“Oohrah!” is how U.S. Marines often greet one another.
That rallying cry is also the title of a play by Bekah Brunstetter about an American soldier returning home to his family in North Carolina after four tours of duty in the Persian Gulf. He’s an Army guy, not a Marine, but a young man wearing the blue Marines uniform also shows up in town around the same time.
LiveWire Chicago is performing “Oohrah!” as part of the Garage Rep series, in which Steppenwolf Theatre puts the spotlight on emerging theater companies. LiveWire proves itself worthy of the honor with engaging and believable performances by the whole cast in director Brad Akin’s staging of “Oohrah!”
Actresses Melissa Engle and Calliope Porter capture the complexities of the relationship between adult sisters. As the soldier returning home, Josh Odor shows bravado subtly mixed with uncertainty about his future. Madeline Long is terrific as his quirky, tomboy teenage daughter.
Alas, the play itself is not as believable as these performances. The portrait of the working-class family at the center of this story is credible enough, but playwright Brunstetter maneuvers characters into contrived situations, even if it defies logic that they would be together at a particular time and place. And a comedic-romantic subplot feels like it parachuted in from a Judd Apatow movie. The star of these humorous distractions is Joel Ewing (also artistic director of LiveWire), who’s likably pathetic as a doofus, but his scenes clash in tone with the rest of the drama.
Given those flaws, it’s all the more impressive that these actors nearly make Brunstetter’s play work. They don’t quite deserve a full-throated “Oohrah!” but let’s give them a salute.
“Oohrah!” continues through April 8 at the Steppenwolf Garage, 1624 N. Halsted St., Chicago. For tickets and show times, call 312-335-1650 or visit steppenwolf.org/garage.
