“Can we think one second how one rises from the dreck?” Will Arbery’s highly theatrical play Evanston Salt Costs Climbing might give us a clue – or even some hope – as we endure life’s rough storms. Before we see a glimmer of that answer, however, there is much angst to absorb. The experience is riveting, non-linear in its structure and profoundly thought provoking.
Jane Maiworm (Quincy Tyler Bernstine) is the Assistant Public Works Director in charge of the snow removal operations for Evanston, Illinois. Her employees are Peter (Jeb Kreager) and Basil (Ken Leung) who have the natural camaraderie of two men who have spent years riding in a truck together. The play takes place over three Januarys from 2014 through 2016.
Maiworm, as she is called, is reading a newspaper article in which her name is mentioned. The newspaper headline is the title of this play. Climate change is certainly a thematic element here but, in a greater sense, the destabilization of individuals in this very specific corner of the universe drives the drama. There is a soul crushing darkness in this play despite its comedic moments.
Peter announces early on that he wants to kill himself. In another early scene, Maiworm informs that the reporter who wrote the article has killed himself. Later on we hear that “the world would be a better place if we all killed ourselves”. Every character is intense, including Maiworm’s daughter (Rachel Sachnoff) who may or may not be the most broken of them all.
Maiworm has to deal with the concept of heated permeable pavers as the new technology for snow clearance. That would result in Peter and Basil losing their jobs. She frets. Jane Jr. is adrift, seemingly unfocused and seeing no future for her or her generation on this overwhelmingly haunted planet. What happened to her?
Peter wears his heart on his sleeve. Basil is much more carefully secretive. His speech about his nightmares is revealing and adds to the surrealness of seemingly everyday concerns. All four are observing, in their own way, “the new Rome in the days before the fall”.
Scenic Designer Matt Saunders’ stage is filled with two enormous warehouse doors which open and close for various locations including truck drives to salt and clear the roads. The Lighting (Isabella Byrd) and Sound (Mikaal Sulaiman) Designs are menacing and extremely evocative. The grinding of the doors seems to be the mechanical unoiled sound of America’s aging machinery.
Director Danya Taymor clearly orchestrates these troubling souls and their attempts to make sense of the world and their place within it. Moments of the ordinary are as effective as are the fantastical dreamscapes. Every character can make you feel sad but each of them does contain a light inside. That is never in doubt despite the darkness.
While it may be hard to imagine laughter, there is humor in this piece. All four actors are excellent in their finely etched performances. They battle brutal storms, both physically and metaphorically, while searching for a path (or attempting to stay on one). Will Arbery’s play cares about people as much as they care about each other.
I did say there was some hopefulness amidst the varying levels of despair. There is indeed. It may be that our chance for progress lies not in our minds but in an ability to act and not just wait for something to happen. Maiworm strives to use her administrative skills to “fix some specific tininess”. A notion worthy of consideration.
Evanston Salt Costs Climbing is being presented by The New Group at the Pershing Square Signature Center through December 18, 2022.