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Hellcab was a play being put on by "Famous Door" at the Ivanhoe theater. The set was simple, just a beat up old cab. The entire play was done in the cab, following a day in the life of a Chicago cab driver. He picks up some strange folk, ranging from a couple having an affair, to a woman who just couldn't get up the nerve to tell her boyfriend to get lost.. The cast was small, only 7, but each person played a number of characters. Scott Cummins does a wonderful driver, while Andre Teamer and Lisa Velten did a number of great passengers. With only a few players, they did a great job. A number of the characters were funny and almost all of them were played well. There was also a few scenes that forced the driver into uncomfortable positions where he had to ask himself how far he should go to help some one, like in one scene where a guy treats a woman nicely, but once she leaves, he shows himself to be a real jerk, not actually caring about the girl at all. Another scene featured a woman that had been raped, and the driver didn't know what to do to help her. These scenes added a nice bit of morality to the play that I feel really made it better. However, I still felt that a few things that took something away from the production, like number of characters were just dumb, and also the jaggedness of the connections between characters. The seats at the theater were small, and uncomfortable. It turns out that the Ivanhoe theater is about to close, this being one of it's last shows. The group will go to another theater, so Hellcab will stay alive, but the Ivanhoe will be turned in to a wine and cheese shop. Overall, however, it was still an enjoyable experience. Copyright, 2000, All rights reserved
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