Nora Dunn Saves The Universe In MYTHICAL PROPORTIONS

So listen up big Hollywood agents and moguls.  Don’t invite Nora Dunn to one of your big fancy parties because she won’t be happy and won’t fit in.   Well, that’s fine with us that love her  here in Ms. Dunn’s hometown of Chicago because she is a part of our very core that embodies what an genuine actress should be.   In short, she is a bit odd, a little off-putting and most important, truthful.  In her new one woman show, Mythical Proportions that opened Monday night at Theatre Wit, Nora Dunn weaves a tapestry of different and  seemingly disjointed stories, into a hilarious and often poignant view of life under the spotlight of fame.

Told in just over 70 minutes, Mythical Proportions allows Ms. Dunn to vent her angst against the fame machine, which she knows all to well from her years on SNL and as part of some of the most successful movies in the last thirty years.    In doing so, she uncovers some intriguing human stories including an African-American woman who begs her ‘Archie Bunker-esq’ husband to “get with the program”; a young doll who believes her poetry is worth monetary recoupment and who also has a distain for Mr. Rogers;  a Hollywood agent who by changing common names, made stars out of Rock Hudson and the like; and her own life story where Ms. Dunn found solace in visiting a wooden leg in her family’s basement.

Yes, your right, even reading this as a critical review Mythical Proportions doesn’t make sense.  But guess what? It doesn’t have to.  Ms. Dunn will put it all together for in a way in which very few performers are able; my allowing the patron to be emotionally accessible to the performer.   That is that quality which made Ms. Dunn famous on SNL and continues to make her a vibrant actor and human being.   By the end of the performance you will want to take her out for cocktails and continue the conversations.   In fact, I’m going to do just that!

Nora Dunn’s Mystical Proportions plays through September 22, 2013 at Theatre With, 1229 W. Belmont Ave., Chicago.   For more information visit TheatreWit.org or call 773.975.8150.  For calendar information visit www.TheatreInChicago.com