drama” reviewed by John Arkelian

Highly Recommended *** 1/2  Sometimes the experience of a trauma can galvanize us into reexamining our assumptions and expectations. So it is in “Primer,” the new audio drama from Chicago’s Broken Nose Theatre, which takes place in the immediate aftermath of urban looting. A street demonstration, sparked by an incident of police violence, turned ugly the night before. But, instead of taking place in a down-on-its-luck district, it has happened on Chicago’s upscale commercial avenue, its proud ‘Magnificent Mile.’ As someone observes, “It’s weird when it hits a place you know.” The juxtaposition of wanton destruction and a temple to consumerism is an unsettling one for the several people who assemble in the ruins of a grand old department store on the day after to take literal and figurative stock.

Written by Spenser Davis and directed by Brittney Brown, “Primer” uses humor and a hint of satire to question society’s priorities. Separate scenes combine different groupings of its eight disparate characters for everyday chatter amidst the rubble. Like people everywhere, their concerns often run to the mundane and banal. The vacuous banter between some breathlessly bubble-headed Valley-Girl wannabes (“ab-sa-freaking-lutely”) is played for laughs; but, the macrocosm is never far from the surface. Maybe that’s part of the point: no matter how self-absorbed, and even inane, we tend to be in our quotidian existence, there comes a time when we can’t ignore bigger, more serious things. Here, those things pivot on racial and social equity.

There’s a nice moment of irony when a white policewoman laments to a black male friend that, “You can’t imagine what it’s like for someone to make assumptions about you the moment you enter the room.” The same scene makes a good point about how much in life turns on our subjective point of view. She protests, “I didn’t do anything wrong. I’m not a bad cop.” His rejoinder is, simply, “But you’re wearing the same clothing as one. My people are dying — and your people are why.” It’s a fair observation and a tangible expression of competing perspectives. However, a recurring sentiment, expressed elsewhere, seems inappropriately inclined to excuse or rationalize looting. One character proffers that, “I guess this is them doing something about it.” Another suggests that, “This is actually us trying to build something new.” It’s a moral, philosophical, and legal bridge way too far to characterize the destruction of other peoples’ property as positive, constructive action. Peaceful protest qualifies as such, certainly; but looting and rioting emphatically do not.

The chief spokesperson here for social conscience is the department store’s first floor manager: she reigns over its cornucopia of cosmetics, jewellery, and fragrances. The wreck of her wares has her fired up about the perceived root causes of the trouble: “It takes what happened last night for our company to even begin to care.” For Mary, people, not property, ought to be what counts. She is briefly assuaged by signs that her corporate retail employer may be taking a belated interest in social justice. But her patience snaps when it becomes clear that the corporate emissary’s real brief is to advance the case for “[keeping] your workplace intact during high intensity scenarios” with “‘biz-shield’… a nearly indestructible pseudo-plastic.” It’s the final straw for Mary: “I don’t even want to return to before.” She enlists allies, and the play ends with a question, a question which it behooves all of us to consider as we look beyond our own mundane concerns to survey the bigger picture: “So, now what?

“Primer” benefits from a solid cast: RjW Mays is a standout as Mary. And she is ably matched by the rest of the ensemble: JD Caudill, Ana Szalai-Raymond, Kim Boler, E.M. Davis, Brenda Scott Wlazlo, Watson Swift, and David Weiss. The play’s comedic tone and entertaining cast of characters draws us in , as it surveys bigger social questions from the point of view of ordinary, everyday people. Tony Ingram’s sound design helps conjure the setting.
Content advisory: Abundant very coarse language and adult subject matter.

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The audio drama “Primer” is available online for streaming-on-demand from November 15 through December 5, 2021. It is about 85 minutes long. Tickets can be purchased on a ‘pay what you can’ basis at: https://brokennosetheatre.com/p-audio

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