I’ve written here about my grandma Goldberg before. She was the family aphorist who used to say “Marry a Christian, one day she’ll wake up and call you ‘dirty Jew.” And “Scratch a goy, you’ll find an anti-Semite.” And of course, “Go to sleep with a young shiksa, wake up with an old goya.” (No, not the Spanish painter. She didn’t know from Spanish painters.)
Meanwhile, Nancy’s best friend, Grace, has her own bedtime issues. Now follow this closely: Her therapist, Mark, has introduced her to his older brother, Gene, who makes his living as a hit man. (It’s kind of sweet, actually. Gene’s murders paid for Mark’s degree in a helping profession.) Grace is a sex-for-sex’s-sake live wire, thrilled by the prospect of making it with a certifiable tough guy. But Gene gets his fill of bodies at work. He wants the intellectual frisson that he believes artsy, college-educated Grace can provide. So they’re at their own 3 AM impasse—Gene hoping for learned conversation, Grace willing to settle for a few grunts—when an overwrought Nancy arrives, having, in a triumph of denial, decided that Ben’s real problem is that he’s gay. Grace phones therapist Mark, sure he can counsel Nancy. But her call interrupts Mark’s own tryst with Donald, an old gay guy—the older the better being Mark’s motto. (He refers to Donald, respectfully, as “Mr. Abramson.”) Eventually Ben finds his way on to the line, and the rest of the piece consists of a marathon six-way phone conversation.
Through 10/4: Wed-Thu 7:30 PM, Fri-Sat 8 PM, Sun 7 PM Windy City Playhouse 3041 W. Irving Park 773-891-8985windycityplayhouse.com $25-$60
