Steppenwolf delivers keynote for new season with 'Detroit'

On the surface, there's not much to the Steppenwolf Theatre's new play, "Detroit," which makes it suitably set in the suburbs, where supposedly not much happens - as a calming source of pride to most residents - but where we all know the same desperation and disappointment percolates beneath the placid surface as anywhere else.

An older, more mature couple invites a younger couple - their new next-door neighbors - over for a barbecue, thus beginning a basic relationship that takes "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" and transposes it from academia to suburbia. Again, that's appropriate in that - as Steppenwolf explores the general theme of mixing the personal with the public this season - the company will take on Edward Albee's turbulent masterpiece as its highly anticipated next production later this year, with Amy Morton and Tracy Letts in the lead roles.

"Detroit" isn't quite as anticipated, but it certainly throws out the first drunk of the theater season, ending with a full-scale bacchanal, and it figures to be every bit as rewarding as its follow-up, if not more so. The cliché over the years has been that Steppenwolf frequently takes its top-flight acting and production and squanders it on bad plays. Lisa D'Amour's "Detroit" isn't a bad play, it's just a bare-bones script, full of abrupt blackouts and obvious conflicts with a few yuks tossed in here and there. Yet in a production entirely acted and directed by ensemble troupers, Steppenwolf fleshes out the abundant comedy and drama and brings this seemingly small play to life in a way that pays homage to the company's bruising, physical tradition.

Laurie Metcalf is the production's lightning rod as Mary, the older woman. In a play where all the other characters are hiding their disappointments, with varying success, she's the only one who lets her desperation show, whether musing in reverie over how she wants to "live in a tent in the woods," scolding her husband over his slow-developing new web venture or vomiting in an alcoholic haze on the shoulder of her new best friend from next door.

That would be Kate Arrington's Sharon, all tattoos, high-heel sandals and mascara. In a particularly neat twist she's paired with Steppenwolf veteran Kevin Anderson as Kenny, while Metcalf is wedded to Arrington's fellow Class of 2007 recruit, Ian Barford, as Ben, who is, as my grandfather used to say, between assignments, having been laid off from his bank job.

Anderson's Kenny is mellow, befitting his Bob Marley T-shirt, and Sharon is sweet if damaged. They're fresh out of rehab and putting their lives back together, as Sharon reveals, "Everywhere we've lived, we've hid from our neighbors and they've hid from us."

There's an ominous note behind every laugh in D'Amour's play, and Steppenwolf gets great comic mileage out of that tension as it builds. Ben's refrain is, "Let's throw those puppies on the grill," and Kenny mulls what if they were real puppies. There's a shifting story behind how Kenny and Sharon met, they have no furnishings to speak of, and Sharon is torn between the reality of their drugged-out previous life and their dreamlike new existence, later saying, "When you're at zero, anything can happen."

By the time Kenny is breaking open a beer and breaking into a hilarious rendition of OutKast's "Hey Ya!" over a possible boy's night out with Ben while the ladies are off camping, they're all bottoming out and anything can and will happen.

There are no captivating characters or bright-light soliloquies in "Detroit," hardly anything worth quoting, in fact. Yet the magic comes when Steppenwolf takes this seemingly slight play and uses it to deliver a jolt on the order of "American Buffalo" - at which point aged trouper Bob Breuler ambles in to deliver the coda.

Metcalf, Anderson and Arrington are all at their best, and if Barford isn't quite as skilled here as he was maneuvering the absurd comedy in Samuel Beckett's "Endgame" alongside William Petersen, it's no shame to run a respectable fourth in this cast. Director Austin Pendleton also contributes by calling for the scene changes after the blackouts to be done in full view of the audience. In bringing the backstage out front, he again finds a way to emphasize the theme of making the private public. It sets the stage for what looks to be a stunning season, even by Steppenwolf standards.

"Detroit" Rating: #9733; #9733; #9733; #189;Location: Steppenwolf Theatre, 1650 N. Halsted St., Chicago, (312) 335-1650 or steppenwolf.org Showtimes: 7:30 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday (Sunday evenings through Oct. 17 only), matinees Saturday and Sunday at 3 p.m., Wednesday matinees at 2 p.m. on Oct. 20 and 27 and Nov. 2 through Nov. 7Running time: One hour and 45 minutes, no intermissionTickets: $20-$50 Parking: Nearby garage and street parkingRating: For mature audiences (language, violence, suggestions of sex and drug use)