Who'd guess that Theodore Kaczynski (Larry Neumann, Jr.) would get the best laughs? Four of U.S. history's most notorious criminals dominate the stage in Itamar Moses’s provocative new play "Celebrity Row," currently in its Chicago premiere at ATC. The play does not always live up to its best moments, but in David Cromer’s lucid production it possesses a vitality all too rare in contemporary theatre.
The play is birthed from a mesmerizing fact: For a period in the 1990s, Kaczynski, Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh (Christopher McLinden), World Trade Center bomber Ramzi Yousef (Usman Ally), and Latin Kings gang leader Luis Felipe (Joe Minoso), were housed in the same Colorado Supermax prison cell block. To this volatile mix, Moses adds the fictional character of Maze Carrol (Kelli Simpkins), an idealistic lawyer who thinks that the Supermax prison is unconstitutional, and wants to use Felipe’s testimony to help shut it down. Unsurprisingly, things do not go according to plan.
Moses's dynamite scenes make for a play coursing with audacious theatricality, particularly in the interactions among the four criminal masterminds. Felipe’s brilliant planning, Yousef’s earnest attempts to convert everyone to Islam, McVeigh’s surprising good humor, and particularly Kaczynski’s befuddled absent-mindedness take what we know about the real figures and finds both the drama and the perverse humor in it. Even when the script falters, the characters always interact in engaging ways.
But the problems begin with Maze. Though Simpkins performance is believable, the character is simply too naïve to be believable. Additionally, the second act squanders an exceptionally tense situation by letting the play devolve into a debate without much dramatic motion, and the play’s end is simply confusing. And yet this show was exciting in ways that more consistent plays often are not. Part of it was the well-paced and intelligent production, and excellent performances from the entire cast that balanced on the knife-edge between humor and danger. The designs also make a major contribution to creating the world of the prison—sterile yet dangerous.
But in the end, the show stays engaging despite its flaws because Moses has a hold of something. His meditations on justice and ideals may not have found their ideal theatrical form yet, but there’s plenty to tease the mind and move the emotions. That’s why, for all the problems, this is a play worth seeing, and Moses a playwright I hope we see often in future seasons.
Reviewed by Centerstage!
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