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Wednesday, May 10, 2006 Documentaries as Theatre The architectural arguments involved in building the 1893 World’s Fair in Chicago don’t sound like compelling theatrical material. And they aren’t, even if you are interested in architecture. On Monday I saw the staged reading of the first act of White City/Grey City, June Finfer’s less-than-engrossing play (which is slated to become a musical—the Chicago Writers’ Bloc didn’t perform any of the songs, only read the titles of what I assume are songs yet to be composed). While the actors dutifully tried to bring life to their characters, the script was lifeless. In a very Our Town style, Finfer avoids all conflict. The wives of the architects don’t complain that their husbands are never home, the man who was severely injured during the construction of the fair thanks the head designer for allowing him to be a part of the project in the first place, and the unions are mentioned as a passing problem. Instead of substantive conflict, internal or external, we are treated to petty squabbles between the Easterners and Chicagoans about architectural styles. We don’t even get the benefit of the conflict described in the play’s summary: the fair “attracts millions of visitors to see dazzling while buildings, new technologies, Hoochy Koochy dancers… while most of Chicago lives in the dirty, dangerous slums of the ‘Grey City.’” (Incidentally, one of perhaps two mentions of the phrase “Grey City” refers to the University of Chicago, which only serves to confuse the point, for it’s clearly not the slum.) In Wilder’s play, this works. In Finfer’s, it produces the effect of a 1950s everyone-is-happy-and-life-is-rosy delusion. None of the characters, save Daniel Burnham, the chief architect, are clearly delineated, and as an audience we don’t care when Daniel’s longtime work partner sickens and dies (which it was obvious he was going to do as soon as you heard the first cough). Watching the reading felt something like watching a documentary put onstage. I understand that one of the primary purposes for the staged reading was feedback for the writer, and I hope Ms. Finfer got solid criticism. Unfortunately, if her play is going to hold an audience’s attention, it needs a complete rewriting. ^ Top | 11:03 PM | | | 
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