Centerstage - Chicago's Original City Guide

Recommended a "Must See" Show

A pleasant ramble that takes occasional, nasty turns, playwright Brett Neveau's Goodman debut is slow. That's not a complaint. The play is driven by the natural rhythms of its setting, an independent gas station in the northern hinterlands of Lincoln Avenue, the kind of place where two-minute transactions can stretch to hours of TV sports and jabber. The show rewards locals with near-constant Chicago-specific references, but its real strength lies in Neveau's ability to steer casual banter into dangerous emotional waters and back out again, causing the emotional tone of the little gas shop to teeter between warm neighborhood hangout and desperate, failing small business. With Robert Breuler as an instantly recognizable store owner, the kind whose friendliness to customers is freighted with a palpable, inarticulate need.