Juggling Humor and Tragedy in Neil Simon’s ‘Chapter Two’

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Photo Courtesy of Cream City Theater

Cream City Theater explores one of Neil Simon’s weightier plays as it stages a production of Chapter Two. Set in 1977, the semi-autobiographical tale of a writer getting into a relationship with an actress inhabits the small stage at Inspiration Studios with a respectable shadow of the dark wit Simon constructed the script around. In tone and rhythm, this is a difficult script to nail perfectly, but the cast does an admirable job of juggling humor and tragedy in a largely satisfying staging.

Director Katherine Beeson and the cast have set the tone with costuming and decoration that vividly recall the era of the mid-’70s. Scott Fudali carries an intellectual and emotional distance about him in the role of widower-writer George Schneider, who returns from Europe to stumble into a phone call with a woman that leads to romance. An emotionally agile Joanna Langworthy plays the woman in question: an actress named Jennie. Langworthy somewhat gracefully pirouettes through an impressive character arc that opens in frustrated indifference, moves on to passionate romance and then crashes into passionately frustrated anger.

Fudali and Langworthy are accompanied by Nicholas Callan Haubner and Rachel Verhoef in supporting roles. Haubner plays George’s brother, Leo, who is having marital problems; Haubner manages some of the inner sophistication required to render the personality of a man totally well-adjusted to complete and utter instability. Verhoef wields a thoughtfully soulful humor in the role of Jennie’s friend, Faye, who’s also going through marital issues. Faye is given some of the sharpest humor in the script, and Verhoef takes to it beautifully as things begin to crash together for Simon’s four characters.

Through March 22 at Inspiration Studios, 1500 S. 73rd St. (but given the evolving situation regarding the novel coronavirus pandemic, be sure to call ahead regarding future performances).