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Chicago Tribune
01-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Chicago Tribune
Review: Celine Song's weird and morbid ‘Tom & Eliza' has its Chicago premiere at TUTA Theatre
A librarian who develops an obsessive habit of burning books. A historian who loses his memory and begins to believe he's an oyster. With this odd couple as its title characters, Celine Song's 'Tom & Eliza,' now playing at TUTA Theatre, is a dark, sometimes absurd portrait of unraveling. In just over an hour, we witness the breakdown of one relationship, two individual minds and an entire society. Song, a Korean Canadian playwright and filmmaker, is best known for writing and directing the 2023 film 'Past Lives,' which was nominated for Academy Awards for best picture and best original screenplay. With this directorial debut and her recent sophomore film, 'Materialists,' she is developing a reputation for nuanced reinterpretations of the romantic drama and rom-com genres. While 'Tom & Eliza' also centers on a romantic relationship, it's more eccentric and experimental than Song's budding film canon. Nearly a decade after it premiered in New York, TUTA co-artistic director Aileen Wen McGroddy stages the play's Chicago premiere with Clifton Frei and Seoyoung Park starring in this two-hander. With striking design work and deft delivery of the play's unconventional dialogue, TUTA's production offers an intriguing yet confounding experience that puts up literal and figurative barriers between characters and audience. The play opens with Frei and Park perched on stools in the center of Tatiana Kahvegian's deceptively simple set, a black light box with a transparent scrim forming a visible fourth wall. The off-white costumes (also designed by Kahvegian) reflect the harsh uplighting by Keith Parham, and the combined effect makes Tom and Eliza seem like specimens in a museum display, allowing the audience to peer into their messy lives. Despite this visual sense of exposure and the confessional style of Song's writing, Tom and Eliza remain enigmatic. They begin by narrating their third date, and already, the play is concerned with existential questions. Tom muses, in graphic detail, about his parents' actions that led to his conception, birth and growing up to enter this particular restaurant on this particular date. Later, he is both baffled and horrified by his and Eliza's children, whom he loves but finds somewhat alien. Song writes repetitive dialogue that the two characters volley back and forth, reinforcing and contradicting each other with simple syntax that could be mistaken for a children's storybook if not for its adult themes. Sometimes narrating different perspectives on the same events and sometimes splicing together two unrelated monologues, the actors direct most of their dialogue toward the house rather than each other. Park develops an especially strong rapport with the audience, her wry delivery belied by a mischievous twinkle in her eyes. Although they both reveal disturbing elements of their inner lives, I came away from this play feeling like I didn't fully understand these characters and their motivations. For Eliza, an innocent work assignment — disposing of books being phased out of her library's system — leads to an insatiable desire to burn books, an obsession that eventually engulfs her children and her community, with global consequences. Why would a librarian want to burn books, you might ask? Eliza never explains. They simply must be burnt, she says. Meanwhile, Tom has a quieter crisis, increasingly spending his days submerged in a bathtub and declaring in a singsong voice that he's a little oyster. Frankly, it's difficult to understand how this couple ever got together. There's little palpable chemistry between them from the start, and they only grow further apart as time goes on. While the limited character development is frustrating, the disconnect between these two lovers tracks with Song's interest in the unexpected consequences of mundane actions (also a theme of 'Past Lives'). Just as their parents' past decisions set into motion their own fates, a tryst behind a cheap pizza joint forever changes Tom and Eliza's lives. Though they may be as different as fire and water, their destructive paths run on parallel tracks from this point forward. One final note: Kahvegian and Parham's designs really pay off toward the end of the play, culminating in some delightfully atmospheric images. Last year, Kahvegian's scenic design for the Broadway adaptation of 'The Outsiders' earned her a Tony Award nomination, and it's a treat to see her work up close in one of Chicago's storefront theaters. If you like your plays a bit morbid and weird, 'Tom & Eliza' is worth a 'Tom & Eliza' (3 stars) When: Through Aug. 17 Where: TUTA Theatre, 4670 N. Manor Ave. Running time: 1 hour, 5 minutes Tickets: $20-$60 at
