David Girolmo and Maggie Graham in Talley's Folly. Photo by Jessie Affelder_______
Playwright: Claudia Allen, adapted from the novel by Stuart Dybek
At: Victory Gardens Biograph, 2433 N. Lincoln
Phone: 773-871-3000; $20-$45
Runs through: July 15
BY MARY SHEN BARNIDGE
The stories might not be overtly autobiographical—though passing references to 'the kid who writes' usually make an appearance. But sooner or later, every author confronts the circumstances that led him to his calling. Stuart Dybek has forged a career on his recollections of growing up in the Chicago district formerly known as South Lawndale, but now known as Little Village.
Initially settled by Eastern European immigrants who found work in the factories, this closely-knit ethnic enclave found its insularity eroding over the 1950s and '60s under the influence of more recent arrivals—Italians, African Americans and the Mexicans who would eventually dominate the area. The tensions engendered by intercultural clashes during these volatile years provide the underlying theme for Dybek's accounts of growing up in a society undergoing transformation.
I Sailed With Magellan, then, is a group picture rather than an individual portrait. The dramatic narrative in Claudia Allen's adaptation of Dybek's short stories may focus on the Katzek family—father 'Sir;' mother 'Moms;' and sons Perry and Mick, whose make-believe voyages give the play its title. But surrounding them is a community of vividly-drawn kinsmen: Uncle Lefty, the Korean war-scarred veteran wandering in a haze of alcohol and music; Mr. Zip, the one-armed proprietor of the Zip Inn tavern, survivor of another war; and Teo, a dissipated Mexican wrestler who rises to the defense of his chosen comrades.
In this environment, childhood adventures unthinkable today proliferate, whether it is dashing through traffic to retrieve abandoned car parts for resale at the Maxwell Street Market or stealing flowers from the Baha'i temple in the faraway north side kingdom of Evanston. There is also necking by the lake only to be interrupted by police trawling for a drowned corpse and, later, living the boho life in an SRO with a hipster girlfriend who wears red undies.
Absorbing this sprawling collage of richly-detailed images in one sitting is no easy task, especially when its 50 or more roles are played by an ensemble of only nine actors, making for moments on opening night lost to necessary reorientation. But from the melange of affectionate and embittered memories, a number of linear narratives surface to etch themselves indelibly into our consciousness. Anchoring the action is Marc Grapey playing the fiercely—and sometimes absurdly—protective Sir, flanked by Bubba Weiler and Josh Akerlow as his irrepressible offspring, and Justin Cholewa as the adolescent scribbler destined to become the chronicler of a world now gone forever.