‘The Whistleblower’

Eli (Ben Faigus, left, on floor) is a screenwriter whose life changes when he decides to tell the people in his life the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, including (from left) his dad (Michael Kostroff), his childhood friend, Max (Andrew Jessop), and his girlfriend, Allison (Julia Alvarez) in Theater Wit's "The Whistleblower."

Art mirrors life mirrors art or vice versa —maybe — in Theater Wit's Midwest premiere of "The Whistleblower," Itamar Moses' ("The Band's Visit") 85-minute piece that starts out like a sitcom and builds to an existential crisis.

Moses’ third collaboration with Theater Wit after "The Four of Us" and "Completeness," the play was initially produced in Denver in 2019, then honed in New York workshops last year. Directed by The Wit's artistic director Jeremy Wechsler, "The Whistleblower" opens with a set-up that's ideal for a Hollywood industry satire.

Eli (Ben Faigus), a screenwriter who has been struggling for a dozen years, is pitching an idea to self-satisfied producer Richard (Michael Kostroff) with the encouragement of his agent Dan (William Anthony Sebastian Rose II). His TV show is about a screenwriter who decides his life is a sham and he needs to tell everyone in it the truth about everything. Improbably, the producer likes the idea, which could be Eli's first real success, but in the middle of his presentation, he decides to drop the project and leave, much to Dan's annoyance.

Convinced he needs to follow the course he was proposing for his character, with the hope of figuring out where he went wrong and finding his identity, Eli breaks up with his actress girlfriend Allison (Julia Alvarez), fires Dan over the phone and drives all night to San Francisco. There he drops in on his bickering parents, Joseph (Kostroff) and Hannah (RJW Mays), asking his father to stop turning to him for Hollywood breaks and his mother to stop being so overprotective. He also visits his meth addict and dealer sister Rebecca (Rae Gray) to urge her to give up drugs and the boyfriend who beats her, and goes to see his old friend Jed (Rose), whose assertive, pregnant wife Lisa (Alvarez) hates Eli for his betrayal of her best friend, Eleanor (Gray), years ago.

Tracking down Eleanor has been at the top of Eli's agenda, because he thinks that leaving her was where he started to go off track. He seems to believe he can walk back into her life, but their meeting doesn't go at all as he planned. So the next stop on his odyssey is seeing Max (Andrew Jessop), a one-time painter and ex-drug addict who now lives ona boat and does nothing at all, except have paranoid episodes.

A big scare propels Eli to shore and to undertake revisits. More "clueless truth teller" than actual "whistleblower" (someone who exposes wrongdoing) he encounters some surprises, thwarts an intervention by his parents who believe he needs professional help, and finally returns to his Los Angeles home, where he's on the brink of despair, having concluded that telling the whole truth is a double-edged sword and not the key to understanding yourself or helping anyone else. But, a final twist offers a hopeful finish.

By this time, or some time before, the humor in "The Whistleblower" has dissipated, leaving a residue of depression and a sense that Moses has written himself into a corner, even if it's deliberate. The tone of Faigus' performance also has changed from the determination and seeming elation with which he started his journey to almost suicidal resignation.

Something about the show isn't working, and that's reflected in the varying styles of the performances. While a couple are way over-the-top caricatures, the best come from Gray who creates three distinct, totally believable characters: Sophie, Dan's perfectly put together but unhappy assistant; aggressive tomboy Rebecca, and quietly damaged but resilient Eleanor, whose betrayal by Eli is tragic.

Brian Redfern's set is clever and versatile, facilitating the many scene changes with a minimum of fuss. Credit also goes to Levi Wilkins's lights, Annamae Durham's props, Jeffrey Levin's sound design and especially Johan Gallardo's costumes, which suit each character to a T.

I was happy to see "The Whistleblower" — Gray alone is worth the price of admission— but I think it could be much better than it is right now.

If you haven't already, make a point of seeing Shattered Globe Theatre's intimate U.S. premiere of "London Road," which has been extended through June 11 at Theater Wit.

Based on the 2006 murder of five sex workers in Ipswich, England, and named for the main street of its so-called red-light district, the musical by Alecky Blythe (book and lyrics) and Adam Cork (music and lyrics) is composed entirely of interviews with the townspeople and tells the story of the crime and its aftermath, focusing on their fears, anxieties, grief and means of coping with the tragedy and trying to get back to their normal lives.

Elizabeth Margolius sensitively directs the cast of 11 excellent actor-singers, some of them Shattered Globe regulars, who play 66 characters without regard to gender or age, which can cause some confusion. Music director Andra Velis Simon conducts the five-musician ensemble in a beautiful performance of the intricate, tricky score that, for me, was a highlight of the evening.

I have some minor quibbles with the staging, but overall, "London Road" is one of the best storefront musicals of the season.

$45-$52. 773-975-8150, sgtheatre.org

"The Whistleblower"

Theater Wit, 1229 W. Belmont Ave.

Through June 17

$18-$55

773-975-8150, theaterwit.org

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Updated: June 6, 2023 @ 1:20 pm

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