At the end of his charming one-person show, Gregory Henderson delivers a Carol Channing-style curtain speech in rhyming couplets, effusively thanking the audience and remarking how much Chicago reminds him of his native Oklahoma. From the mouth of others, the epilogue would seem twee and disingenuous. But the guileless Henderson somehow pulls it off, because this young performer is so earnest, genuine and talented.
"Big Wind on Campus" is Henderson's contribution to the growing genre of the character-based one-person show, in which an actor impersonates a parade of eccentric people, linked by location, situation or family. Although these shows often claim to be making universal statements about the human condition, the characters in these idiosyncratic affairs are generally all reflections of different sides of their creators. Thus Danny Hoch's people have a hard urban edge. Sherry Glaser chronicles a warm Jewish family. And young Henderson delivers college-town characters seen through the creator's openly gay prism.
The setting of "Big Wind" is a fictional Southern campus and the dramatic linking device is an impending tornado. Starting out as a peppy co-ed named Bitsy, Henderson plays an old campus groundsman and a collegiate cowboy named Bubba (Bitsy's boyfriend). Then there's a fundamentalist Christian drummer, a counter-cultural young student, Bitsy's flaky mother Peggy Lou, and a flamboyant drum major called Steve.
Performing for two hours, Henderson wears out his welcome and his decision to reprise his least effective character in the second act is poor. There's always a danger (especially in urbane Chicago) that unsophisticated comic southerners will come across as derogatory stereotypes. A better performer than writer, Henderson walks a fine line here, but this strong and funny actor's genuine affection for the characters' troubles seems so born of personal experience that the show has uncommon warmth. Equally at home in a cowboy hat or a dress, Henderson's carefully choreographed transitions are entertaining and the show is tightly directed by Joseph Massa. Hopefully we'll be hearing more from Henderson as he matures--his heart is definitely in the right place.
"Big Wind on Campus"
When: Through Oct. 27
Where: Victory Gardens Studio, 2257 N. Lincoln Ave.