By Lauren Emily Whalen
You Will Get Sick is a straightforward title for a play that’s anything but. Steppenwolf Theatre Company’s Chicago premiere of Noah Diaz’s 95-minute journey into an absurd wonderland includes community college acting classes, bird insurance, and unlikely human connections. The result is moving and laugh-out-loud funny, though slightly too reliant on its source material, 1939’s The Wizard of Oz.
A man with a debilitating illness (Namir Smallwood) posts flyers around the city for someone to talk to on the phone—he’ll pay. Enter an ambitious amateur thespian (Amy Morton) who’s also willing to tell the man’s sister (Sadieh Rifai) about his sickness over burgers and help him shop for mobility aids. Plus, he has cash. As the increasingly incapacitated man pines for home, the woman prepares for her upcoming audition, because why can’t she play 12-year-old Dorothy?
Directed by Steppenwolf co-artistic director Audrey Francis, You Will Get Sick boasts standout production values, including an urban sepia color scheme that gives way to brilliant pastoral hues as the ill man finds peace, as well as a few stunning stage effects. A truly terrific cast includes ensemble members Smallwood and Morton, the latter of whom returns to Steppenwolf after eight years. Diaz’s script, however, leans a little too referential toward the source material, sometimes at the expense of the show’s genuine human connections. When a climactic moment features actors Rifai and Cliff Chamberlain dressed up as the Cowardly Lion and Tin Man, respectively, Diaz doesn’t seem to trust the audience despite an hour-plus of homage.
You Will Get Sick plays at Chicago’s Steppenwolf Theatre Company through July 20.
‘You Will Get Sick’ takeaway
The Wizard of Oz is still an incredibly captivating film—just ask my extremely active 2-year-old niece, who watches a YouTube clip of Glinda’s bubble descent with silent awe and a loud request of “again!” It’s streaming on Roku and HBO MAX if you’d like to revisit pure wonder, minus You Will Get Sick’s winking at the audience. Those who want to see every pore on a young Judy Garland’s face or Toto’s tooth tartar can order the 4K Ultra HD edition, released in 2019 to celebrate the film’s 50th anniversary.
