Cromer, Graney, Berry: Fall is a tale of 3 hot directors

Chris Jones, Chicago Tribune

“If you look at the non-musical Chicago shows with a lot of buzz so far this fall: “Picnic” at Writers Theatre, “Our Town” by The Hypocrites, “Edward II” at Chicago Shakespeare, and the Griffin Theatre’s “On the Shore of the Wide World,” you’ll see they’re the work of three provocative, auteur-style Chicago directors whose careers are most assuredly on the rise.

Go and see the work of David Cromer, Sean Graney and Jonathan Berry and you’ll get a snapshot of what might well be a hefty chunk of the artistic future of Chicago theater. That’s assuming these busy guys—who don’t have secure positions running big Chicago institutions—decide to stick around town.

God, I hope they do. I think they’re all exciting talents, and I think serious Chicago theatergoers should make sure they see all four of those very worthwhile productions. (Cromer helmed both “Our Town” and “Picnic.”) Two in this triumvirate are still early in their careers—and Cromer, although more accomplished and experienced, is hardly decrepit. Graney and Berry’s works are not yet fully developed. You’ll see their flaws. And I think all three of these guys could learn from each other.

I felt mixed about Graney’s “Edward II,” mostly because I think the show lacks thematic clarity and an emotional center. But I’ve heard from a lot of readers, especially college kids, who find Graney’s in-your-face chunk of Christopher Marlowe to be tremendously fresh and exciting. And indeed, formatively speaking, that’s true. Accomplished actors nearly bust a gut in Graney’s hell-for-leather concept and occasionally have to literally shove the audience out of the way as they perform.

But you never get the sense that you’re getting inside the hidden soul of the characters. For that, you have to go to “Picnic” and “Our Town.”

Both of these shows have such devastating clarity and eloquent simplicity—Cromer is like a weird homing pigeon, cutting through the characters’ defenses. Now, if Graney could add that minimalist skill to his maximalist theatrical arsenal, he’d really be something. And I think the sometimes overly intense Cromer could learn from Graney’s inherently optimistic theatricality.

That brings me to Berry, the least experienced of the three. But this guy really knows how to pick exciting drama—like “Wide World,” Simon Stephens’ very gritty and moving new play from the U.K.

Berry, who trained at Northwestern University and works often for Griffin, feels very much like one of the ambitious young directors who’ve emerged from Evanston with the hungry actors and designers they knew in college. Berry gets a lot right—he makes strong, powerful choices and he can cast very well. And he makes low budgets look like inspired choices, not necessary economies. His Achilles’ heel is a tendency to run out of steam—he needs some of that Cromer focus and a good dose of that Graney energy.

Unlike Cromer and Graney, Berry has yet to get his shot at a big-time Chicago theater. He’s good and ready. Indeed, all three of these guys have their best work ahead.