Steadstyle Chicago
	February 2010 Theatre Review by Joe Stead
	The Gimmick Alexis often wishes she were invisible.  Conditioned by her mother and society to believe that the world doesn't like big, fat black girls at all, her self-esteem is predicated on fitting a narrow-minded image of beauty.  The year was 1968, the world was going through a spin cycle of changes and childhood friends Alexis and Jimmy struggle to hold onto their Technicolor dreams in a world that only sees black and white.  Just as Lorraine Hansberry's seminal Younger family dreamed of a better life for themselves out of the South Side Chicago ghetto in "A Raisin in the Sun," so do the characters of Dael Orlandersmith's compelling one-act play "The Gimmick".  As those who caught "Stoop Stories" last season at the Goodman know, Ms. Orlandersmith is an outstanding monologist, even as this work suggests her dramatic skills need some honing.  Her dialogue, delivered with frequent breakneck speed by the captivating and energetic LaNisa Frederick, has a raw, poetic and repetitious flow to it.  And while she hasn't quite evolved yet from a fervent storyteller to a compelling playwright, there is much to commend in her work.  She allows us to sympathize and even see ourselves in young Alexis, the plus-size outsider who doesn't understand why she can't be like all the other kids she sees on television. The dirty streets of Harlem may be dark but there can be beauty and light in the darkness.  "Some people learn to embrace the darkness and learn from it, others don't".  And so it is with Alexis and Jimmy.  They grew up watching "American Bandstand" on television with California dreams swirling in their heads of clean, crystal blue oceans and dancing on top of cars.  Jimmy's father brings a bitter and cynical dose of reality, stating "You can't even spell the ocean, how you gonna find it?"  Jimmy isn't good with words, whereas Alexis has nothing but words to find beauty and comfort. Her mother Linny teaches her that to be pretty is to be thin, and the scale is unforgiving as Alexis finds her flesh measured by numbers.  Her mother's cold words were "worse than the strikes of an invisible belt," and she craves the "soft words" that feel like kisses and caresses.  Alexis finds solace in her local library, in the very feel and smell of books and the power of language.  Her goal one day is to fill all the rooms in her house with books, which can transport her out of the drugs, filth and defeat of her impoverished Mt. Morris Park neighborhood.  The prim librarian Miss Ennis sees something special and encourages the young girl to open her mind to literature, giving her volumes by James Baldwin as inspiration. Jimmy is a fellow creative soul who paints with the stroke of an artist's brush all the colors Alexis feels inside.  She becomes his model and muse and they share their dreams on a subway ride downtown, where they can imagine themselves sipping drinks along the Parisian Champs Elysées in the company of their heroes Baldwin and Picasso.  Alexis encourages Jimmy to feel the whole color spectrum of life.  "Let's make them happy colors," she challenges him.  Red (signifies) blood, which keeps you alive.  It's not just pain, it's life." Like her young heroine, the author is clearly in love with words and the pictures they paint.  One of my favorites is the imagery of the children reaching for "ice cream goodness," its sweetness melting in their mouths.  One certainly does not have to be black to relate to these characters and their search for creativity, expression and acceptance.  It's not all sugar and sweet though, as the youngsters fight against the "Gimmick" or the hustle of the streets and the lure of drugs and prostitution.  As Alexis tells us, a "Gimmick" is not reinventing yourself and being down so low you have no choices.  We see the harsh "Gimmick" of reality contrasted by the ultimately hopeful and bittersweet possibility of human potential.  It is Ms. Frederick's play and she is quite good, although I would like to see her slow down a tad and let those words take on their full meanings.  Pegasus Players is presenting "The Gimmick" as a three actor play, and I feel it gets lost bit in the large Truman College auditorium, particularly when audience counts remain in the single digits.  With no disrespect intended the capable Caren Blackmore and Brandon Thompson, who are billed inventively as "Female" and "Male" respectively, "The Gimmick" still feels like a one-woman solo piece.  Ms. Orlandersmith's gift is clearly in writing monologues rather than dialogue, and the moments in which actors do interact feels slightly forced.  But the subject matter is thought provoking and believable nonetheless.  Director Ilesa Duncan hasn't quite figured out how to turn this one-woman monologue into a three-person play.  Although not the perfect expression of its highly moving subject matter, "The Gimmick" deserves to be seen.  Like its principal characters, it is overflowing with potential. Pegasus Players presents "The Gimmick" through March 28, 2010 at the O'Rourke Center at Truman College, located at 1145 W. Wilson Avenue in Chicago.  The play runs 80 minutes with no intermission.  Performances are Thursdays at 7:30 p.m., Friday and Saturday at 8:00 p.m., and Sunday at 3:00 p.m.  Tickets are $17 to $25 depending on performance, with student, senior and group discounts available.  Tickets may be purchased by calling 773-878-9761 or online at www.pegasusplayers.org.    About Joe Stead Joe Stead has enjoyed a lifelong passion for the theatre, which has involved acting, directing, producing, designing and reviewing for the past twenty-five years.  He served as founder, producer and Artistic Director of Curtain Up Productions in Baltimore, Maryland and Four Star Players in Tampa, Florida.  Favorite productions have included "Life With Father," "Deathtrap," "The Odd Couple," "The Miracle Worker," "Brighton Beach Memoirs," "You're A Good Man, Charlie Brown" and "Godspell".  He has also performed leading roles in "Fiddler on the Roof," "Pippin," "The Phantom of the Opera," "The Front Page," and most recently as Hucklebee in "The Fantasticks" for Waukegan Community Players.  Joe holds a degree in Commercial Art from Tampa Technical Institute.  As a critic, he has reviewed everything from Broadway to community theatre and major regional theatres throughout the United States including the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., Paper Mill Playhouse in New Jersey, Goodspeed Opera House in Connecticut, and the Asolo Theatre in Sarasota, Florida.  Since 1998, he has been a proud resident of Chicago, the greatest theatre city in America.  He served for two years as Theatre Editor for College News and Central Newspapers.  He created the website Steadstyle Chicago in 2000 to showcase the city's outstanding and diverse theatre scene.  Joe was proud to serve alongside a distinguished panel of theatre professionals as a judge for two seasons of Speaking Ring Theatre's "Vitality" Festival of original short plays.  His most fulfilling role, in addition to reviewer and all-around theatre fanatic, was as director of the 2007 production of Peter Shaffer's "Equus" at Actors Workshop (now Redtwist) Theatre, which was nominated for five Joseph Jefferson Award Citations and won for Best Actor (Peter Oyloe).