CHICAGO—Profiles Theatre opened its 20th season with Jason Wells’s comedy-drama Men of Tortuga, directed by Steppenwolf’s Rick Snyder, who utilizes the very small space at Profile perfectly.
First seen as part of its “First Look Series” at Steppenwolf Theatre in 2005 and now receiving a full fledged production, the mysterious story takes place in an undisclosed location—a board room—and concerns an enigmatic plan—about elimination of the opposition, although we never know exactly who the opposition is or why they must be destroyed. The characters plan, negotiate, conspire, and even talk about assassination.
Three power brokers, Kit Maxwell (a very strong portrayal by Jack McCabe), Jeff Kling (Todd Lahrman), and Tom Avery (Fred A Wellisch as the nerd of the trio, who, as the play progresses, turns out to be much more important than we would think) bring in a specialist to take out their opposition at a meeting with an elite political enemy.
The specialist, weapons’ expert Taggart (Darrell W. Cox), has a plan that he feels is iron clad but insists that they be open to taking out more than just this one person. Cox handles this outlandish character with great comic touch, and at the same time makes him a man to fear.
The other character in the play, Allan Fletcher (Eric Burgher), is a young idealist who wants to offer a compromise program to whatever it is that is going on, and after he meets with Kit Maxwell, changes the direction of the well planned assassination.
Plans change, and new plans are discussed—some outlandish, and while the topic may be of a serious nature, many funny moments take place in this almost two hours (no intermission) of clever scenes.
The set designed by Wayne Karl uses two doors of this small theater to enter and leave the board room—Profiles has seating on both sides of the stage so the 60 or so patrons can see each other viewing the play. This design allows the audience to feel that we are in the room, eavesdropping on these plots.
Jessica Harpenau’s lighting effects work well, and Eric Burgher’s sound design has just the right touch in music to add a little more mystery to the play.
The sense of urgency and need of the main characters, well acted and well directed, makes this all work. Though we never know for certain the who, what, or why, of the plan, we do know that whether this event involves politics or big business, these kinds of meetings take place.
Men Of Tortuga
Profiles Theatre
4147 N. Broadway, Chicago
Tickets: 773-549-1815 or online at www.profilestheatre.org
Closes: Dec. 7
Alan Bresloff writes about theater in the Chicago area.
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