Steadstyle Chicago
	January 2010 Theatre Review by Alan Bresloff
	This Train Chicago is a wonderful theater city, with its marvelous Broadway in Chicago venues, the Goodman, Steppenwolf, Victory Gardens and Chicago Shakespeare Theatre at Navy Pier, but we also have our storefront theaters throughout the city and of course our marvelous suburban theaters.  Some of the smaller venues are in fact secrets to many and need to be found.  Their voices are as strong as those larger, older, more established theaters and for those of you who are willing to venture out of the city limits, the new jewel is the 16th Street Theater located in the Berwyn Cultural Center in Berwyn.  Artistic Director Ann Filmer, with her bubbly personality has transformed this little 58 seat venue into a place where quality just keeps happening. This year, their 3rd, they have a theme, "home"!  Home can be many things and often have different interpretations to those who use the word.  The current production "This Train," written and performed by Tony Fitzpatrick allows him to do what he does best, story tell.  While he is an artist and a poet, he tells stories in the manner of his hero and friend, Studs Terkel, and I would gather that Studs is looking down on him with a big s--t  grin on his face and having some great laughs with the content of this show.  Directed by Filmer, Tony and his art take us through some historical train stories as he unleashes his "Hobo Alphabet" poems and artwork.  In the 75 minutes that he talks to us with some wonderful music behind him, played by John Rice and sung by Sally Timms, we learn a great deal about Fitzpatrick and how he came to be who he is.  While all of his stories do not meld with each other, they are funny and sincere anecdotes that take us all over the United States but are mostly Chicago, Home! Fitzpatrcik is a moralist, telling us about the bums and hobos and their trials and tribulations.  He is a true blue collar man with his flannel shirt and his tattooed  arms.  He appears to be "Everyman" but he is a true artist, not just in his words and art, but in his ability to keep an audience glued to his every word.  As I gazed about the audience (which is easy to do in this intimate theater) I could see their eyes watching his every movement and listening to every word. Filmer has used some unique techniques, having the musicians on stage and his right hand man Stan Klein playing "Stash" coming in and going off to end thoughts.  In fact, Fitzpatrick leaves the stage from time to time, but his voice continues to set the stage for the next thought he will share with us.  The dog he rescued from "Paws" and how he met his Ukrainian neighbor (he resides in Ukrainian Village) because of the dog.  We learn of the viaduct bums who come to him for a handout and how he treats them and we learn about the infamous "Bughouse Square" that existed between Dearborn and Clark in the Gold Coast area.  The park is still there, but the name and image have changed with the times. This is 75 minutes of history and enchantment with no intermission and to be honest, much more than I expected.  It is worth the ride to Berwyn and in reality not that far.  Take the Ike to Austin, south on Austin to 16th street and west on 16th four blocks to 6420 West 16th Street.  There is plenty of street parking, a free lot one block west at 16th and Gunderson and a couple of spots to grab a quick bite, and the tickets are only $20.  The show will run through January 30, 2010 with performances on Thursday and Friday at 7:30 p.m., Saturday at 5 and 8 p.m.  I would hope that someone finds another home for this show as it is worth making this one available to more than the lucky few who will have this experience.  To purchase tickets call 708-795-6704 or visit www.16thstreettheater.org where you can also learn about the rest of the shows this season.   About Alan Bresloff Alan Bresloff, once an actor himself, has been covering the Chicago Theater Scene since 1993, first as the Theater and Arts critic for LaRaza newspaper, then with Salsachicago.com and then onto Extra Newspaper and The Epoch Times.  He also writes for ElImparcial and TeleGuia.  His reviews can also be seen on www.theatreinchicago.com.  Alan does not call himself a "critic" but a "reviewer" as he tries to educate the reader about theater itself, what is a good value, what to look for in a play or musical and more.  "Exposure to theater is a very important part of a young person's life" he says. "Learning about the arts and culture is in fact learning about life" and he tries to explain more in his reviews than just if it is good or bad.  Even some of the poor productions have some value, he often says and he would love your feedback on shows that you have seen.  You can write him here or at albresloff@sbcglobal.net.