Exit 63 Theatre Presents TREEFALL Review

The Post-Nuclear Nuclear Family

August (Shea Petersen) plays the mother, engaged in the Sisyphean task of cleaning their papered-over shack. This isn’t a role he is thrilled with; it was delegated to him by Flynn (Andrew Garcia), who plays the father. As such, Flynn’s in charge and reads a coupon booklet for a no-longer-extant-store while August ladles out canned tomatoes. Craig (Matt Schutz), who plays the role of son, is closer in adolescence to boyhood than manhood and delights in being a free-spirited brat. He is too young to remember almost anything from the time before the catastrophe, but he is the most interested in reconstructing culture from Shakespeare to Superman. He doesn’t have a firm grasp on what was real and what wasn’t, but apparently neither do Flynn and August, who seem to have built their household on hazy memories of sitcoms and Flynn’s idealization of his mother, who left them in this relatively safe spot.

Tensions are high at the best of times. It’s stiflingly hot; there’s so little atmosphere that even a small bit of sunlight breaking through the roof constitutes a full-blown emergency. Flynn chooses to interpret August’s deep-seated dislike for Craig as playful banter but the velvet glove around his iron fist is fraying. The trees that hide their cabin from savages are dying and the ghost town they’ve been salvaging from won’t last forever. Ritualistic reminisces of the old world are their only joy, but one night, Flynn and August encounter something they had never given much consideration to: a girl. Bug (Kirra Silver) is fleeing an even worse situation and, following a mutually suspicious first encounter, agrees to stay for a short while. Her entirely benevolent presence pushes the group into crisis.

Canny Young Actors

In only ninety minutes, the four actors provide vivid impressions of their characters and relationships. Andrew Garcia’s Flynn is a solid, charismatic guy; he radiates paternalistic love and has a deep bond with Craig. But for all his naiveite, he’s tapped into paternalism’s brutal subtext, particularly in his trial-and-error approach to reinventing sexual ethics. We get the sense from Shea Petersen that August likes him, but does not like being his wife and does not share his and Craig’s idealism. Petersen’s interactions with Silver are the only moments in the play where the kids are allowed to be kids, and they’re a delight to watch. It’s easy to see why he’s so smitten with her, but also why she’s so wary of him. Having interacted with other people, Bug has developed an emotional perception the boys lack, which Silver reminds us of through glances and slight changes in her mouth. Schutz’s Craig is indeed annoying, but he has several interesting solo scenes in which he demonstrates a skill at puppetry as well as Craig’s pensiveness, loneliness, and impressionability.

Exit 63's Production Aided by Standout Stagecraft and Direction

Perhaps the most distinctive decision by director Connor Baty and assistant director Nora Lise Ulrey is the pre-show dumb show (a tradition borrowed from Exit 63 Theatre’s home, Trap Door), in which we see the boys’ normal routine. It certainly colored this reviewer’s perception of their interactions and how their family held together for as long as it did, as did the excellent stagecraft. Set designer Jeff Simpson has done an outstanding job of creating a den for the boys to shelter in. You can almost smell it, along with the costumes by Bailey Castle. Sound designer Teddy Gales supplies a few incredibly hair-raising effects, as does violence designer Bill Gordon. Environmental abandonment, and the abandonment of people that entails, is a major theme of Treefall, but the focus is on the characters.

The company recommends the play for mature audiences and it has some brutal moments. But theatre fans of post-apocalyptic dystopias as well as absurdist role-playing will find a lot to like about it.

Highly Recommended

Note: This is now added to the Picture this Post round up of BEST PLAYS IN CHICAGO, where it will remain until the end of the run. Click here to read – Top Picks for Theater in Chicago NOW – Chicago Plays PICTURE THIS POST Loves.

About the Author: Jacob Davis

Jacob Davis has lived in Chicago since 2014 when he started writing articles about theatre, opera, and dance for a number of review websites. He is a graduate of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign’s Department of Theatre, where he specialized in the history of modernist dramatic literature and criticism. While there, he interned as a dramaturge for Dance Heginbotham developing concepts for new dance pieces. His professional work includes developing the original jazz performance piece The Blues Ain’t a Color with Denise LaGrassa, which played at Theater Wit. He has also written promotional materials for theatre companies including Silk Road Rising.

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