4-stars
That inspiration fix you’ve been waiting for since the rush of Obama Mania started wearing off

“Every generation has a challenge and this is ours.” How – with the distractions and isolation of every day life – to stay human.

It’s the challenge our writer-actor-heroes at Available Light take on in the new play [How to] Stay Human, the follow-up to their wildly successful production of Dirty Math.

In Stay Human, they take us to their houses, in front of their TVs, where they’re separated from one another by the glare of the screen and their carefully apportioned “lawns – the contemporary counterpart to the medieval moat.”

They talk about those moments of clarity we all have. Sitting there in our living rooms and realizing for just a moment that something’s wrong here. But not actually leaping up to do anything about it. After all, most of us – particularly those, I would imagine, who dig local theater – are already doing our part, right? Actor Ian Short defends us, “I give to MoveOn.org at least every third email. I took my mother to the Michael Moore movie. I am not all talk.”

It’s not one thing, though. One recycled grocery bag. One meaningful conversation. Stay Human shows us how our way of life is unsustainable. And, perhaps more urgently, undesirable.

This isn’t all about saving the world. It is, of course. But it’s about saving ourselves first. It’s about overcoming distraction and turning ourselves back on. About getting out of the mindset that we are the center of the universe. An exposition that is full of brilliant lines and laugh-out-loud staging, like Jordan Fehr flopped woe-is-me style across a big white couch bemoaning the horrors of the having to go to the super market after work. And Ian proclaiming that “ The weight of the average American car has increased by 33%. While the average American has become 20 pounds heavier.”

Of course, the play does tackle the environment. How could it not? The greatest evidence of how our personal isolation has impact. The can of trash we put out every week and the 70 just like it that are created upstream for every one we lug ourselves. The sorted future of the electronics we toss. How quickly all of our individual use adds ups.

As with most of their home-grown shows, Stay Human is packed with a seemingly unknowable number of smart lines and statistics (“The average American couple spends five hours watching television, but only four minutes in meaningful conversation.”) To act with this theater is to demonstrate a near-genius level of memory. The rush of dialog was made even more urgent in this production by more ambitious staging. Never did more than a few minutes go by without a chair or a bookshelf or recliner racing on or off stage, Actors scribbled furiously on chalk boards and stacked enough books around to, as my date said, make the stage look like my house. The effect was energetic and fun. So, no one was surprised when Michelle Schroeder broke out in a pre-intermission song about composting. Not even surprised when we were invited to sing along. (I did.)

The four actors in this cast are among the Midwest’s best. Together they have an enviable range of intensity and irresistible charm. There was not a member of the audience at Sunday’s matinee who did not laugh out loud, and probably, not one either who didn’t get chills.

In the end, we’re not left with a list of things to do. There is no prescription. Rather, we know we’re supposed to look at things a little differently. To meet the world with a more generous spirit. To consume less of the stuff that clogs up our lives and our world –from television to disposable containers. To believe that a group of friends (“with a decent Internet connection”) can change the world. And, to act on that.

“I’ve been well distracted. I need to do better.”

Stay Human is the first step.

Don’t miss it. Tickets are pay what you want. (Recommended: $15; Genuinely Appreciated: All)

There are five shows left: Wednesday (6), Thursday – Saturday (8). And, a special Friday “art break” show with Tip Top at noon.

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