Another Shot

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Before we even see Harry, we hear the banter between him and his on-air colleagues. Jurko asks, “My question Harry, Hawks’ game tonight, the live show tomorrow, plus the Bulls’ game. I’m setting the over under for tequila shots this weekend at twenty-four.” Harry defends, “C’mon now, it’s not about the numbers I put up. I just want our teams to win, and a great show tomorrow.” Carmen agrees, “Spoken like a true professional, Harry.” Jurko counters, “Drinker or broadcaster?”

And so begins Another Shot, Chicago sports radio personality Harry Teinowitz’s semi-autobiographical play about his eight weeks spent in a rehab facility.

There’s a surprise visitor when Harry goes to meet a DUI lawyer after being suspended from his on-air show. Sitting next to the attorney is Harry’s agent. The meeting has escalated to an intervention. To save his job he must check himself into a rehab facility. At first, he is in disbelief, but apparently the one with the drinking problem is always the last to know that it’s a problem. “I drank at any game, but there were Hawks’ games where I had more shots than they did. I always thought my cutoff point should’ve been the start of the third period. I was wrong.”

His Intake meeting with Barb the therapist goes well if one considers choosing to not answer a question directly is a conversation that goes well. He learns he will be scheduled for a complete physical and will be randomly tested for drugs and alcohol at least once a week. If he fails a test he might be asked to leave. Ever the standup comedian, “That’s a punishment, right?” On his first day, he goes straight from Intake to his first small group session. It’s the day he learns that there are 14,500 rehab facilities in the United States and St. Patrick’s Day parties in rehab really suck.

At “group” we meet Vince, a 52-year-old father of twins who don’t call him enough and a girlfriend who calls him too much. His drug of choice is Ketel One Vodka but Nyquil will suffice if vodka isn’t handy. Isaiah is a 33-year-old pharmacist with an opiate addiction and a particular fondness for OxyContin. Andrea is a 40-something on her fifth attempt at rehab (as well as a fifth attempt at marriage) and she likes her liquor brown: scotch, bourbon, rye, presumably in no particular order. George, the 25-year-old hot mess, selects a mixture of gin and Red Bull as his go to. These are Harry’s “peeps,” but by the end of the play they are family. Harry admits, “My group. Without them, and Barb, I’d have no story. Or at least one with a very different ending.”

Barb will occasionally dish out her Fun Facts: 22 million alcoholics in America and only five percent make it to rehab; the average person has driven drunk 80 times before they get their first DUI; one out of ten drivers on the road right now are legally drunk. These are always factual and, if we pardon the pun, sobering. Scene changes feature short voiceovers by recovering alcoholics speaking in other group settings. The message is of recovery always. For the individual that wants to be alcohol free, the group with its written assignments and daily meetings is a constant reinforcement. More importantly the members of the group are there to watch out for each other. When George is off on one of his binges, Harry confirms to the other men that the entrance to Walgreen’s is 148 yards away from their facility. He further confirms the liquor aisle is 162 yards away and then they are off “to shop”…the big talkers return from their expedition with snacks and store brand ice cream. In an aside to the audience, Harry confesses, “I still didn’t want to be there. But the last time I laughed this much with other guys sober, I was in a sandbox.”

As both playwright Harry Teinowitz and his co-author Spike Manton spent time in rehab, they carry us through the epiphanies as well as the relapses by injecting humor in every “shot glass” of this play. This is most evident when George returns from a drinking binge with the front wheel of his bicycle mangled into a pretzel. The roommates focus on the “falling off the wagon” rather than the falling off the bicycle. The highlight of their days (and nights) is getting together to watch reruns of Cheers, with the episode where Sam Malone relapses being one they can probably chant verbatim the way other people can act out all the parts of The Rocky Horror Picture Show.

