Speech and Debate
Description
Playwright Stephen Karam's tale of three Oregon teens whose knowledge of each other's incriminating sexual secrets is used as blackmail bargaining chips—to force one another into joining socially ostracized extracurricular activities—is so reckless, delicate and slight, it feels as though it could misfire at any moment. But Speech and Debate hits its moving cultural targets all evening long. New ATC artistic director PJ Paparelli makes a startlingly sure-footed Chicago directorial debut, keeping a casual but always-buzzing energy behind the action, and his terrific young actors always make us feel in on the joke. This play is a fucking blast.—CP
