'Three the Hard Way' a mixed bag in Steel Beam premiere
“Three the Hard Way” — ★ ★ ½
St. Charles' Steel Beam Theatre took a gamble in presenting the nearly forgotten “Three the Hard Way,” but director Ann Keen pushed for Lisa Eisenstein's 1995 family drama to finally receive a Chicago-area premiere.
While the play is largely solid, Steel Beam's production doesn't always pay off.
Set in 1991 in Reno, Nevada, “Three the Hard Way” centers around a trio of sisters who contentiously reunite after the death of their gambler father, Albert (a too low-key Larry Boller). As the sisters argue about what to do for Albert's funeral and search for his hidden stash of cash, they also reminisce about the past and question the personal legacies (for better or worse) of their father's unconventional parenting.
Eisenstein has created three juicy roles for the sisters, even if her reasoning why the women grew up to be so different is too pat: Each sister had drastically different experiences growing up with their widower father.
The eldest, Kathleen (a worldly wise and grounded Jessica McCartney), carries the heavy burden of a child thrust into a parenting role over her sisters. Kathleen also had to face the brunt of her father's erratic grief over their mother.
Mary (a peppy and demanding Amanda Tomczak) does her best to be the family's peace maker/task master. Yet she's blind to how spoiled she was growing up as the baby of the family.
It's the middle sister, Irene (a miscast Georgann Charuhas), who followed most closely in her father's gambling footsteps — much to the annoyance of her sisters, who have repeatedly bailed her out with cash. Try as she might, Charuhas doesn't convey the desperation of an aging good-time girl who still presents a carefree exterior. Irene's hard-living years with gambling addiction and failed relationships don't come through in Charuhas' performance.
Steel Beam's physical production of “Three the Hard Way,” which features rehearsal room blocks and tiny slide projections, is also hit and miss. The opening scene features a laughably ramshackle prop pool table made of plywood with food cans attached to represent the pockets (Pete Steele is the credited set and lighting designer). Yet sound designer Bob Krez has devised a series of great clacking billiard ball audio effects that are so meticulously timed by the actors and stage crew that they nearly compensate for the poor prop.
Concentrating on the production's wins over losses puts the proper emphasis on the play's relatable humor and drama surrounding sibling rivalry and parental resentments. That's where the payoff lies in “Three the Hard Way.”
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Location: Steel Beam Theatre, 111 W. Main St., St. Charles, (630) 587-8521 or steelbeamtheatre.com
Showtimes: 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday, 3 p.m. Sunday; through March 18
Tickets: $22-$28
Running time: About two hours, with intermission
Parking: Area street parking and nearby garage
Rating: For teens or older; features some harsh language