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**** Recommended Jump, Shattered Globe’s final production of the season, is a gripping and poignant drama about grief, loss and the fallout from suicide with a couple of surprising twists to keep it interesting. It’s beautifully done, but kind of heavy going. In fact, I found myself tearing up several times. A warning - some characters vape and/or smoke. 3 ½ Spotlights
Jump, written by Charly Evon Simpson, is the first recipient of the David Goldman Fund for New Plays. This production is directed by AmBer Montgomery, Shattered Globe Theatre’s associate artistic director.
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Jump is set in an anonymous city with a bridge and in a house near that bridge. Kudos to Scenic Designers Regina Garcia and Lindsay Mummert for figuring out how to build a house AND a bridge inside Theater Wit’s smallest space. The bridge is way cool! The lighting under glass brick surface reminded me of the Sundial, a Santiago Calatrava designed footbridge across the Sacramento River in Redding, California.
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Fay (Jazzma Pryor) is vaping and brooding on the bridge one night when she decides to throw the glowing vape in the river. You hear it splash, then it’s suddenly glowing in her hand. Repeat. Repeat. One night, her grieving is interrupted by an annoying stranger, Hopkins (Jeffrey Kurysz), who is smoking on ‘her’ bridge.
Fay is grieving the loss of her mother and it doesn’t help that Dad (Alfred Wilson) has decided to sell the family home. She’s waiting outside for her sister Judy (Jennifer Glasse) and her father (Alfred Wilson) so they can get the house ready to sell.
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Judy is stylish and put together, everything Fay is not. She apparently has the perfect life – a good marriage and a great job. As the sisters are clearing out their childhood room, they reminisce – and even bounce on the beds – as they’re sorting stuff.
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Meanwhile, the more Fay and Hopkins ran into each other on the bridge, the more they talked. Both are grieving, both have contemplated suicide. They agree that family interactions can be filled with figurative land mines. They share humor and warmth as their unlikely friendship develops.
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Shattered Globe Theatre’s production of Jump runs through June 1st at Theater Wit, 1229 W. Belmont, Chicago. Parking is available in Theater Wit’s lot across the street (driveway next to Kobo Restaurant). $10 at the box office. Running time is 90 minutes, no intermission. Performances are Thursdays through Saturdays at 8:00 pm, Sundays at 3:00 pm. There will be no performance on Thursday, May 16. There is an added matinee on closing day, Saturday, June 1 at 3 p.m. Tickets range from $15-$52. FYI (773) 975-8150 or www.sgtheatre.org.