Goodman's 'The Crowd You're In With'

Ah, the relaxing backyard BBQ. Burgers on the grill, a variety of summer cocktails to take the edge off a hard week at work and nonsensical conversation with your friends all make for a perfect American tradition. That is unless you are invited to Jasper and Melinda's Chicago two-flat on the Fourth of July where polite conversation turns into uncomfortable life affirmations and immovable positions akin to a political debate on The View.

Discussing the impact of having a baby and its ramifications on a marriage is the at the heart of Rebecca Gilman's The Crowd You're in With, a delightfully funny and thought-provoking play making its Chicago premier at Goodman's Owen Theatre. Masterful director Wendy Goldberg has put together an exceptional cast and brings out the unspoken undercurrents as clearly as the surface wit from Ms. Gilman's poetic play.

Crowd follows three intelligent, liberal, Chicago couples: the hosts, Jasper and Melinda, a young couple who are trying to conceive a child, but for all the wrong reasons; Dan and Windsong, their happily expectant best friends; and upstairs neighbors and landlords, Tom and Karen, who long ago rejected any such notion of having children.

As the play unfolds , it becomes clear that Tom and Karen's almost defiant decision not to have children is deeply disturbing to the two thirty-something couples. What Gilman's play cleverly unveils is how many people are convinced that having a child will repair a crumbling relationship by taking the focus off the core issues of the dissolution. This is accomplished with a very smart script that never talks down to the audience, but rather, really hits close to home in a lot of situations.

Kiff Vaden Heuvel and Stephanie Childers are funny and genuine as Dan and Windsong. Heuvel and Childers provide the most of the comic lines in the show including some terrific physical comedy. Janelle Snow ‘s Melinda is contained enough to bring across the marital problems she is having with Jasper, while you are still able to get a glimpse through her performance of how Jasper has been relegated to the background. For even more comic relief, Sean Cooper's Dwight plays an incorrigible slacker, who gives a waiter's-eye view of demanding parents and messy children which is an audience pleaser but does nothing to advance the story.

Linda Gehringer and Rob Riley, two of Chicago's finest actors, each give very deliberate performances as Karen and Tom. They are the backbone to this story and the catalyst to what drives Jasper (Coburn Goss) to re-evaluate his life decisions. Goss' character is almost the son that Tom and Karen never had, and their on stage relationship is fascinating to watch unfold. With this trio, it seems like parents are giving advice to their own child not to in fact, have a child. Mr. Goss invokes just the right sentiment to Jasper, that of a man trying to find a sense of self while being a considered half of a couple. Adding a baby to the mix would lessen his own purpose in life and Goss' performance brings that very smartly through in his character choices.

The cast, as an ensemble, was not quite comfortable with the script on opening night, many times falling over each others lines, but surely that will be solved with a few more performances under their belts. Kevin Depinet's set design is as realistic as it is functional and Josh Epstein's day to dusk lighting design is some of the best seen this season.

The Crowd You're In With is an important play that all couples that are considering adding to the family tree should see (and read) as it will make you face that most uncomfortable of relationship issues; honesty.

The Crowd You're In With runs through June 21, 2009 in Goodman's Owen Theatre, 170 N. Dearborn St., Chicago. For more information, including tickets and show times, please visit www.goodmantheatre.org or call 312.443.3811.