STACEY ELIZABETH TRIES TO CLIMB OUT OF HER NIGHTMARE and
A one-hour program, “Double Quest” is “two one-act journeys” by Chicago playwright David Rush, whose short plays concern two very different people in dramatically different quests. The first, Stacey Elizabeth Tries to Climb Out of Her Nightmare, may be less than original in its subject, but its inventive structure makes up for that. The second, The Search for “The Madonna of the Secret Garden,” fares well in both regards. In both, Shon Little’s smooth staging neither sags nor preaches.
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Assorted women testify to Tessoro’s visionary life: his perplexed mother, an enraptured lover, a devoted fellow artist, the disillusioned model for “La Madonna,” and the owner of the painting, who later commits suicide (all played by Juliet Funt). From them we learn some wild anecdotes about Tessoro: that as a kid he literally identified with the animals he grew up with, that he believed he could control the stars (especially during sex in an olive grove), that once he flew. After each woman’s confessional testimony, Blake pontificates on the supposed mysteries of the work (all we see of it, however, is an empty gilt frame on an easel).
