Steadstyle Chicago
	January 2010 Theatre Review by Joe Stead
	The (edward) Hopper Project Ever stared at a picture or work of art and wondered what the subject was thinking or feeling?  Many artists have been inspired by the American realist painter Edward Hopper (1882-1967), whose collection of quiet, mundane moments often reflected a sense of loneliness in a modern urban environment.  The all night diner iconicized in "Nighthawks" is the most recognizable but certainly not the only image from Hopper's world which have been assembled together in "The (edward) Hopper Project," a theatrical response to a major 2007 exhibition focused on the artist.  Like Hopper's work itself, the "Project" focuses on those quiet moments with sparse action.  A loosely woven crazy quilt, "The Hopper Project" lacks a compelling or dramatic through-line or focal point, however it has subtle rewards. The staging for this WNEP Theater production runs the entire length of one side of the DCA Storefront Theater with action taking place on two levels of a large and somewhat fussy set by designer Heath Hays.  While not the best use of the Storefront space I have experienced, it does make an interesting counterpoint to Hopper's own diagonal lines and curves (the diner counter for example).  A huge cast of 17 is employed to populate Hopper's world as interpreted by Jen Ellison with eight other writers under the auspices of Producer and Director Don Hall.  One could surmise that having so many different cooks in the kitchen could spoil the soup, and indeed it points up the performance's lack of focus.  The play opens with the parting of two lovers, who and what they are is never quite clear.  The young woman is tired of "Pretty words" that mean nothing.  "I prefer them to ugly words," the man replies, but she's not buying his lines.  The man is a traveling vagabond who finds that moving from town to town in a suitcase used to be romantic but now it's become tedious.  That pretty much sums up the relationship as well.  All those carefully constructed phrases and love poems committed to memory aren't enough to convince the woman of this man's adoration.  "If you have to ask someone for the truth you're probably not going to get it," she sighs. A suicidal businessman, George Nicholson tries unsuccessfully to take his own life while his secretary and client wait outside his door.  Fortunately his secretary Sheila had the good sense to nail his window shut and remove the firing pin from his gun the last time he tried, to which he is affronted.  George threatens to fire Sheila if she ever disarms him again.  We get glimpses of some of the regulars at the "Nighthawks" diner.  A man and woman share a smile and a gentle flirtation but seem unable to make contact with one another.  A "Private Dick" who has been hired to keep tabs on a philandering husband in an office across the street orders black coffee to the consternation of the counter clerk.  We get to ponder who is crazier, a young man on a roof with his precious pet pigeons or the hag with the rifle pointed out of her window.  There are numerous fragments of relationships represented here.  Two women meet at a bus stop.  One becomes annoyed because the other is staring at her.  When she confronts the stranger, she explains that she is interested in the book of poetry the woman is reading.  She used to have the same book, a gift with an inscription.  She asks to look at it, a request the other woman refuses to grant.  Hopper's "New York Restaurant Scene" finds a husband and wife sharing dinner.  She never eats her green beans, which he finds puzzling.  The wife wonders if reality exists outside her head and fears that she may reach the end of life and find that she has been merely productive.  Another former couple try to get the sparks back when they meet at a party following a year's separation.  Over breakfast, a man finds it hard to concentrate on his newspaper when his piano playing wife keeps changing the tune.  She finds her husband "considerate mostly, just not during newspaper time". Some attempt is made in the second act to tie the many characters together with amusing effect.  That traveling vagabond from the first scene we find is an actor, and the woman at the piano a former lover from long ago.  They recognize each other instantly, but there is a problem.  They are both remarried now to spouses who incidentally have the same names as their respective former flames.  The young woman from the first scene who grew tired of her lover's empty words is now an usher in a movie theatre, where she finds some comfort in being with a group of people all looking at the same thing.  As one character observes, you can spend your whole life looking at something, a chair or a shoe and suddenly a different light can make it seem completely new.  That certainly appears to be the intention of "The (edward) Hopper Project".  Seeing an artist's work through different eyes can be an illuminating experience.  Like any work of art, it's what you bring to it that makes it come to life.                     "The (edward) Hopper Project" plays through February 21, 2010 at the Chicago DCA Storefront Theater at 66 East Randolph Street.  The play runs 2 hours 15 minutes with intermission.  Performances are Thursday, Friday and Saturday at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday at 3:00 p.m.  There is no performance on Friday, February 12, due to Lincoln's Birthday holiday.  Tickets are $20 for general admission and $15 for seniors and students.  All tickets are available by calling 312-742-8497, at the box office, and online at www.dcatheatre.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).