After several years with no contact, two brothers are reunited in the stinking kitchen of their decrepit childhood home. Bob, a sociopathic slob, is currently standing trial, while his older brother Jack seems successful and disciplined. Both are nursing personal demons and one holds the sobering truth behind their haunted upbringing. With echoes of Shepard’s True West, this modern tale of two estranged brothers uses poetic imagery and razor-sharp dialogue to drive home it’s dramatic conclusion.
Praise
“… its itchy, chaotic energy spills out of the tiny, dilapidated kitchen set with overwhelming force, giving the show a bracing immediacy. Actors Tony Bozzuto and Jason Huysman, operating in perfect synch, find exquisite humor and pathos in the script’s unsparing desperation.”
January 1st, 1970
Backstage Theatre Company tackles this mostly brilliant John Kolvenbach play–about two estranged, hard-drinking brothers reuniting in their squalid boyhood home as their lives disintegrate–just nine months after Route 66 Theater Company tore the stuffing out of it. Director Matthew Reeder’s production may lack the precision of its predecessor, but its itchy, chaotic energy spills out of the tiny, dilapidated kitchen set with overwhelming force, giving the show a bracing immediacy. Actors Tony Bozzuto and Jason Huysman, operating in perfect synch, find exquisite humor and pathos in the script’s unsparing desperation. If only sound designer Tom Haigh would stop wedging deep, rumbling pulses under several of their more intense moments; actors this accomplished don’t need gimmicky sound effects to deliver knockout punches.
- Justin Hayford, Chicago Reader
- Justin Hayford, Chicago Reader (Read the full review)
“Under Reeder’s tightly paced direction (and on Heath Hays’s masterfully mangy set), these terrifically compelling performers manage to convince us that the most extreme, unnatural behavior makes instinctual sense.”
January 1st, 1970
It’s near-impossible to avoid invoking Sam Shepard when considering Kolvenbach’s True West–ern. By reuniting estranged adult brothers in the family kitchen, one seemingly straitlaced, the other a bit unhinged, Kolvenbach’s 2002 play seems to invite the reference. The kitchen here, unlike Shepard’s, belongs not to the boys’ mother but to their father, who abandoned them as children, leaving teenaged Jack to care for wee Robert. (Mom, or moms, go oddly unmentioned.) The opening has Jack returning many years later to find Bob living in filth, the decrepit house strewn with newspapers, empty beers and SpaghettiO’s cans. Bob, whose connection to reality appears tenuous at best, mentions almost casually that he may currently be on trial. To say much more would give away the rather hard-to-swallow twists on which Average Day relies. Despite the writerly contrivances—and Kolvenbach’s plot-level indulgences are somewhat leavened by his incisive skill with dialogue—it’s easy to see why actors would want to sink their teeth into this chewy setup. Bozzuto (in the showier turn as the sociopath) and Huysman (whose underwritten role requires more invention on his part) do the play better justice than it probably deserves. Under Reeder’s tightly paced direction (and on Heath Hays’s masterfully mangy set), these terrifically compelling performers manage to convince us that the most extreme, unnatural behavior makes instinctual sense. And hey, what do you know, there’s that Shepard echo again.
- Kris Vire, Time Out Chicago
- Kris Vire, Time Out Chicago (Read the full review)
“Two parts Shepard, one-part Mamet, On an Average Day is the kind of small, loud play that works best when pummeled to the ground in classic storefront fashion. This is deep-dish, no-bull, push-it-’til-it-hurts theater and as is often the case with these types of shows, everything boils down to the performances.… Tony Bozzuto and Jason Huysman both tear into the script with a firm eye on the prize.… The show gets a major bump in verisimilitude thanks to a realistically disgusting kitchen from scenic designer Heath Hays and props designer Megan E. Frei.”
January 1st, 1970
The house is trashed, there’s a terrible odor emanating from the fridge, and apparently the shower just started working after years of faulty plumbing. In the middle of this mess, a pair of estranged brothers wrestle it out, both literally and figuratively, tackling old demons and new. Two parts Shepard, one-part Mamet, “On an Average Day” is the kind of small, loud play that works best when pummeled to the ground in classic storefront fashion. This is deep-dish, no-bull, push-it-’til-it-hurts theater and as is often the case with these types of shows, everything boils down to the performances. How raw is the cast willing to get — and will an audience buy it? Playwright John Kolvenbach’s fraternal fracas may be rote in structure and narrative payoff, but it does offer certain pleasures — specifically, intense emoting coupled with stage combat that sends actors careening into one another, and nearly into your lap. I’d say director Matthew Reeder’s production for Backstage Theatre gets it mostly right, despite the occasionally logy pacing. As the outward screw-up and inward screw-up respectively, Tony Bozzuto and Jason Huysman both tear into the script with a firm eye on the prize, spitting out bits of scenery between tugs off a bottle of cheap bourbon. The show gets a major bump in verisimilitude thanks to a realistically disgusting kitchen from scenic designer Heath Hays and props designer Megan E. Frei. You can’t actually smell what’s stinking up that refrigerator, but the mere sight of it — smeared with something unidentifiable — is enough.
