THEATRE REVIEW: "Twilight Bowl" at the Goodman Theatre (Chicago, IL)

      On February 8th, 2019, I saw the opening night performance of the Rebecca Gillman play "Twilight Bowl" at the Owen Theatre of the Goodman Theatre Center.  I bought a ticket for the balcony section, which at the Owen Theatre cost only $15.  I'm not sure if ticket prices have risen since then like they have in New York.   Anyway, back in 2019, I only had to pay $15 dollars.  This production was directed by Erica Weiss, with Regina Garcia as the set designer.

     Now, judging by the Playbill cover for this production of  "Twilight Bowl,"  it looks like a play about a young lady who wakes up with bowling pins in her hair and says to no one in particular "talk about life in the fast lane..."  But you can't judge a book by its cover, as the saying goes.  The play is about six girlfriends who've just graduated high school in Wisconsin, and are preparing to each go their separate ways.  One of them is headed off to prison.  Another is headed off to college with a sports scholarship.  One of them had an abortion.  Then the lights in the theatre turned on and intermission began.  But first the one who had an abortion got in a face-slapping fight with another of the six young ladies, who had more pro-life beliefs, to put it mildly. 

 

    Looking back, I feel like I wasn't staying in my lane just by seeing this play--and now by writing a review about it.  Then again, I bought a ticket to the show just like everyone else--not that that has anything to do with staying in my lane or not.  What I thought was interesting about the play is though it all takes place at a bowling alley, the scenic design is that of a snack bar and lounge of a bowling alley.  During the play, you can hear sounds of a bowling alley coming through an open doorway toward the back of the stage.  

     The production starred Hayley Burgess, Heather Chrisler, Angela Morris, Becca Savoy, Mary Taylor, and Anne E. Thompson.  This was a world premiere production,  and I thought it was a well-done, thought-provoking play.  Towards the end of the play, when one of the friends is released from prison, she says that being in prison is nothing like "Orange is the New Black."  At the beginning of the play, she was telling her friends she was preparing for prison by watching the TV series.  I suppose if "Orange is the New Black" was like actual prison,  then jails and prisons would be even more overcrowded than they already are.