Playwright: Marisa Wegrzyn. At: A Red Orchid Theatre, 1531 N. Wells St. Tickets: 312-943-8722; www.aredorchidtheatre.org; $25-$30. Runs through: May 20
Skeletons in the closet aren't the sleek, shiny Jolly Rogers of Halloween decorations and neo-romantic fiction. As television shows like CSI have made evident, secrets left to fester unseen tend to spread crippling contagion affecting everyone in the surrounding environment, conspirators and bystanders alike. Even a wholesome community like Baraboo, Wis.—site of a circus museum, neighbor to an outdoor amusement-park, a prestigious university and the state capitol—isn't safe from the creeping malaise of misanthropic impulses.
At first, the cadaver in Marisa Wegrzyn's small-town gothic armoire looks to be the mysterious disappearance of village butcher Valerie's husband, a year earlier. The widow's complacent acceptance of her spouse's absence leads her police-officer sister-in-law Gail to suspect foul play, especially after brother-in-law Donal returns home with LDS wife Sevenly and their six children. In the meantime, pharmacist daughter Midge's propensity for off-duty distribution of her wares guarantees a ready supply of mind-bending substances to escalate the menace invoked by Valerie's at-home assortment of cutlery and Gail's .44-automatic sidearm. Oh, and did I mention the half-gallon jug of animal blood in the refrigerator?
Never mistake a plate of red herrings for steak tartare, however. Wegrzyn repeatedly undermines the expectations of lazy playgoers anticipating a cheap-and-shivery thriller by constantly shifting our sympathies to expose a toxic social dynamic rife with resentment, mistrust, hypocrisy, prejudice and betrayal—a dystopia where the simplest question may conceal a threat sufficient to elicit contradictory answers from those unsure of the "correct" response. When the innocent are scapegoated by bullies whose own fears are expressed in a vindictive hostility devoid of compassion, who needs murder?
The psychological traction required to veer from sitcom farce (yes, there's a scene where an upstanding citizen turns meth-monster) to Grand Guignol melodrama without skidding out of control has become Red Orchid Theatre's stock-in-trade. Kirsten Fitzgerald and Natalie West, in a moose-and-squirrel turn as the squabbling Valerie and Gail, dominate an ensemble featuring Missi Davis as the slackerly Midge, HB Ward as the phlegmatic Donal, and returning Chicago expat Lara Phillips as the compliant Sevenly. Under the direction of Shade Murray, with assistance from Grant Sabin's deceptively cozy kitchen, they guide us on a tour through rural America paced to soothe—just before the ax falls.
