'Vivian Girls' is an inspiring adventure; 'Elephant' mini-fest feels truncated

Most of the work created by Chicago's most famous outsider artist resides now at the American Folk Art Museum in New York, but Henry Darger's world comes to three-dimensional life in Dog & Pony Theatre Company's inspired environmental performance piece, "As Told by the Vivian Girls." Using nearly the entire building at Theater on the Lake, Devon de Mayo's "devised play" avoids the traps of straightforward docudrama—a form that would ill-serve Darger's story, given that most of the reclusive janitor's life was spent, as the title of his 15,000-plus page opus puts it, "In the Realms of the Unreal."

Darger illustrated his novel about the Vivian Girls, a group of pious sisters who lead a revolt against the evil enslaving soldiers of Glandelinia, with fantastical drawings. Intuit Gallery on North Milwaukee Avenue hosts an exhibit of Darger's work through June 28, but de Mayo and her associates fully capture the rawness, tenderness, cruelty and naive beauty of his art. Vanessa Conway's inspired set brings out all the dimensions of Darger's favorite backdrops: flowers, clouds and the suggestion of sweeping, foreboding plains. Catherine Tantillo's and Erin Fast's costumes add color and texture, particularly their garb for the "Blengigomeneans," dragonlike creatures who aid the Vivian Girls (and who roam an upstairs lair filled with shredded newspapers).

This is a "choose your own adventure" approach to theater. Each patron (the space can hold up to 350) is given a paper mask that looks like a Vivian girl. A stern nun (Nick Leininger) takes the group into a classroom and provides a thumbnail overview of Darger's life, as well as the basic rules of the evening, which boil down to "go anywhere, but don't touch any props or set pieces." From there, for the next 80 minutes, you can wander at will through the various tableaux upstairs and downstairs—from the vast open space representing the fields of Glandelinia where the girls labor (and later do battle), to a small "house" representing the Lincoln Park studio apartment where Darger (Gregory Hardigan) stashed his found-object treasures and labored over his imaginary universe. The story of the revolt unfolds gradually, and the shouts that echo through the cavernous space let you know where the key moments are taking place.

The abuse of children was always front and center in Darger's work, and this show doesn't shy away from it (in fact, if you have any psychological triggers around child abuse, it might be best to stay away). By turns obscure, charming, terrifying, naifish, brutal and mesmerizing, "As Told By the Vivian Girls" might be one of the more challenging and fascinating evenings in Chicago theater right now.

Through May 25 at Theater on the Lake, 2401 N. Lake Shore Drive. Tickets are $20 (pay what you can on Wednesday and Thursday) at 773-360-7933 or www.dogandponychicago.org.



Curious Theatre Branch has always celebrated the outsider during its 20-year history, and the company's newest production, "The Other Side of the Elephant," is no exception. Nine ensemble members wrote each of the short works that make up this current mini-festival of new work (three are presented each night). On the evening I attended, pieces by Matthew Wilson ("Poor Guy"), Beau O'Reilly ("One Boppa") and Scott T. Barsotti ("Capital O") were on display. All feel a bit truncated, like sketches for potentially longer pieces, but each touched in some way on the struggle for connection and identity in an increasingly confusing world. O'Reilly's piece places three half-sisters in a cafe for a good old-fashioned family chinwag about grievances and differing perceptions about the "Boppa" who fathered them. It ends rather abruptly, but the performers (Kat McJimsey, Kathleen Powers, and Teresa Weed) skillfully tease out the tensions and affections underlying the sibling rivalries.

Wilson's piece feels a bit like an early Eric Bogosian monologue, in which a swaggering fellow at a party brags about his life, which of course is nowhere near as grand as his pronouncements would indicate. Barsotti ends the evening with a piece vaguely reminiscent of Samuel Beckett's "Eh Joe," in which a silent male onstage is goaded by a female voice on tape. Part meditation on the isolating effects of the Internet age, part send-up of the pop philosophers who lament such isolation, the piece contains several clever insights, but felt a tad airless and essayistic. Other evenings in the show feature work by longtime Curious stalwarts such as Bryn Magnus, Jenny Magnus and Shawn Reddy.

Through June 8 at Prop Thtr, 3502 N. Elston Ave. Tickets $15 or pay what you can at 773-508-0666.

onthetown@tribune.com

Related topic galleries: Samuel Beckett, Lincoln Park, Eric Bogosian, Employees, Lake Shore Drive

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