To get an idea of how wide the divide between Chicago’s urban denizens and suburbanites can be, just consider the tagline for the Berwyn Development Corporation’s current ad campaign: “Berwyn: Nothing like a suburb.” Really? Nothing? Methinks the west-of-Cicero community doth protest too much.
Jeremy Wechsler‘s production showcases some honest, understated scene work between Tepeli and Laura T. Fisher, who plays the mother, and is particularly effective in its depiction of the way parents and their grown children can slip back into old personality patterns when reunited. The shift in dynamics between the two now that the role of caretaker has reversed is similarly powerful and affecting. And over and above the romantic angle, Tepeli and Pierce create a moving bond over finding themselves in the same pre-middle-age existential limbo, even if her big conflict—stuck creatively, she’s fiddling around with a podcast on Naperville’s pioneer namesake, Joseph Naper—doesn’t yield much of interest.
Through 10/16: Thu-Sat 8 PM, Sun 2 PM Theater Wit 1229 W. Belmont 773-975-8150theaterwit.org $20-$70
