When it comes to relationships, “meet the family” is a major milestone. Expectations, emotions, and uncertainty are often high on both ends. But what if the new partner in question has been alive for centuries and has the bloodlust to prove it?
Untitled Vampire Play deftly explores this question with both laugh-out-loud moments and a tangible sense of danger throughout. Lookingglass Theatre Company’s world premiere season closer combines Meet the Parents with What We Do in the Shadows, as a Chicago bartender falls for a beautiful night nurse and is thrown into the chaotic, cannibalistic world of the undead, who walk among us every day.
An ensemble that earns its bite
Dom (Jordan Anthony Arredondo) is excited to introduce his jokey retired dad (Kareem Bandealy) and police detective mom (Cynthia Kaye McWilliams) to his new girlfriend, Val (Courtney Rikki Green). There’s only one thing his parents need to know first: Val is a vampire.
Soon, matters get even more complicated with the return of Val’s brother Roderick (Walter Briggs), who encourages the worst habits in his sister Rose (Jin Park). Meanwhile, Dom’s mother Alicia investigates a serial killer loose in Chicago’s notorious “Viagra Triangle.” Can Dom and Val make it work? And would Dom consider making their relationship… eternal?
Director Devon DeMayo keeps Untitled Vampire Play’s pacing quick and the quips flowing, like any good romcom, even one where two characters are devouring douchebros in the streets. Kevin Douglas’s script only has one misfire: the play’s last few minutes take on a serious, fatalistic tone that threatens to undermine the dark humor and fun of the previous two-plus hours.
Standouts in an overall terrific cast include Park’s Rose, a former “comfort woman” who fights her past trauma with online video game playing and man-trolling, and Briggs’s Roderick, whose attempts at modern-day slang and psychoanalysis often go hilariously awry. I wouldn’t say no to a spinoff starring these two and their misadventures downtown after midnight.
Aside from an unnecessarily morose resolution, Untitled Vampire Play offers silly summer fun, a story that doesn’t try to break ground but simply to entertain. And if the play’s logic is to be believed, we’ve all dallied with a vamp or two.
Is ‘Untitled Vampire Play’ worth seeing?
Despite an odd tonal shift in the final moments, Untitled Vampire Play is a bloody fun time chock-full of Windy City love.
- Lookingglass Theatre Company’s Joan & Paul Theatre, 163 E Pearson St at Michigan Ave, Chicago
- Notable performers: Walter Briggs, Courtney Rikki Green, Jin Park
- Running time: Approximately 2 hours 15 minutes with one intermission
- Performances through July 12, 2026
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