Part of my job as a critic is to watch myself watch things. During the world premiere of Antoinette Nwandu’s Pass Over at Steppenwolf Theatre, I watched myself squirm.
Though, as the play’s title suggests, the more appropriate religious reference is Old Testament rather than New. Before she’s done, Nwandu’s absurdist pastiche has mutated into a latter-day reenactment of the exodus-from-Egypt story, and from there into pure protest: guerrilla-theater reductive (there are no exceptions made for “good” whites), but also guerrilla-theater powerful. Nwandu has written a true heart’s cry of a play about what she’s not alone in seeing as a deadly, racist national campaign against all our Moseses and Kitches.
Through 7/9: Tue-Fri 7:30 PM (no show 7/4), Sat 3 and 7:30 PM, Sun 3 PM Steppenwolf Theatre 1650 N. Halsted 312-335-1650steppenwolf.org $30-$89