- Nina Metz, Chicago Tribune
- Nina Metz, Chicago Tribune (Read the full review)
Non-Equity Jeff Award Nomination: Tony Bozzuto, Actor in a Principal Role – Play
Non-Equity Jeff Award Nomination: Heath Hays, Scenic Design
Non-Equity Jeff Award Nomination: Geoff Coates, Fight Choreography
- Joseph Jefferson Award Committee
Cast & Crew
Matthew Reeder
Director
Lindsey Miller
Stage Manager
Lindsey Miller became BackStage's newest Ensemble member in May 2009. She has stage managed BackStage's On An Average Day, The Memory of Water, Waiting for Lefty, and Bloody Bess: A Tale of Piracy and Revenge. Other Chicago credits include The Bay at Nice (Vitalist Theatre), Stone Cold Dead Serious (Circle Theater; Jeff Nominated). Lindsey has also worked with Colorado Shakespeare Festival, Illinois Shakespeare Festival, The Road Company, and CLIMB Theatre.
Geoff Coates
Violence Director
Megan E. Frei
Props Designer
Hailing from the 'burbs of Detroit, Megan received a degree in Music Education from Central Michigan University while performing and working in the University Music and Theatre Departments, Highlands Playhouse (NC), and Vision Studio of Performing Arts (MI). Following, she served as Director of Vision for four fabulous years, began working as a freelance artist, and made her move to Chicago in 2004. Megan is an in-demand teacher and director for a plethora of activities–voice, piano, acting, dance, musical theatre. She also performs in various genres, settings and groups. Favorite artistic experiences: an intimate master class with the Ann Reinking; as CONNIE in Good News, directed by acclaimed August W. Staub; as BEBE in A Chorus Line, directed/choreographed by Emmy-award winning Linda Talcott-Lee; ZOMBIES FROM THE BEYOND! BSTC credits: Terra Nova (Flag Designer, Costumes), Anton in Show Business (CostumeDesigner), Denise Druczweski's Inferno (Assistant Director, Stage Manager/Board Operator), The Skin of Our Teeth (Production Manager, Co-Sound Designer,Co-Music Director, and MUSE), The Ruling Class (Music Director, Choreographer), Zombies from the Beyond (Director/Choreographer), On An Average Day (Props Designer); BSTC 2005–2006 and 2006–2007 seasons (Associate Artistic Director).
Heath Hays
Scenic Designer
Heath is a BackStage Ensemble member, where he has designed set for On An Average Day, The Memory of Water, Beauty on the Vine, Bloody Bess and Zombies from the Beyond as well as the Jeff-recommended shows Waiting for Lefty and Medea. He also designed sound for BackStage's The Ruling Class and Seanachi Theatre's drama Whistle in the Dark. He designed set for Infamous Conmmonwealth Theatre's Keely and Du, GreyZelda's Jeff-recommended production of A View From The Bridge as well as their Desire Under the Elms, and Hell in a Handbag's Caged Dames. Heath has also worked for Grounded Theatre, Arena Dinner Theatre, and Village Players.
Jessica Kuehnau
Costume Designer
Recent Backstage Theatre include co-scenic design for Orange Flower Water, and costume design for On An Average Day last spring. As a recent graduate of Northwestern University, Jessica received her MFA in both set and costume design. Her Chicago credits include Rivendell Theatre (Jeff recommended These Shining Lives), Building Stage (Dracula), Pegasus Players (Ten Square, Jitney), and Steep Theatre (Parlour Song). She has also designed several productions with Adventure Stage Chicago (ensemble member), Griffin Theatre, Lifeline Theatre, MPAACT, and Metropolis Performing Arts Center. Jessica is currently the resident set designer and design professor at North Park University and full time teaching faculty at Northeastern Illinois University.
Brandon Wardell
Lighting Designer
Brandon Wardell is a freelance Lighting and Scenic Designer in Chicago. He earned his MFA from Northwestern University, teaches at several Universities, and is an Ensemble Member at Adventure Stage Chicago. Recent lighting credits include Mrs. Caliban (LifeLine) Aunt Dan and Lemon (BSTC), The Hollow Lands (Steep), On An Average Day (BSTC), The Arab-Israeli Cookbook (Theatre Mir), John & Jen (Appletree), and The Robber Bridegroom (Griffin Theatre). Scenic Designs include Orange Flower Water (BSTC), Maria’s Field (TUTA), In Arabia We’d All Be Kings (Steep Theatre), Holes (Adventure Stage), Dracula (The Building Stage), and Be More Chill (Griffin Theatre). Teaching credits include Northwestern University, Columbia College Chicago, The University of Chicago, Illinois Wesleyan University, and North Park University. www.brandonwardelldesign.com
Jason Huysman - Jack
Tony Bozutto - Robert
Geoff Coates - Violence Director
Tom Haigh - Sound Designer
