There is something inherently freeing about performing a dark comedy play about abortion in a church hall in the middle of a hostile government takeover. Lingering in our minds is the omnipresent realization that we are entering the dystopian reality in which the play takes place—but at least the characters have cupcakes! They may not be able to say the word “abortion” or legally access birth control, but they have cupcakes (and each other).
Funny, Like an Abortion
Through 3/30: Fri–Sun 7:30 PM; Chicago Danztheatre Ensemble, 1650 W. Foster, danztheatre.org, pay what you can ($30 suggested donation)
These cupcakes (particularly the frosting in several scenes) are a source of comfort for Monroe (Bianca Thompson) and Jade (Saniafaith) throughout the show, especially after Monroe surprises Jade by throwing an abortion party. The trouble is, in Rachel Bublitz’s Funny, Like an Abortion, everything is frosting. We’re missing the actual cupcake.
Bublitz’s play, directed by Eileen Tull for Chicago Danztheatre Ensemble and Fat Theatre Project, oscillates wildly between dead serious reproductive rights conversations to off-the-wall banter between these two friends. Tonally, this play struggles to find a place to land, which becomes a problem when it doesn’t find a satisfactory way to bring the story to a close. A series of fourth-wall breaks turns the show into the trope of an after-school special. I was entirely unsurprised when one of those wall breaks turned into the actors reading note cards of reproductive rights factoids to the audience. As important as these conversations are, a compelling script is even more so to get the point across.
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