In Joel Drake Johnson’s play Four Places, siblings Warren and Ellen take their mom Peggy to her favorite restaurant without alcoholic Dad. Peggy has a secret, and they want to know what it is. How much noise can Mom make in public? “Some things, Warren, are strictly our business,” Peggy tells her son. “Your dad and I actually have a life outside of yours.” Peggy intends to keep it that way, but her children force a confrontation.
Johnson, an award-winning writer at Chicago’s Victory Gardens Theater, rends the family fabric and then nimbly bastes it back together. Nobody’s perfect, everybody’s got a secret and familial scab-picking is a time-honored theatrical tradition. Variety’s review of the 2008 Chicago premiere praised the work as “fully involving, frequently funny and ultimately disturbing.” 7:30 p.m. Wednesdays, Thursdays, 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, 3 p.m. Sundays. Through May 22. Stages Repertory Theatre, 3201 Allen Parkway. For information, call 713-527-0123 or visit www.stagestheatre.com. $15 to $25.

Wednesdays-Sundays. Starts: April 27. Continues through May 22, 2011

This article appears in Apr 28 – May 4, 2011.

D.L. Groover has contributed to countless reputable publications including the Houston Press since 2003. His theater criticism has earned him a national award from the Association of Alternative Newsmedia...