Chicago playwright John David Westby’s drama, receiving its world premiere at Wing & Groove Theatre, tries to deal with sensationalistic media frenzies surrounding tragedies.
Westby crafts a clumsy drama about a TV station’s scheme to boost its ratings by broadcasting interviews connected to the execution-style killings of four employees at a suburban diner.
The first half leads audiences down the “media circus” path, with two rival newscasters vacillating between ethics and ambition. They are trying to land “compelling” footage of the diner owner’s seemingly distraught daughter Julie, who has resurfaced after 10 years of estrangement from her family.
But when audiences return for the second act, they might think they’ve stepped into the wrong theater. Westby gives us a very different play, which revolves almost exclusively around the weeks leading up to the diner employees’ deaths. Director Jeremy Reynolds’consists mainly of tenuous or overwrought performances and a monotonous parade of scenes, blackouts and TV static. Only Marge Uhlarik as a pothead-turned-waitress and Deborah Leydig as Chris, the anchorwoman with a conscience, endow their roles with truth and dramatic integrity.
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“Person or Persons Unknown” plays the Wing & Groove Theatre, 1935 1/2 North Ave., through Sep. 29. Box office: 773-782-9416. Tickets: $12-$15.
