CheekyChicago

What if you could see into the future and know everything that was going to happen to you?  What if you could then change that future you saw? Would you try to make life better for yourself and those you love? What if you then discovered that no matter how hard you tried, there really was nothing you could do to change it? Would you still want to know? Heavy stuff, huh? These big questions are all asked in Steppenwolf’s intelligent, world premiere production of A Parallelogram, written by Bruce Norris (The Pain and the Itch, The Unmentionables), and directed by Tony award-winning director Anna D. Shapiro (August Osage County).

A Parallelogram tells the story of a woman in her mid-30s named Bee (Steppenwolf Ensemble member Kate Arrington) who, after meeting a mysterious older woman (a show stealing turn by Marylouise Burke – I could have watched her forever) believes that she has the ability to know what happens to her in the future. As the play progresses, we travel back and forth through time with Bee as she tries to make sense of her new found knowledge as well as how her revelation of this ability affects her relationship with her older boyfriend Jay (the always brilliant Tom Irwin) and their Latino groundskeeper JJ (newcomer Tim Bickel).  Through clever set changes and some surprising theatre magic, we are able to see Bee replay moments in her life and try to change their outcome. She is convinced that she has control over her destiny and that she, by knowing the future, can change it. She soon finds out though, that maybe the future can’t be changed. Maybe what’s truly important is how you live your life as opposed to how your life ends up.

In the past several years, Steppenwolf has explored a different theme with each season of plays and this season’s theme is “Belief.” Each play that they chose touched on this theme in some way or another, and A Parallelogram is the prefect show to wrap up this season’s exploration. We have all heard stories of those who say they can know the future – psychics, soothsayers, even weathermen – but in the end, it is up to us to decide whether or not to believe them. This struggle between our desire to know what comes next in our lives and then deciding just what part of it we want to believe has been around for centuries. Even great scientists such as Freud and Einstein (whose theory of parallel time is the basis of Bee’s “time travel”) have believed in and studied the human capacity – or incapacity – to foresee their destinies. This play, though, brings some of these lofty themes down to the average human experience and explores not only the questions of whether looking into the future is possible, but also whether the future is even worth knowing at all?

No matter what you believe, this play will make you reexamine those beliefs as well as make you ponder some of life’s bigger questions. Thankfully, this is all done with a good dose of humor. A Parallelogram will have you laughing and thinking from beginning to end. Bruce Norris has created yet another delightful, thought provoking new piece of American Theatre and we are lucky to be living in the city where he chooses to share it.