Laugh Along With Job In The Way West

Meesh: Why would you say that to her?Manda: It’s the truth.Meesh: Who cares? —The Way West

Mom should be frantic with worry, yet she isn’t. Like some astronaut from The Right Stuff, she likes to keep an even strain as she hurtles through space on her flaming rocket of debt. So she cultivates the zen of magical thinking. And she’s a master at it too. Told that she needs to declare bankruptcy, she serenely replies that that’s not really necessary—she’s already stopped paying her bills.

Ira Amyx is the picture of wounded pride as the pizza guy, while Gabriel Ruiz is all we have to understand about Manda’s idea of the American dream, playing her old hometown boy friend. Finally, Steppenwolf artistic director Martha Lavey gets a couple of delightful set pieces, playing Tress, a friend of Mom’s who’s out to express her pioneer spirit by opening a spa where customers are wrapped in Saran Wrap and doused with magic water.

Through 6/8: Tue-Fri 7:30 PM, Sat-Sun 3 and 7:30 PM Steppenwolf Theatre 1650 N. Halsted 312-3351650 steppenwolf.org $20-$78