Steppenwolf Theatre Company is currently presenting the world premiere of Samuel D. Hunter’s Little Bear Ridge Road, directed by Joe Mantello, starring Laurie Metcalf, John Drea, Meighan Gerachis and Micah Stock, extended even before it opened, through August 4, 2024, in its Downstairs Theater, at 1650 N. Halsted St. in Chicago.
The props are almost non-existent, the set is spare: two vacuum cleaners, a couple of coffee mugs, and a couch. Jessica Pabst’s spot-on costumes are innocuous: North Country nondescript casual. Heather Gilbert’s lighting and Mikhail Fiksel’s sound are just bright and calm enough to leave all the nuance to the dialogue and acting. It’s the story that unfolds that carries a wallop. This is a study in human transcendence, in personalities expanding against their inclination, due more to inertia than to exigence. A combination of relationships crafted by nature and by proxemics grows through need into love and care. What is truly remarkable is Little Bear’s ability, in 90 minutes, to encompass so much of the nadir and zenith in human family making. In this performance, Steppenwolf takes viewers on a journey into complex appreciation and a deep understanding of the human condition.
A middle aged spinster, semi hermit cum medical worker, in outer buttland Idaho, played with stunning nonchalance by Metcalf, is visited by her directionless gay nephew, portrayed with revealing innocence by Stock, who arrives to clean out his methhead father’s effects after his death. He and his aunt are the last of their clan. They barely know each other. He has nowhere to return to and she has cancer. He stays. While out one night at a bar, he meets a profoundly open astrophysicist in training (Drea); they become casual lovers. Time passes. They all adapt to each other. They take care of each other. From television buddies, they become comrades in life’s journey. Sputtering and protesting that they don’t need each other, they need each other. The young ones leave, the aunt withers and gets a caring caretaker (Gerachis). They lose and find their voices. Out of loss springs talent, freedom, transition.
There is no simplistic or satisfying ending. They do not live happily ever after. Their personalities do not miraculously sprout wings. But, for a season, they find comfort and expression in each other and are not alone. The script and therefore the entire performance is rife with gentle, wry humor. Hunter always situates his deeply thoughtful plays in or near the back of beyond area where he grew up. It’s easy to forget that Moscow, Idaho is a university town, where characters like the 2 men in Little Bear are influenced by the desire and drive to exceed expectations, but this playwright makes sure you appreciate that point.
Here, Steppenwolf’s cast, the much lauded Metcalf deadpan yet infinitely decent; Stock, whiny and self-absorbed yet capable of sacrifice; Drea, unafraid to express his manifest decency; and Gerachis, a carer in 2 parts getting the job done, delivers the best in performance art. The artists, fully drawn by award winning director Mantello, thoroughly inhabiting their characters, allow each other the space to be alive. It’s a lesson in good manners, right thinking, ingrained kindness, absolute tolerance- a pleasure to watch.
All photos by Michael Brosilow
For information and tickets, go to www.steppenwolf.org
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