Review: Off The Wall Theatre Revisits the Human Condition in Wilder's THE SKIN OF OUR TEETH

Long ago and far away in an ice age near the fictional town of Excelsior, New Jersey, playwright Thornton Wilder placed the supposedly All American Antrobus family-two adults, two children and their luscious looking maid. They survive dinosaurs and disasters in The Skin of Our Teeth, Wilder's Pulitzer Prize Winning 1942 play at Off The Wall Theater (OTW) through July 3. Artistic Director Dale Gutzman assembles an eclectic, extensive cast transcending the floods, hurricanes, war and 5000 years of marriage, a true miracle, to relate Wilder's menagerie of time frames and philosophical journeys on how the human species copes over centuries.

In the intimate black box theater, OTW uses their aisles to great advantage, the door to the Antrobus house near the front of stage, so numerous entrances and exits occur along the aisle. Technical Director David Roper manages the sound and fury of these natural elements with precision, an amazing feat for whatever Gutzman envisions on any given evening.

The main character behind the Antrobus family, Sabina, dusts and keeps the home fires burning, and represents the ancient Lilith, a temptress in this multi-age adventure. Mr.and Mrs. Antrobus, often referenced as Adam and Eve, and their children Henry, first named Cain who killed the unmentioned brother Abel, and Gladys, seek solace in their home, courtesy of Sabina, who generally keeps an as semblance of order through the allegorical play. Often she breaks the fourth wall, speaking to the audience while she comments of the state of the play and the world, and occasionally the play stops so the real life actors can comment while the surreal evening unfolds.

Kathiamarice Lopez scintillates in this tempting vision of Sabina---although when watching an earlier version of Wilder's play, Vivian Leigh plays Sabina with a tongue in cheek charm to lighten the misfortunes this family encounters.. Gutzman directs his cast with a more serious tone. While 1942 recognized a world in the midst of a World War, similar to the third act, a half a century later numerous disasters, think earthquakes and tsumanis, and wars circle the globe. While the Antrobus family survives, Sabina wonders, "But if you any ideas about improving this crazy old world, I'm with you. I'm really with you."

Carole Herbstreit-Kayinyen as Mrs. Antrobus partners with her husband Mr. Antrobus Jeremy C. Welter., who cements the traditional, mid-century family with Welter a commanding and cool father, offering little warmth to his family until the final scene. Calynn Klohn imparts an intellectual innocence to Gladys while Patrick McCann (an artist on track to attend the prestigious Bristol Old Vic Theatre School in England this fall) effortlessly connotes a "bad seed" persona to the son Henry, Together, these five actors carry the play through chains of nonlinear events causing unprecedented chaos similar to contemporary events.

A host of ingenious costumes worn by the actors consort on stage to fulfill the extensive cast--including James Feeley, Lawrence J. Lukasavage, Ben Ludwig, Barbara Zeferos and Barbara Weber, to name a few. In the third act, these actors represent hours on the clock, the hands of time eternally moving, marked by great leaders and philosophers who speak each hour to the tenacity of the human spirit and then repel Sabina's attempts to seduce Mr. Antrobus, so the family structure remains intact. In the end, Mr. Antrobus discovers hope and redemption, faith in art and culture, while technology offers the world very little consolation, only advancement in science.

The original title references the Bible's book of Job, chapter 19, verse 20: My bone cleaveth to my skin and to my flesh, and I am escaped by the skin of my teeth. Job led his life as a faithful man, eventually struck by misfortunes that destroyed his family and wealth when The Devil struck a deal with God. The Devil would surely push Job to curse God under all these tragedies. God allows The Devil to plague Job with everything from Hell, and Job survives and then thrives, his fortune doubled when he refuses to blame God.

Perhaps Wilder infers the cultural and spiritual particulars in the world need to be celebrated instead of technology--- the world needs to advance humanity as much as science. The world in Wilder's play repeats mistakes over and over, rebuilds again and again, while uncontrollable natural forces impact lives--often by man's or woman's own hands.

Do revisit Wilder's' humorous and thought provoking play this weekend---always a fascinating OTW experience unlike any other in Milwaukee. Team Gutzman offers the pleas that perhaps escaping "by the skin of our teeth" too often has led to too little conscious change. Perhaps humanity can learn from Job...One would hope after these eons, and a multitude of disasters along with wars long ago and far away, that eventually humanity might concede some measurable change to improve beyond the wildest misfortunes the human condition.

Off the Walll presents Thornton Wilder's The Skin of Our Teeth through July 3. The company open Jean Paul Sartre's No Exit on August 11. For information on the upcoming season, or tickets to the performances, please visit; offthewaltheater.com.

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