David Mamet reportedly took 15 years to finish this excruciating semiautobiographical play, which depicts the relentless, irreversible abandonment of a ten-year-old, John, by his errant father and traumatized mother. In the demanding central role, 14-year-old Jack Donahue delivers a meticulous, stone-faced performance that builds with such measured intensity it becomes almost too painful to watch. The adult actors in this Journeymen production–Shannon O’Neill as John’s beleaguered mother and Daniel E. Brennan as her morally bankrupt childhood friend, Del–need the better part of a half hour in the play’s tricky first scene to reach Donahue’s level of intensity. Once they do, Frank Pullen’s focused production packs a debilitating wallop. Through 9/10: Thu-Sat 8 PM, Sun 3 and 7 PM. Stage Left Theatre, 3408 N. Sheffield, 773-857-5395. $10-$15.
