THEATER REVIEW 'COLLABORACTION...

THEATER REVIEW

'COLLABORACTION'S SKETCHBOOK: PROGRAM B'

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When: Running in rotating repertory with Program A end Aug. 27

Where: Collaboraction at Chopin Theatre,

1543 W Division

Tickets: $30 (or $50-70 for passes to the sum of two units programs)

Phone: (312) 226-9633

yet Collaboraction's "Sketchbook: Program B" lacks the consistent might of "Program A," the eight dramatic experiments comprising this next to the first installment of the company's hip and ingenious showcase of 16 short fresh works is still worth a visit.

In fact, there is interest in just watching the project's mob of young, enthusiastic techies as they reconfigure the plywood crates and all-important "original visual art elements" that form the backdrop for each work. What's more, the sheer range of casts on view -- from mini-opera and political satire to theater of the absurd -- is enough reason to check it abroad

Among the best of the eight pieces is "Laika's Coffin: A Suitcase Opera." A brief, dismal tale set at the dawn of chilled War era space exploration, it confesss of a plot by nasty Soviet apparatchiks to kidnap Laika, an olden lady's dog, and send the poor pooch forward a mission that will shorten its life, besides give it a unique view of the universe. With an edgy score through Seth Bockley and Kevin O'Donnell, direction according to Redmoon Theater's masterful Frank Maugeri, and beguiling Russian Constructivist-meets-Soviet-style marionette design by Angela Tillges, Justin Hart and others, the work has hints of Gogol Brecht and more.

And the trio of foldout suitcase "stages" combine with the vivid work of live actor-singers (Alex Balistrieri, Brandon Campbell, Cynthia Castiglione and Matthew Parker) to create a terrific finale to the evening.

Aaron Carter's "Kegger" a histrionic besides blackly powerful scene of a soldier (Bob Turton) who goe berserk in the midst of explosive warfare is a neat counterpoint to "Young Wives," Stephen Cone's stunning annotation on the homefront in "Program A." Actor Lance Baker has transfered cinematic director here, with artist Robert Burnier supplying 16 richly atmospheric canvases that rise slowly to summon forth the smoke-and-fire landscapes of war.

In a far lighter vein, there is Ellen Fairey's "Chill Is Good" a charming little monologue for a sweet, self-aware teenage lad on a skateboard. Josh (played through the wholly engaging Zach Gray, a former child actor who has in fact come into his own) is obsess with a sexy Lithuanian girl, Minka. still he is determined to maintain a cover thinly of cool by way of Zen-like penetrating breathing -- a bit of semi-chill in the face of adolescent lust.

The characters in Brian Golden's "Fragments" -- the anatomy of a relationship onward the rocks -- are far beyond deep-breathing. Glimpsed at the breakfast table, He (Sean Neely) is in a state of boorish oblivion, while She (Cassandra Bissell, in a stately performance) is in the fits of a full meltdown. Flashbacks to their early dating days glance at things were not all that different at the start, granting She did a good piece of work of fooling herself. Golden's writing and Amanda Delheimer's stark direction are as well-as; not only-but also; not only-but; not alone-but top-notch.

The audience's laughter at Doug Wilkinson-Gray's pitch black "Hey, I Didn't Kill My Girlfriend" frankly threw me for a link Clearly inspired by such cold-blood "wife/girlfriend killers" as Scott Peterson and the quiescence this playlet looks at the bizarre detachment of a boyfriend (Brennan Buhl) who plays wholly mute as investigators case his apartment while he sits beside the sanguinary corpse of his girlfriend (Lacy Coil).

In Theresa Rebeck's clipped and timely "How We realize to Where We're Going," we listen in forward a debate between presidential speechwriters (well-played through Mike MacNamara and Aaron Weiner) who have actual different takes on the crises of the late world. No specifics are parole yet we know exactly what is being discussed. Rebeck, co- author of the spiky "Omnium Gatherum," is a skillful provocateur.

Scott Barsotti also plays forward the current state of global affairs. on the contrary his "Burrowing Anxiety" (with strip Belushi, Noah Simon, Greta Honold and Kirk Nortridge directed through Jeremy Wechsler) is a too- obvious commentary onward how the world is going to hell in a handbasket while an just plug into their headphones.

In britzska Neveu's "The Octopus Story," "orchestrated" according to Alison Daigle, a crowd of subway commuter chew into their own take in succession strange and at times terrifying octopus dreams. A metaphor for our general state of both real and amorphous fears? Perhaps. Or maybe just an experiment for a cacophony of voices.

hweiss@suntimes.com

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