Interludes

VIEWPOINTS – Regional theaters march on with their digital seasons: Woolly Mammoth and Steppenwolf stream HI, ARE YOU SINGLE? and RED FOLDER, respectively

• By drediman
• February 1, 2021
• No Comments

As we enter 2021, the theater industry continues to reel from the inability to physically stage shows in front of live audiences. Given this harsh ongoing reality, it’s heartening to see that two of the country’s most exciting regional theater companies have chosen to proceed – digitally – with their respective seasons. Here are my thoughts on recent offerings from the Washington DC-based Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company and the Chicago-based Steppenwolf Theatre Company.

HI, ARE YOU SINGLE?
Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company / IAMA Theatre Company
On-demand through February 28

With Valentine’s Day just around the corner, the timing seems just right for the premiere of Ryan J. Haddad’s Hi, Are You Single?, which is available for on-demand streaming the month of February courtesy of Washington DC’s Woolly Mammoth Theatre and Los Angeles’s IAMA Theatre Company. As a gay man with cerebral palsy, Mr. Haddad (who will be recognizable to viewers of Ryan Murphy’s The Politician on Netflix) certainly brings a unique perspective to the table. In his latest autobiographical monologue, he chronicles his pursuit of love (and/or good lays) – and the challenges therein – as a gay man, let alone a disabled one. Candidly recounting his nights out at gay bars and graphic adventures in the bedroom, Mr. Haddad doesn’t shy away from frank disclosures regarding his voracious sexual appetite, as well as his crippling anxieties and paranoia. As a result, Hi, Are You Single? is spun at once brashly yet vulnerably as our host excavates love, sex, and, most instructively and movingly, empathy. Running about an hour (and available with captioning and audio description), the solo show jumps from anecdote to anecdote with snappy efficiency, thankfully without sacrificing any of the pleasures of Mr. Haddad’s distinctively droll, tangy delivery.

RED FOLDER
Steppenwolf Theatre Company
On-demand through August 31

Next up from Steppenwolf Theatre Company – perhaps Chicago’s flagship theater company – is Rajiv Joseph’s Red Folder (RECOMMENDED), an “illustrated short play” featuring the voice contribution of ensemble member Carrie Coon. Despite the accomplished talents involved (Mr. Joseph penned the Pulitzer Prize Finalist Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo, which starred none other than Robin Williams on Broadway; Ms. Coon has gone on to become a sought after film and television actress), it’s hard to shake the feeling that this Steppenwolf NOW offering is a mere (albeit appetizing) curiosity. With a scant running time of 10 minutes, Red Folder compactly tells the compelling but lightweight story of a first grader and his struggles with his inner demons, as manifested by the red folder he uses to track his progress in school. Most notably, the piece is admirably deft at conveying a child’s untethered imagination and vibrant psyche, which I attribute to its inspired mode of storytelling – animation (the hand-drawn illustrations are by Mr. Rajiv, who convincingly replicates the scribbly drawing style of a first grader). The work’s jagged, unvarnished visual aesthetic imbues Red Folder with the kind of urgency and terror that often gets dulled down in the polished, slick production values of Disney and other major animation studios.