Droll 'Augusta' scrutinizes
Talk about being nickel and dimed. Writer Barbara Ehrenreich, who spent a year waiting tables, cleaning houses and ringing up purchases at a big box store researching her best seller "Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America" has got nothing on Molly and Claire, the working poor protagonists in Richard Dresser's "Augusta."
The drolly written, wickedly satiric "Augusta," in a snappy Midwest premiere at American Theater Company, examines the American dream from those stuck on the lowest rung of the economic ladder. It's about power, manipulation and the lengths frightened, desperate people will go to protect their jobs (a point eloquently expressed in the play's final moments by Buddeke's Molly).
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This portrait of the working poor centers on the aforementioned Molly and Claire. Grateful for their precarious perch and desperate to keep it, these minimum wage everywomen do what they must to stay where they are.
Primary breadwinners for their families, their limited skills and education mean limited opportunities. So they (barely) make ends meet by cleaning houses for a national chain whose "golden guarantee" promises clients hand-scrubbed floors. Cynical, middle-aged Molly (the enigmatic Kate Buddeke) heads up the cleaning team, which consists of her and trainee Claire (a feisty Gwendolyn Whiteside). With her hollow eyes, stooped shoulders and drawn expression Broadway veteran Buddeke epitomizes a woman worn down by life. While Whiteside, with her brazen naivete, is every bit the impertinent newcomer.
Enter Jimmy (the gleefully disagreeable Ed Kross whose razor sharp timing makes for a near show-stealing turn), the fast-talking new manager. Weasely and self-important, Jimmy possesses the insecurities common to the middle-manager who has little power and less security. Looking for a way to strengthen his position, he comes between the women, upsetting their work relationship and their budding friendship.
First time director Nora Dunn confirms what we already knew from her time as a cast-member on "Saturday Night Live": she knows her way around a punchline. It helps that her veteran cast includes A-team members of the ATC ensemble. Their timing and intonation (Buddeke's weary drone, Kross' nasal jabbering, Whiteside's girlish chatter) is on target, especially Kross whose obvious relish of his part comes through in his zestful delivery of lines like "I'm not seeking to sexually harass you in any but a positive way" and "These are just facts, it isn't the truth."
The play's humor and social conscience temper the plot contrivances and cliches. Characters behaving out of character and an ending that doesn't sit quite right add up to a less than perfect play. Fortunately ATC's production is on the money.
"Augusta"
3 stars out of four
Location: American Theater Company, 1909 W. Byron St., Chicago
Times: 8 p.m. Wednesdays to Fridays; 4 and 8 p.m. Saturdays; 3 p.m. Sundays through March 2
Running Time: About 90 minutes, no intermission
Tickets: $25, $30
Parking: Metered, some street parking
Box office: (773) 929-1031 or atcweb.org
Rating: Adult subject matter, for older teens and adults