Regional

Gas for Less

 (Goodman Theater, Chicago; 387 seats; $38 top)

By STEVEN OXMAN

Ernest Perry Jr., Rian Jairell and Robert Breuler long for the good old days in Brett Neveu's play 'Gas for Less'

A Goodman Theater presentation of a play in two acts by Brett Neveu. Directed by Dexter Bullard.
 
Bilal Asif - Kareem Bandealy
Art Pelenkovic - Robert Breuler
Benji Colan Vera - Nathan Alan Davis
Anthony Pelenkovic - Rian Jairell
Pat Munson - Ernest Perry Jr.
 

With gas prices and the travails of working-class America leading pretty much every newscast these days, could there be a more timely subject for a play than a family filling station shutting down because of rising fuel costs? But Brett Neveu's "Gas for Less," a meditative but frustratingly unrefined play premiering at the Goodman Theater in Chicago, focuses less on economics and more on the subject of change itself, as the denizens of a decaying business yearn for a time when a discount convenience store could survive more as a source of camaraderie than profit.

Inspired by a real-life institution on Chicago's North Side -- the title is based on a local-landmark neon sign that now sits in a museum -- "Gas for Less" centers on Anthony Pelenkovic (Rian Jairell), a young guy decidedly lacking in ambition and now managing, or at least manning, the family "shop."

The milieu and Anthony's expertise at hanging out make him seem at times like a figure out of an early Kevin Smith or Richard Linklater film, but he's more of a nostalgic kind of guy who just wishes the store was still like it was when he was a kid -- a place where friends and other independent gas station owners came to linger and watch sports.

The TV and the sports still run constantly, but the guys have died or moved or "sold out," so the only people who ever dawdle are his grandfather Art (Robert Breuler), who has owned the store for decades, and his old pal Pat (Ernest Perry Jr.), who, like Anthony, just wishes the world would stand still.

The dialogue comes most alive when Breuler is speaking, largely because he has great chemistry with Perry and because he captures an interesting character, a charismatically crusty Croatian immigrant who one moment expresses distrust of all and the next hands out free goodies. There's definitely something lively about watching him and Pat debate the amount of juice in a Kiwi-Strawberry Snapple. But mostly, the characters talk about the football games playing on TV (the play takes place on two Sundays in 2005). 

A sudden act of violence intrudes at the end of act one, which hastens the inevitable decline of the business, particularly given Anthony's enervated, if not absent, entrepreneurship. Tom Burch's wonderful set design, and Keith Parham's smart, fluorescent-infused lighting, manage to tell the story best, as the stock of Snapple and cigarettes depletes almost as if this were a Samuel Beckett play, a world on its way to nothingness.

Director Dexter Bullard gets the lackadaisical pace right, and the show picks up at the very end, as it becomes more image-oriented and less dialogue-heavy. Unfortunately, the play up until then is mostly small talk that doesn't harness enough wit or passion or character-based insight to be more than just small. It's familiar and fully convincing, but it's not especially entertaining.

The prolific Neveu's work has been produced regularly in Chicago for several years, and in addition to pretty much every major local theater, he's been commissioned by London's Royal Court and Manhattan Theater Club. He's a challenging young writer whose aesthetic ambition involves mixing observations of reality in pursuit of deeper metaphors.

In that sense, this play illustrates both his strengths and weaknesses. Neveu really has put his finger on something potentially deep about the conflict between American capitalism and community, and he evokes a compassionate, even soulful, feeling for the distinctive neighborhood spot battling it out against brand-name chains. But he rarely finds a way to make the narrative, the images and the themes generate sufficient theatrical power.

Set, Tom Burch; costumes, Tif Bullard; lighting, Keith Parham; sound, Joseph Fosco; production stage manager, Kimberly Osgood. Opened June 2, 2008. Reviewed June 1. Runs through June 22. Running time: 1 HOUR, 50 MIN.