Everybody can feel it. These last 10 months have been excruciating. For far too many of us, staying in the game is proving so endlessly demanding that it’s taking on the feel of perilousness. That’s why you just can’t knock a guy for trying, even if the result of their efforts may not be what you would have liked or hoped.
In October, one of Steppenwolf Theatre’s Covid response pivots was to launch Steppenwolf Now; a range of theatrical offerings tailored to a virtual platform and aimed, it appears, at a discerning and youthful market. Running through August of 2021, its roster is primarily made up of filmed plays; but loops in radio and illustrated plays as well.
Wally World, a two-act, 2 hours and 20-minute radio play by Isaac Gomez posted several days ago (December 16th) with an end date likely to be in the middle of January. It is a challenging entertainment piece despite its seeming accessibility.
According to some statistics, over 75% of Americans work in a service industry. That means a lot us knows what it’s like to punch a clock and be one of the faces and bodies representing a hotel, restaurant, sports club, salon or merchandise outlet. There is no bigger retail colossus than Wally World. The empire that Sam built.
When the play opens, we’re parachuted into the middle of a team huddle; and it’s a hot one. Andy (Sandra Marquez), the store manager is laying it out on how she wants things to run tonight, Christmas Eve. Everything about her tone and words bristle with authority. She’s a General Patton who doesn’t know what it means to soft pedal and probably looks at a word like consensus with contempt. She also has one of the slickest, hippest Latin tinged tongues you’ll find anywhere in the city. A tongue so rich in cultural color and depth she’s mesmerizes when she speaks. That ability to capture and playback the soundtrack of the city is what makes Wally World notable. Most of the characters, a varied brood of Wally World warriors, possess a cosmopolitan dialect that is characterized by either speed or an unconscious flamboyance rooted in heritage. Both add a distinct gloss to the English language and are madly appealing.
You can’t tell if the story just has nowhere to go or is simply having a very hard time getting there. We understand the personalities and their plights toiling away as infinitely replaceable cogs in the machinery of consumerism. Some profiles, like Jax’s (Kevin Curtis), rise because of the uniqueness of their speech. Others, like Estelle’s (Jacqueline Williams), keep changing shape to the point you just don’t know what to make of them. Is she a woman determined to forge a better life for herself or an easily pacified aspirant who capitulates on command?
Listening to them interact brings a whole unknown universe into perspective. You don’t expect such open and natural language between co-workers in a business environment. It’s interesting; but with no compelling purpose, it’s also empty.
Mr. Gomez deserve appreciation for his ear and ability to capture too seldom heard voices. Marrying those gifts to a stronger story line would be union worth celebrating.
Wally World
Steppenwolf Now
By subscription and through mid-January
