Boneyard Prayer

Description
Set in a Depression-era cemetery, Boneyard Prayer examines the regrets of an alcoholic no-account who accidentally caused his infant son's death. But here's the rare instance in which an elaborate surface improves on a mournful meditation on grief and regret. In execution, creator Frank Maugeri and his creative team find original, arresting visuals and render them with ramshackle-yet-confident elegance. Employing dirt the way Metamorphoses used water—the set and cast are caked in it, and peat hangs in the air like dread—Boneyard is surely the messiest show Chicago has seen in ages. At last, a visual spectacle intended for grown-ups. —CP