Chicago has seen of late an intriguing clutch of works looking at themes of family, culture and diaspora. Sanaz Toossi’s “English” (seen at the Goodman Theatre) explored a group of Iranian students dealing with the complexities of learning a second language. Michael Shayan’s “Avaaz” (seen at Chicago Shakespeare Theater) looked at life in America from the perspective of an Iranian-Jewish immigrant. And now comes Esho Rasho, a striking figure with a new solo show by Jackalope Theatre called “Dummy in Diaspora,” a piece about searching for a home in Chicago within the context of an Assyrian immigrant family, filled with stories of the mountains of Iraq and the pleasures of better days spent in the city of Beirut.
Rasho, who graduated from DePaul University in 2023, is an early career artist with a long way to go when it comes to universalizing his story and snapping back and forth into different settings. He needs to keep his own aesthetic rules more consistent, especially when it comes to exploring his addiction to nicotine, one of the show’s central themes. And he needs work on his temporal pegs. But Rasho is brimming with talent and his 70-minute piece already has enjoyed some acclaim at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in Scotland. It’s directed with some pizzazz by Karina Patel.
“My name is Esho,” he says at the start, “and I think there is something really wrong with me.”
Maybe so, but there clearly is a lot more that’s right. Much of the piece is about wanting to fulfill family expectations. If you’ve seen as much autobiographical work as I have, that’s a familiar theme. But there was something notably authentic about how Rasho explains that desire in the context of being a young and exploratory gay man, even though your folks were hoping you’d be married off and having kids at age 22. “There are times when I wish I could give it to them,” he says, eyes shining a little as he speaks of what his Assyrian refuge parents, who met in Chicago, underwent on his behalf.
Ergo, this is authentic work about the complexities of identity and Rasho understands that works like this always are better when you embrace paradox and doubt. You’re left with a feeling of the performer’s immense set of future possibilities and that’s always a good feeling to have when you walk out of the theater. Better yet, there’s an authentic Chicago flavor to all of this. When a city offers a home for refugees, it is often their children who become part of the repayment for that hospitality, enriching our theaters and understanding.
Interestingly, the Broadway Armory Park has of late been a temporary home to a new generation of newcomers to Chicago. Now, with Jackalope returning to its old theater space there, we see the benefit of new Chicagoans with new kids, new stories, old worries we all share.
Chris Jones is a Tribune critic.
cjones5@chicagotribune.com
Review: “Dummy in Diaspora” (3 stars)
When: Through March 23
Where: Jackalope Theatre at Broadway Armory Park, 5917 N. Broadway St.
Running time: 1 hour, 10 minutes
Tickets: $15-35 at 773-340-2543 and www.jackalopetheatre.org
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