THE BUG
The Bug, also directed by Strand, is funny in a formulaic way. Dennis, an assembly line worker at Jericho, Inc., in Skokie, visits the executive floor because he’s afraid the company plans to transfer him to Saint Louis. His quest turns into an inquest, however, when he lets it slip that he’s never actually seen his supervisor–it seems the man collects $46,000 annually without setting foot in the building. The interrogation that follows introduces us to three executive caricatures. Linda, the efficient assistant who thinks nothing happens unless she enters it into the computer, is indignant that something fraudulent–“a bug”–has sneaked into the system. She spreads the news to Kimberly, a stone-faced exec who won’t believe it until she checks the paper trail. David, the company president’s right-hand man, barely tolerates Dennis’s meandering story, interrupting occasionally to point a deadly sharp pencil in his face.
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Production designer Mark P. Radziejeski has created an incredibly slick look and feel for The Bug. The first scene opens with three computer screens casting the only light on a dark stage, giving his impeccable reproduction of an office an eerie glow. Near the end of the play a blinding light emanating from the president’s doorway hints at an evil force at work. But these are only sharp effects, and like the humor and the fine comedic acting, they can’t make up for the play’s lack of substance.
