Goodman's 'Rapture, Blister, Burn' reignites debate about having it all

One thing theatergoers won't want for after seeing Goodman Theatre's Chicago premiere of “Rapture, Blister, Burn” is conversation fodder.

Gina Gionfriddo's shrewd, heady dramedy about contemporary feminism and the choices women make provides plenty. Intermission chatter and comments from audience members as they filed out of the theater after the press opening confirmed as much.

But while it chronicles briefly the evolution of feminism, “Rapture” — which takes its title from the Courtney Love song “Use Once and Destroy” — is really about the road not taken. It's about the very different choices two friends make, the consequences of those choices and the regret and disappointment that lingers when they begin to suspect they've chosen wrong.

Gionfriddo's observations are insightful and her references familiar (if I had a nickel every time my mother warned me about a man not buying the cow because he got the milk for free ...). Gionfriddo addresses compelling issues in the play, which she described in a 2012 New York Times article as an unintended companion piece to “The Heidi Chronicles,” Wendy Wasserstein's 1988 Pulitzer Prize-winning play about the challenges women face trying to have it all.

But the plot is contrived and the characters' behavior strains credulity. And although her dialogue crackles, the play — ably helmed by sought-after director Kimberly Senior in her Goodman debut — is talky. Case in point: the lengthy academic debates contrasting the views of Betty Friedan, whose 1963 book “The Feminine Mystique” suggested women might find fulfillment outside the home, and conservative activist Phyllis Schlafly, who rejected feminism and was instrumental in the defeat of the Equal Rights Amendment.

Participating in those debates are onetime graduate school friends Catherine (a cool, confidant Jennifer Coombs) and Gwen (Karen Janes Woditsch, whose many talents are not fully utilized in this role).

Estranged more than 10 years, these forty-something women have begun to question their individual life choices. Single Catherine, a feminist scholar, successful author and occasional TV pundit known as the “hot doomsday chick,” has achieved professional success but regrets not having a husband and children. Those regrets are, in part, motivated by her fear of losing her mother and being left alone.

Stay-at-home mom Gwen left school without finishing her doctorate and married Don (Mark L. Montgomery, terrific as an amiable albeit self-aware schlub), who first dated Catherine then took up with Gwen after Catherine accepted a yearlong fellowship in London.

Like Catherine, Gwen's experiencing that “forty-something thing where you start thinking about the life not lived.” Unfulfilled, she considers resuming work on her Ph.D.

Meanwhile the underachieving Don, a onetime literature instructor, now works as the disciplinary dean at a middling New England college, and spends his free time smoking pot and watching Internet porn.

The trio reconnect when Catherine returns home to care for her mother Alice (a savvy, nicely timed performance from Mary Ann Thebus), who is recovering from a heart attack.

Don gets Catherine a job teaching a summer seminar that has only two students, Gwen and 21-year-old Avery, played with great zeal and obvious relish by Goodman newcomer Cassidy Slaughter-Mason, who gets some of Gionfriddo's best lines and nails every one. The couple's former baby-sitter, Avery is a smart young woman whose ideas about feminism and women's roles differ markedly from her middle-aged counterparts. And she concludes that whatever choice a woman makes — home or career — she winds up unhappy.

Before long, Catherine and Gwen (incredibly) decide to switch lives to see for themselves if the grass really is greener. Gwen will move with her 13-year-old aspiring actor son to Catherine's New York City apartment to work on her degree. Meanwhile, Catherine will remain behind to care for Don and his and Gwen's 3-year-old son.

Implausible right? Even for a trio of liberal academics. I can't imagine a devoted mom leaving her toddler and her husband with “the other woman,” even if she is a college pal. Even more implausible is Catherine's willingness to upend her life, “embrace mediocrity and ambivalence” (a cringe-worthy admission) for an unmotivated slacker. Maybe if Don were a catch ... but he's not, so I don't buy it.

In a play of ideas that questions long-held feminist concepts of equality, that dares to suggest “having it all” may not be possible, this is an unfortunate weak spot in an otherwise intriguing dramedy.

“Rapture, Blister, Burn”

★ ★ ★

<b>Location:</b> Goodman Theatre, 170 N. Dearborn St., Chicago, (312) 443-3800, <a href="http://goodmantheatre.org">goodmantheatre.org</a>

<b>Showtimes: </b>7:30 p.m. Wednesday, 2 and 7:30 p.m. Thursday, 8 p.m. Friday, 2 and 8 p.m. Saturday, 2 and 7:30 p.m. Sunday through Feb. 22. Also 7:30 p.m. Feb. 10. No 2 p.m. show Jan. 31 and Feb. 19. No 7:30 p.m. show Feb. 15 and 22

<b>Tickets:</b> $25-$81

<b>Running time: </b>About two hours, 30 minutes with intermission

<b>Parking: </b>$21 parking (with Goodman validation) at the Government Center Self Park at Clark and Lake streets

<b>Rating: </b>For adults, contains mature themes and language