Wed. September 8, 2010
By John Olson
There may be no more difficult an age than 15, when we're just a year shy of being granted the first of our adult privileges like drivers licenses and work permits. In Deidre O'Connor's new play, receiving its Midwest premiere at Profiles, two suburban Boston 15-year-old girls are trying to speed past that awkward stage of life by pretending to be college students for a night out at the clubs. Emmy has done this once already and has met an older man who wants to see her again. He's asked if she can bring a friend for his buddy and she brings her quieter friend Claire along. We next see the men in question—the loudmouth Mark who met Emmy a week earlier, and his more sensitive friend Robert, who's grieving over the recent ending of a serious relationship. The two men are in their thirties, so the age difference is significant.
The set by Sotirios Livaditis, with help from lighting designer Jess Harpenau, cleverly transforms Profiles' tiny playing space into Claire's bedroom, the dance floor and restrooms of a nightclub and an apartment. The production design helps keep the action fluid so that the story can be told in about 80 minutes without intermission, a playing time that seems just about right for this delicate and potentially disturbing story.
Jailbait will be performed Thursdays through Saturdays at 8:00 p.m. and Sundays at 7 p.m. at Profiles Theatre, 4147 N. Broadway, Chicago through October 17, 2010. Tickets can be purchased online at www.profilestheatre.org or by phone at (773) 549-1815
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