The ensemble is impeccable throughout with special kudos to Dan Butler in the narrating role of Harry, the stand-in for our playwright, as he conducts us through the emotional peaks and valleys of a man who has it all figured out until he doesn’t. It is a multifaceted performance with humor that covers an unhappiness he isn’t even aware of until his daughter sends him a drawing of herself in colors: orange is sad, red is lonely and there’s hardly any green connoting love. Her to-the-point questions about the possible need to sell their house, Harry perhaps losing his job and the inevitable divorce of her parents leaves him devastated. Butler reading her note in tears gives us a stage picture we will not soon forget.

Chiké Johnson as Vince is the linchpin of the group. Johnson is all warmth and concern as Vince initiates giving George one more chance when the rest of the group has given up on the “binge king.” He brings the sheer depths of remorse to the relaying of Vince’s upbringing, telling of how his father provided cash incentives for how much harm Vince could bring to opposing team members on the football field. Vince’s father defined masculinity further in the act of never putting a cap on a liquor bottle as there’d be no need…a bottle (or more) would be finished in one sitting. That is an image that unfortunately haunts us later in the play.

Gregg Mozgala as Isaiah paints a clear picture of a man determined to beat the odds despite the fact he has destroyed a successful career he will never get rehired into again and sadly chose his addiction over a relationship when put to the test. Mozgala is poignant in Isaiah’s revealing his bad choices and living a lie in an effort to steer George back on the path of sobriety. It is a moving act of selflessness.

Samantha Mathis as Andrea never lets us forget as rock star Joe Jackson once sang, “it’s different for girls.” She points to the double standard that society is okay with men as alcoholics, but women who go out for drinks are “party girls.” As Andrea’s mom was an ugly drunk, the chances of the apple not falling far from the tree were sadly too great for the young girl who missed her dad. Mathis, in telling of mom finding Andrea’s stash of gifts from dad, is pitiable in her realization that with everything now thrown away all she will have of her dad are memories.

Quentin Nguyễn-Duy as George gives us a compelling portrait of a defeated young man in his 20s. With all male members of his family dying young, the pressure to be the man of the house is a weight he is unprepared to bear. The fear of meeting his mother on Family Day at rehab is mired in a history of his being a continual source of disappointment to her. His reckoning with his fear and summoning the courage to go visit with her provides Nguyễn-Duy with one of the more touching moments of the play.

Portia as Barb the therapist is the embodiment of tough love. A former addict herself, Barb settles for nothing less than success stories like her own, but realizes people are fundamentally weak and need a gentle touch to guide them to do the right thing. Portia commits to genuinely pained expressions when she must share sad developments about members of her group. It is the look of heartfelt care.

Director Jackson Gay is a master at pacing the scenes so they never drag or dwell on something maudlin. The denouement is handled sensitively as Gay has instilled in us a genuine care and understanding for each of the characters. Beowulf Boritt’s scenic design gives us a teal backdrop to a clinical setting that with the movement of set pieces doubles as the shared men’s space. A set off corner for Barb’s office, like Gay’s attentive blocking for the actors, is cognizant of an audience sitting on three sides. Alejo Vietti’s costumes are simple and character driven with Harry getting every opportunity to show off the love for his Chicago teams. Mextly Couzin’s bright lighting makes great use of fluorescent lighting and to great effect flashes of cop car colors to enhance at the top of the show when Harry is arrested as well as rooftop city panoramas.  Stefania Bulbarella’s projection designs enhance all the voiceovers of other group member testimonials while Daniel Baker & Co provides topnotch sound effects and design for scene transitions.

Another Shot is admirable in its core message of never giving up on anyone. People are known to have addictions as replacements for other things missing in their lives. With love and understanding in place, as we see here in the camaraderie of this group in rehab, the chance to succeed is magnified…another shot is right there before your eyes.

Another Shot (through January 4, 2025)

Romulus Linney Courtyard Theatre, Pershing Square Signature Center, 480 West 42nd Street, in Manhattan

For tickets, visit http://www.ovationtix.com

Running time: 90 minutes without intermission