Chicago Tribune
25-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Chicago Tribune
At the Non-Equity Jeff Awards, Kokandy's ‘Into the Woods' is the big winner
The winners have been announced for the 51st annual Non-Equity Jeff Awards, with Kokandy Productions taking home five awards for 'Into the Woods.' Its production of the Sondheim musical in late 2024 won several big categories, including for best musical, ensemble, director and music direction, as well as for artistic specialization for orchestrations. Another leading winner was City Lit Theater, which won best play for 'August Wilson's Seven Guitars.' In the cast, Robert Howard was honored as best performer in a supporting role. (The Jeff Awards do not separate acting categories by gender.) City Lit also won a third award for costume design for 'Murder in the Cathedral.' Refracted Theatre also won three. In the play category, the coveted ensemble award went to TUTA Theatre for 'Attempts on Her Life.' Lead performance awards for a play went to Bide Akande for 'Rhinoceros' by Theatre Y and Jacqueline Grandt in 'The Totality of All Things' at Redtwist Theatre. For musicals, they went to Tyler Anthony Smith from 'Hedwig and the Angry Inch' at Haven Theatre and Colette Todd in 'A Little Night Music' at Theo Ubique Cabaret Theatre. Open Space Arts took home four awards in categories for short-run productions (or shows that had between 9 and 17 performances). The Theatre School at DePaul University won the 2025 Joseph Jefferson Special Award, according to an announcement from the Jeffs, honored for 'its 100-year legacy of training exceptional artists and its profound influence on the Chicago theater community.' A new Impresario Award honoring excellence in stage management went to Kyle Aschbrenner of Blank Theatre Company, and will be a part of both Equity and Non-Equity Jeffs going forward. The awards to 33 recipients across 25 categories were presented in a ceremony Monday night at the Harris Theater by the all-volunteer Joseph Jefferson Awards Committee. They recognized theater productions opening in 2024 by the Chicago area's non-union theaters. Some 138 artists in shows from 29 companies had been nominated. Winners of Non-Equity Jeff Awards for 2024 productions PRODUCTION OF A PLAY: 'August Wilson's Seven Guitars' – City Lit Theatre PRODUCTION OF A MUSICAL OR REVUE: 'Into the Woods' – Kokandy Productions ENSEMBLE OF A PLAY: 'Attempts on Her Life' – TUTA Theatre ENSEMBLE OF A MUSICAL OR REVUE: 'Into the Woods' – Kokandy Productions NEW WORK: Brynne Frauenhoffer – 'Pro-Am' – First Floor Theater Erik Gernand – 'The Totality of All Things' – Redtwist Theatre DIRECTOR OF A PLAY: Rebecca Willingham – 'Pro-Am' – First Floor Theater DIRECTOR OF A MUSICAL: Derek Van Barham – 'Into the Woods' – Kokandy Productions PERFORMER IN A PRINCIPAL ROLE (PLAY): Bide Akande (Berenger) – 'Rhinoceros' – Theatre Y Jacqueline Grandt (Judith) – 'The Totality of All Things' – Redtwist Theatre PERFORMER IN A PRINCIPAL ROLE (MUSICAL): Tyler Anthony Smith (Hedwig) – 'Hedwig and the Angry Inch' – Haven Theatre Colette Todd (Desiree Armfeldt) – 'A Little Night Music' – Theo Ubique Cabaret Theatre PERFORMER IN A SUPPORTING ROLE (PLAY): Jodi Gage (Actor 1) – 'Coronation' – Refracted Theatre Company Robert Howard (Hedley) – 'August Wilson's Seven Guitars' – City Lit Theater Company PERFORMER IN A SUPPORTING ROLE (MUSICAL): Alicia Berneche (Letitia Peabody Primrose) – 'On the Twentieth Century' – Blank Theatre Company Maya Rowe (Charlotte Malcolm) – 'A Little Night Music' – Theo Ubique Cabaret Theatre PRODUCTION (SHORT RUN): 'Cock' – Open Space Arts DIRECTOR (SHORT RUN): Michael D. Graham – 'Light Switch' – Open Space Arts PERFORMER IN A PRINCIPAL ROLE (SHORT RUN): Philip Andrew Monnett (Henry) – 'Light Switch' – Open Space Arts PERFORMER IN A SUPPORTING ROLE (SHORT RUN): Sonya Robinson (W) – 'Cock' – Open Space Arts ARTISTIC SPECIALIZATION (SHORT RUN): Diane Fairchild (lighting design) – 'Jacob Marley's Christmas Carol' – Lifeline Theatre SCENIC DESIGN: Marvin Tate – 'Rhinoceros' – Theatre Y COSTUME DESIGN: Patti Roeder – 'Murder in the Cathedral' – City Lit Theater Company SOUND DESIGN: Christopher Kriz – 'The Singularity Play' – Jackalope Theatre Company L.J. Luthringer – 'The Tempest' – Idle Muse Theatre Company LIGHTING DESIGN: Garrett Bell – 'Coronation' – Refracted Theatre Company PROJECTION DESIGN: Abboye Lawrence – 'Coronation' – Refracted Theatre Company MUSIC DIRECTION: Nick Sula – 'Into the Woods' – Kokandy Productions ARTISTIC SPECIALIZATION: Ariana Miles, Evelyn Ryan and Nick Sula (orchestrations) – 'Into the Woods' – Kokandy Productions
