And as CHALK AND SALTWATER: THE LADDER PROJECT winds on down the road...

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This is a ridiculously late posting about one of the best, most original shows that I saw last year at The Neo-Futurists Theater in Chicago.  There was a very good reason WHY American Theatre Magazine, October 2011, gave a nod to this show.  It was soooo fresh.  Rocker/playwright/director/performer,

John Pierson and conspirator/actor, Clifton Frei and the more than competent cast, including:  Trevor Dawkins, Gwynn V. Fulcher, Greg Guiliano, Becky Poole http://www.popneurology.com/wordpress/ , Eric T. Roth, John Szymanski, created an experimental show that Chicago Magazine listed as, "UNCLASSIFIABLE."  This made me feel a bit better since, at the time, I knew I was impressed and that I loved the show - but gosh, what to say about it...?  I wasn't sure...  In fact, I'm still not sure. Where would I begin?  There was an installation - a timeline in the lobby that described the inspiration for the show, from the late 1800s through the early 1900s when THE LADDER was on Broadway in New York City.  There were pictures of some of the main characters, like the man who commissioned the show, Edgar B. Davis and the other participants in the original drama that ended up being the most stupendous failure The Great White Way has ever seen...  One part documentary, one part diary of two mad theater dudes on a mission to create one very special theater show, one part improv, one part play, one part musical, one part meta meta, all with a raw, rock and roll, in-your-face feel - but all of it, good natured and with a sense of love and art and respect...  You kind of get the idea.  All of this to say, I hope the show goes up again somewhere since it was just so darn good.  And that is so very rare and hard to find.  Bravo!  Brava!