Playwright: Vanessa Stalling; Original book: Laurence Gonzales. At: The House Theatre of Chicago at Chopin Theatre, 1543 W. Division St. Tickets: 773-769-3832 or www.thehousetheatre.com; $30-$35
Runs through: May 1
Don't be surprised if you find yourself sobbing through The House Theatre of Chicago's world premiere of United Flight 232. Vanessa Stalling's stage adaptation of Laurence Gonzales' acclaimed book of the same name is a deeply moving and theatrical rumination on life and mortality.
United Flight 232 consists of select interviews with passengers and the crew of the DC-10 that crashed landed in Sioux City, Iowa, on July 19, 1989. The Denver-to-Chicago flight, with 296 people aboard, was paralyzed midair—and defied expectations when 184 people survived the disaster.
Stalling, who also gracefully directs the harrowing production, smartly deploying simple diagrams early on by projection designer Paul Deziel to lay out the framework of the plane and how it ended up breaking into five piece upon impact. With those particulars revealed upfront, the focus rightly turns to Stalling's superb company of nine actors who share the thoughts of those aboard and in the aftermath.
Dressed in airline-inspired shades of navy and sky blue ( a great uniform decision by costume designer Delia Ridenour ), many of the actors switch easily into multiple roles. They range from perplexed pilots and engineers played by Johnny Arena, Rudy Galvan, Kroydell Galima and James Doherty, to frightened and heroic passengers played by Elana Elyce and Michael E. Martin.
The exceptions to taking on multiple parts are Echaka Agba, Alice da Cunha and Brenda Barrie, who each respectively and powerfully play the noble flight attendants Susan White, Jan Murray and chief flight attendant Jan Brown. These three get right to the heart of their characters' duty of keeping calm and relating all of their training to the passengers under their watch. Contemplating how these three maintained such calm demeanors under such tremendous pressure is truly inspiring.
Stalling and the rest of her design team also create a perfectly contained yet airy environment for the production. By placing the audience on two sides facing each other and the central playing area, set designer John Musial makes sure that everyone feels in on the action with no escape. The unsettling work of composer and sound designer Steve Labedz and lighting designer William Kirkham are also simply top-notch.
Some might be scared off by seeing United Flight 232 due to its frightening subject matter and the inherent sadness of recounting so many tragic deaths. But I would counter that United Flight 232 is truly a rewarding experience that prods you to imagine yourself in that situation and to reevaluate your connections to friends and loved ones.
Everything in United Flight 232 is eminently relatable if you've ever taken a commercial flight. But it's the heart-wrenching fears and emotions brought forth by Stalling's powerful performers and design team that will haunt and linger.
