Faster

Absurd theatre is, perhaps, the most delicate of all the theatrical genres. Absurd scripts are drawn in such broad strokes that the inclination of the director and the actors is to meet the playwright's bravura. But Joanie Shultz gets it right by taking a very delicate approach. Adam Rapp's Faster is a script that doesn't need a lot of gimmickry. The text speaks for itself. Shultz is blessed with a perfect cast in Bryson Engelen, Ryan Heindl, Paul Myers and Bries Vannon. There is not a weak performance, and while some actors have more lines than others, each actor is critical to the balance of this performance, just as each character is critical to the balance of the script. This is one of those shows where you forget you're in a theater.

It has been a long, long time since I've been as excited about a company and its work as I am about The Side Project. Chicago is world-renowned for its theater, and the consistently superb work that is put up by The Side Project is why. In addition to Faster, which opens tomorrow night, the dark-night production of Slipping is going into an extended run before it packs up and crosses the pond for the Dublin Gay Theater Festival in May.

If you want a sure thing for your theater dollar, you owe it to yourself to see these two shows at The Side Project. These shows are examples of why we do theater.