Smells Like Teen Spirit

Adolescent Salvation

Theatergoers will enter the venue by walking through a closet filled with clothing from over the years. Then the audience walks into Natasha’s bedroom, a shy, lonely 15-year-old teenager. The space is dominated by a bed, but it’s also chock-full of other furniture and an accumulation of personal affects. The setting seems to say, “This place smells like teen spirit,” to quote the popular song by American rock band, Nirvana. The room nicely prepares the audience for a drama that, like Cobain’s lyrics, sports more than a few contradictory ideas. Tim Venable’s powerful play focuses on some young characters whose secrets are revealed reluctantly and sometimes incoherently. But, that’s often true with teenagers.  

In this immersive setting, beautifully designed and created with realistic, minute detail by Jonathan Berg-Einhorn, the audience takes their seats around the perimeter of the room. Theatergoers may find themselves hugging the furnishings or mere inches from the actors during the play. Guillermo Cienfuegos, the talented director at Rogue Machine Theatre in Los Angeles, where ADOLESCENT SALVATION premiered last year, returns to Chicago as guest director at Theater Wit. He has not only cast his production with a great eye and ear for the right actors, but he’s staged his production with empathy and excitement. 

Tim Venable has crafted a succinct, 90-minute contemporary story that’s both specific concerning these five characters, while also shedding light on what makes most young people tick. This dark, often funny and ultimately disturbing play begins with two friends, both ironically named Taylor, trying to enjoy their sleepover at the home of one of their peers. Natasha (in a very impressive, star-making performance by Piper Jean Bailey), who, compared to her guests, seems shy, much more innocent and not at all adventurous. Taylor (portrayed with an overload of sass and sarcasm by lovely, talented Jordan Levene) has been told by her mother that she should spend the night at Natasha’s house. Victoria (in an honest, layered performance by Maura Kidwell), Natasha’s fun-loving, booze-swilling mom, has planned a hot, flirtatious night for the two adults at the local watering hole. Taylor, and her gay best friend, also named Taylor (played with teenage savvy and empathetic sweetness by Brandon Acosta), decide to liven up an otherwise boring evening by drinking tequila and playing truth or dare.

What begins as an innocent night of Taylor Swift and Patti Smith songs, texting with other friends and gossiping about mutual high school acquaintances, suddenly turns dark, dangerous and distressing. Their little game eventually reveals an ominous and upsetting piece of information that will soon result in tragic consequences. And, like every good story, Tim Venable’s comedy turned tension-filled drama has the audience constantly wondering, “What’s going to happen next?” And long after we leave the theater, beyond the final scene of the play, theatergoers will keep pondering what they’ve just seen and what the outcome will be in the long run.

In addition to a smoothly staged and guided production by Guillermo Cienfuegos, and a magnificently gifted cast telling Tim Venable’s provocative story, additional acknowledgement of terrific technical artistry must be mentioned. Ellie Fey’s incredible lighting design, Daniella Brown’s subtle sound design and, in particular, Annamae Durham’s specific and meticulously chosen stage props, all contribute to making this production live. And, both Kate Booth’s expert fight direction and Sarah Scanlon’s realistic intimacy supervision add much to the authenticity of the story.

Theater Wit’s mission is to present “smart art” in Chicago by offering excellence in plays that are humorous, challenging and intelligent. This Chicago premiere, by brilliant playwright Tim Venable, speaks with a contemporary voice and picks at the facade around a teenager’s innocence, need and vulnerability. Theatergoers need to be warned that, while this is an excellent production of a most thought-provoking play, it’s a very adult drama. The play begins with humor and unexpected laughs, but ends in horror, a loss of innocence for several of the characters and totally smells like teen spirit. But it’s an experience not to be missed.             

Highly Recommended

Reviewed by Colin Douglas

Presented August 14-October 3 by Theater Wit, 1229 W. Belmont Ave.

Tickets are available in person at the box office, by going to www.theaterwit.org or by calling 773-975-8150.

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

Photos by Boris Martin