Red Theater debuts The Pilon – and reminds us what “home” looks like.

The set for the excellent Red Theater’s latest production, The Pilon, directed by Jessica Love and written by Zach Barr, is the Wax Harvest Card Shop, in Seattle. The audience sits on three sides, and smack in the middle is the kind of small business that a certain, idealistic image of America conjures up: it’s run by a family (with an eccentric elder at the head), the customer base is small but loyal and the neighborhood has changed around it while the interior has stayed exactly the same. It’s like the bar in Cheers or Central Perk in Friends – well worn, well-loved and welcoming.

The welcoming bit is important because Wax Harvest Card Shop specializes in trading and basketball cards, a thing I know next to nothing about, nor did my sidekick. Luckily, we didn’t need to be up on basketball card minutia, or even basketball itself, to be sucked into the enthusiasm and gentle rhythm of the lives of the characters. Afterall, fandom is fandom, whatever the subject. Wax Harvest is run by proprietor Rhonda (Delia Kropp, with a grizzled, kind weariness that makes you want to buy her a beer) and her nephew, Corbin (Rio Soliz Ragazzone, bringing “still water runs deep” to life). The year is 2019, and in a reflection of what is to come, Corbin has begun running a Twitch stream for “case breaks” (open box videos with trading cards that people pay for), to encourage sales and keep the lights on. He is assisted by Marc (Josh Razavi, with a look that could burn holes into the cardboard he covets), an intense card enthusiast and unabashed capitalist tech bro. The cast is rounded out by Griffy (an endearing Harper Levander), a 13-year-old trans kid who has recently embraced a love of trading cards, and Lex (a limpid-eyed and buoyant Jordan Tannous) a regular, non-sports related card enthusiast and torch-bearer for the unassuming Corbin.

On the technical production side, the shop feels lived in – the sound and light design provide atmosphere and color without being overbearing, and the set and props do just enough to keep you engaged without distraction. Special mention goes to the individual running the sound cues: every time someone left the shop, the little bell over the door chimed it – with no bell in sight. This leaves the cast and production staff of the Red Theatre Company to concentrate on what they do best: create a feeling that the audience has found itself magically eavesdropping on real people in a real, lived in world. The majority of the play takes place in the shop, with a few important exceptions that are created with the placement of chairs to which the shop is a backdrop, a constant reminder of the trading cards that bring all the characters together. The cards mean different things to each person, and that meaning, the search for it, the explanation of it and what it provides, is the central theme of the show.

The play opens with young Griffy watching a basketball game alone – wholly concentrated on it, and cheering for the players he has a parasocial relationship with, players who can make or break his day, without ever having met him. Watching the game of the fantasy Seattle NBA team The Emeralds is for Griffy what reading a good book might be for someone else – he isn’t alone as long as he has the team and their exploits for company. Griffy’s sense of belonging to the world he is learning to be a part of is facilitated by The Emeralds trading cards. He’s a regular at the shop, where he gets a weekly set of trading cards. It’s immediately obvious that the cards themselves are less important than the relationships Griffy has with the people in the shop, and with the team. He’s found a place where he can be himself – whoever that turns out to be.

Corbin meanwhile, is working on keeping the shop afloat with his Twitch streams while searching for a way to infuse more of his love of the cards themselves, such as their design and history, into the work he is doing with Marc, who is driven almost completely by the quickly rising market in tradeable cards. Ragazzone’s Corbin is the sort of warm, low-key dude who can get along with just about everyone. This comes in handy with Razavi’s Marc, a slightly off-putting, self-important guy who has zeroed in on the monetary gains that rare trading cards can produce. Tannous’ Lex isn’t a fan of Marc, he loves the design and history of trading cards in general so much that he participates in the basketball cards mostly to have other people to talk to about them. After all, his favorite card is a Shirley Temple playing card from the 30’s – because it’s beautiful. However, it soon becomes clear that the other reason Lex is a regular is that he is secretly in love with Corbin. Tannous walks the delicate path of unrequited love beautifully here. He is wholly himself with Corbin but also keeping a secret so big from his best friend that you can practically see his seams bursting with it.

One day, Rhonda, Lex and Griffy open a pack of “commons” to discover a limited edition, high value card, “The Pilon.” The scene where it is unveiled is all kinds of boisterous glee and confusion, and sets the plot in motion, testing the individual relationships of each of the characters. I don’t want to go into the plot too deeply after that, because the twists, turns and surprises are so much fun to live through.

Stand out scenes include Kropp’s Rhonda offering encouragement and support to Levander’s Griffy. Rhonda has come by her wisdom the old-fashioned way, through hard experience, and she is passing it on to the generation after her, lifting young Griffy up, to make his road a little easier than hers was, when she herself came out as trans. Kropp does the same in a scene with Ragazzone, gently guiding him towards a truth he’s been avoiding. At some point in the story, she reminds each character that living ones’ truth is the best thing they can do for themselves, and for the people around them.

One aspect of the writing and acting in this production that really stood out for me is the ongoing, nuanced conversation around identity and belonging. Even to those of us who lean in a certain direction, discussions on the topic can often feel preachy. In The Pilon, identity is explored and a need for belonging is emphasized, but each character’s gender, sexuality and presentation is merely one aspect of who they are. Their identities are not what bring them together, it is their love of trading cards and community. It’s a beautiful way to engage the audience: we watch these characters make decisions, go on adventures and grow as people. They make mistakes, they try to do better and they love each other through it all.

The question of identity and what we do to fit in comes to a head when Griffy confronts someone important to him. It’s a conversation many have had with a loved one, albeit with different details, and it ends with a reminder that under those details, love remains – and love is what makes a home.

Highly Recommended!

Reviewed by Alina C. Hevia

Presented The Edge Off Broadway, 1133 W. Catalpa Ave.

October 25- November 23. Monday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday at 7:30 PM. Sundays at 3:00 PM

Tickets for The Pilon are $30.00 online at www.redtheater.org.

Additional information about this and other area productions can be found by visiting www.theatreinchicago.com.