Chicago Critic

The Nowhere People

By Gabriella Bonamici

Directed by Kimberly Senior

Roller Coaster

By Gixiang Lee

Directed by Edward Torres

deliver me from evil

By Kat Blackburn

Directed by Ilesa Duncan

At Pegasus Players

Now in their 24th year, Pegasus Players has nurtured hundreds of high school playwrights culminating with productions of the best plays. The 2010 finalists feature rich, complex and mature works all written by young women. These teen writers have found subjects other than teen angst that has dominated the YPF for many years. The three writers: Gabriella Bonamici, Gixaing Lee and Kat Blackburn have demonstrated insight and talent for storytelling beyond their years.

The Nowhere People

by Gabriella Bonamici

We meet Ernie (Benjamin Sprunger) who have just moved into a new apartment following the death of his wife. His next door neighbor, Danny (Alice Wedoff) is obsessed with building a machine to catch the ghosts living in her pantry and send them back to the other world. We witness Ernie getting catch up in her quest as he also has motivation to want to communicate with the other side. Syd (Michael Gonring) is the landlord bent on keeping Ernie sane.   This smart and quirky one-act is engaging and eerie.

Roller Coaster

By Gixiang Lee

This is a funny comedy that uses classic comic styles to render an hilarious situations with well-paced build up that as tow teens end up stuck at the top of a rollercoaster. Effie (Rinska Carrasco) and Milo (Michael Gonring) are the most unlikely teens that find themselves in a topsy-turvy battle of wits ae they discover they have more in common than they ever imagined. Again, a clever and funny play emerges as Gonring and the rollercoaster employee were terrific.  This is a funny plat.

deliver me from evil

By Kat Blackburn

This is a stylized, poetic fever-dream journey that finds Magdelina (terrific work by Alice Wedoff) struggling with her therapist (Gilmary Doyle) to comes to terms with child abuse by Magedelina’s mother. This riveting glimpse into the inter world of a emotional minefield rife with self-injury (cutting), sexual orientation and abuse.  Kat Blackburn’s writing and director Ilesa Duncan’s surreal staging gave this poignant play deepth.

These three teen writers sure are promising talents with sophisticated storytelling ideas filled with unique fresh voices. Let’s hope that they keep developing because they are off to a fine start. These three plays are excellent.

Recommended

Tom Williams

Date Reviewed: January 11, 2010

This review also posted on http://mytheaterclub.com/articles.php

At Pegasus Players, 1145 W. Wilson Avenue in the O’Rourke Center at Truman College, Chicago, IL, tickets $15 with student and senior discounts, Fridays & Saturdays at 8 pm, Sundays at 3 pm, running time is 2 hours, 20 minutes with intermission, through January 31, 2010