F
or years, Keith Huff was your typical Chicago playwright, slogging along
with script after script at storefront after storefront. Then, in 2007, he
came up with A Steady Rain—the tale of two corrupt Chicago police
detectives forced to confront their criminal incompetence—and all that
changed. A Steady Rain went to Broadway in 2009, with a cast
consisting of Hugh Jackman and Daniel Craig; by 2010, Huff was writing for
AMC’s Mad Men.
Moroni is a fascinating character: the model of good-natured fecklessness,
he can rationalize any failure and justify every transgression. Even his
flirtations with virtue are corrupt. What’s more, Huff has placed him and
Perez at the nexus between the law they’re supposed to uphold and the
tribal loyalties reflected in traditions like the code of silence. Once the
witnesses and their agendas become part of the mix, mordant ironies grow
thick and fast.
Through 3/24: Thu-Fri 7:30 PM, Sat 3 and 7:30 PM, Sun 2:30 PM; also Mon 3/5, 7:30 PM, and Wed 3/21, 2:30 PM, Stage 773, 1225 W. Belmont, 773-327-5252, americanbluestheater.com, $19-$49.
