“Is this a show that we can even review?” asked Gwen.
Eleanor considered the question, more for wording than for content. “‘Review’ is a strong word,” she finally spoke. “We usually just discuss. You’re not scheduled to formally review this one, right?”
“No, they sent a different critic,” Gwen replied. “I only mean…”
“But how did the cat get into her bag?” asked Eleanor,
“I don’t know,” said Dania, standing to put her coat back on. “Does it matter?”
“Not really,” Eleanor shrugged. The logic behind the reappearance of the cat didn’t particularly matter –– Maggie Lee’s play wore its heart proudly on its sleeve, to the point that the moral destinations were more satisfying than the narrative journeys that preceded them. “How the cat got there isn’t as important as the fact that it was found,” Eleanor summed up.
The author wishes to disclose that they will be directing for Underscore’s upcoming Chicago Musical Theatre Festival. However, they have had no involvement in the production of Proxy.
“So it’s based on the Slenderman stabbing, right?”
Gwen gave a non-committal shrug. “They never outright say that. It could be any attack between two kids.”
“But they talk about the faceless man and everything,” Eleanor added. “The painting Ronnie shows off definitely looks just like him.”
“I was convinced he was going to show up outside the door at some point,” said Dania. “Like, if you keep setting up that the door can open magically, you throw that haze in the second time it happens…I mean, maybe it’s just me wanting spectacle…”
“It had to get dramatic, didn’t it?”
“Was it not already?” asked Eleanor, as they walked carefully across the astroturf lining the ground in the Berger Park Coach House. The space, a tight blackbox in the center of a park on the edge of Lake Michigan, felt tightly cramped when oriented in a traditional proscenium setting.
“Well, yeah, it was, but I had hope it would stay upbeat about it,” Dania mused. “It wasn’t like Batu, last year. That was dramatic the whole way through. This one felt like it suddenly decided to be a drama halfwa––”
The Hanslick Girls 