Jean Dobie Giebel’s Chasing the River follows the post-incarceration difficulties of Kat (Christina Elise Perry), who returns to her childhood home to seek closure on a disrupted life. Playwright Giebel delays explaining, until the play’s conclusion, the reason Kat went to prison, and that choice is a double-edged sword. Although it creates suspense as to what really took place in her family home, keeping Kat’s crime and the backstory shrouded in mystery poses a problem for the actor who must sustain the anguish of a past life and bring it to a crescendo at the end.
David Wenzel as Nathaniel and Christina Elise Perry as Kat. Photographs by Matt Wells
Kat’s return to her roots starts simply. She has taken a job as a waitress because the job doesn’t require background checks, and her prison history won’t be discovered. Despite her physical freedom, she is unsettled, as evident from her physical jumpiness and the way she reacts to a visit by her old boyfriend Sam (David Rey). Their reconnection initially seems promising, as he invites her for dinner, but she discovers that he is married with a son, and he is now separated, and in limbo.
Years have transpired since Kat’s parents, who had a dysfunctional marriage, separated, reconciled, and then separated again. In her youth, Kat had fractious relationships with her mother, Margaret, known as Maggie (Robyne Parrish); her father, Nathaniel (David Wenzel); and her teasing younger sister Beth (Caroline Orlando). Kat also demonstrates genuine concern and affection for Beth, who runs away at 12, and her Aunt Adelaide (Sara Thigpen), who wants Kat to succeed in college, away from her drunk and abusive father. Adelaide gives Kat money, with the admonition not to let Nathaniel know about it. She knows he will squander it. The money, however, never goes to Kat’s education.
Kat has deeper problems that she cannot transcend, nor even verbally acknowledge. She has been a victim of sexual abuse, and the ghosts of her past haunt her: Kat hears and sees a younger, frustrated Sam, who was banned by Nathaniel from dating her. In a flashback, Adelaide, who encourages Kat, stands smoking, resembling a guardian angel with a halo. Adelaide tells Kat a story of second chances, of “Treetop Jack,” a poker player: “Hiding under his napkin was one last lonely chip. That’s all he needed to stay in the game.” Jack was “chasing the river”; the river card is the last card dealt, the last chance to reverse a losing streak.
The action, under the direction of Ella Jane New, fluctuates between past and present, and Michael Abrams’ lighting helps identify which is which. In the present, only Kat, Sam, Maggie, and Beth exist. Beth, who has been a runaway since age 12 and now works in Chicago, suddenly returns home with Adelaide’s will in hand.
Kat’s psychological trauma has hounded her since her teens, and it relates to sexual abuse. If one reads between the lines, this abuse is obvious well before it’s disclosed, yet Giebel keeps the specifics vague, even when Kat’s anger increases as Sam discloses that he had known for two years what was going on in her house, but did nothing. Maggie, Kat’s estranged mother, claims she was unaware; she is in total denial, and Kat scorns her for it. When Kat cries out to present-day Sam and Beth the details of her suffering, it is no real surprise. It is then, for the first time, Kat’s rages with the same pent-up anger that sent her to prison. Kat sets out to take revenge but is stopped by Sam and Beth.
Christina Elise Perry as Kat
When Kat collapses in tears, she says what many women who have been raped, or sexually assaulted, feel: “It’s my fault.” Beth and Sam assure Kat that she is not to blame. Although Kat’s future is unclear, her willingness to return with Beth to Chicago intimates she there may be a second chance for her.
Giebel’s script, on a critical contemporary issue, is performed well by Thigpen and Orlando, who shine. Perry’s performance is competent, but until the final revelation of sexual abuse, it lacks the searing rage one would expect from an incest survivor. One wishes that the rage, guilt, and sense of helplessness that one sees in her at the end had intensified incrementally. Despite the challenge Giebel has set for herself in delaying the revelation of incest, both the subject matter and the way she weaves the story are highly compelling. In an era where #MeToo has become a clarion call but many women still do not speak out for fear of shame and stigma, this play is a powerful reminder of society’s failure to adequately address this issue.
Chasing the River runs until Feb. 29 at the Chain Theater (312 West 36th St.), 4th Floor. Performances are Wednesdays through Saturdays at 8 p.m. and Sundays at 3 p.m. For tickets and information, call (866) 811-4111. or visit chaintheatre.org,
