“Wellesley Girl”

 Recommended *** Try to imagine what life might be 400 plus years from now! It is a difficult job indeed. Possibly because of things like Covid 19 and watching our government and people seem to change from what we are used to. In Brendan Peluses’ “Wellesley Girl”, a play that was supposed to open back in 2020 ( but Covid got in the way), we are taken on such a ride into the future, sans Delorean. It is a sharp 90 plus minutes of seeing what could happen to our world as we know it. Politics has taken its toll and our country ( “America” is now a handful of New England cities ( 4, if you count Wellesley, although many think it has disappeared) walled off from the rest of the surrounding land.

Due to the decreased population of the new America”, every American is part of Congress and gets a vote. There are many typical problems facing the people. One of them is the water ( sound familiar?)- do we drink it? or not? There is also a group of “soldiers” on their borders and as we learn later they are from “America” ( the Texas version) and are ready to move in and take over.

The play is about people, their desire, their dreams, their hopes and their personal agendas versus what might be best for the country. Again, sound familiar? Directed by James Fleming, this is an interesting work that will have you thinking about where are are today and what we might do to make sure we head in the right direction. The set (Sotirios Livaditis) is pretty simple, although there is a bed that comes out of the wall and a drawbridge that is unique ( and a lot of work for 3 minutes of use). In this show we deal with robots ( one of the leaders, Garth ( Denise Hoeflich) is married, or living with Hank ( Ted James, who by the way is a very strong robot) the Robot. Is this our future? Only the Jetson’s know for sure!

Other cast members include Max (Brandon Boler) and his wife, Marie ( played tonight by Maria Clara Ospina, a true stand-out), RJ ( tonight played by Eric Roberts, also an understudy) who ends up being turned over to the enemy, Scott ( Todd Wojcik plays this role to perfection), a leader who doesn’t want to give in and  Donna ( Deanna Reed-Foster) who is the Supreme Court ( yes, one person). The other two characters are in the final scene ( one that probably didn’t even have to play as the young men spoke to each other forgetting their training to “project to the back row”. They did not even make it to the first row. Grant Lewis and Noah Villarreal, your words are important, so let the audience hear you. I had my hearing aids on ( as I do for smaller venues) and could not hear them. Yet, I could hear the lady behind me open her purse.

There will be talk-backs at several performances- Thursday, January 20th

Sunday, January 30th

“Wellesley Girl” will continue at Theater Wit ( theater 3) thru February 5th with performances as follows:

Thursdays  7:30 p.m.

Fridays  7:30 p.m.

Saturdays  7:30 p.m.

Sundays  2 p.m.

Tickets are $40 general admission, $35 for seniors and or student.

For tickets contact www.CompassTheatre.org

Theater Wit is located at 1229 West Belmont. Theater Wit is following all CDC policies and you must check in with ID and vac card as well as be masked during the entire performance.

If you plan to make a night of it, we enjoyed a great dinner at Kubo, directly across the street. It is billed as a Fillipino American Bar Restaurant. The drinks are great, the Burger terrific ( and fries that you will want more of) and I loved the crab cakes. They no longer have the parking lot, so do not go back there and leave your car. Instead, there are lots of meter spaces on Belmont and since the other theaters are not open yet, easy as pie. I suggest reservations-call 773-610-0730 or kubochicago@gmail.com

If you are into the political scene, this one will be more exciting for you. To see what others are saying, visit www.theatreinchicago.com, go to Review Round-Up and click at” Wellesley Girl”.