The Khe Sanh Bagman
The same local-joke sensibility informs–and ultimately undermines–The Khe Sanh Bagman, an evening of three one-acts by Leigh Johnson now receiving its world premiere at Center Theater. Set in Chicago in the six months leading up to the 1968 convention, these works illustrate our town’s exceptionalist view of itself: rules that hold everywhere else, whether against violent police actions or for honest government, simply don’t apply here. As a toga-clad Richard J. Daley says in the final one-act, “This is Chicago, and we have our own way of handling things.”
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What’s ironic is that Johnson himself should have fallen into the trap he identifies so clearly. His fond portraits shade far too readily into mindless boosterism, reinforced by nostalgia for the bad old days. Though this phenomenon isn’t unique to Chicago, it’s particularly acute here, as Mike Royko documented in Boss: even the Chicagoans who considered the first Daley an asshole cut him considerable slack because he was our asshole.
Johnson’s hero in “Light” is Mike (Richard Henzel), a payoff-taking cop and casual racist who, when he hears that his black precinct captain, Sing (Cedric Young), is attending a teenager’s funeral, presumes the young man was a gangbanger (in fact he was a marine). But you haven’t met this lovable a curmudgeon since Andy Sipowicz. When Sing worries aloud about the “loss of the faith that we’re all in this together,” Mike listens and responds with undeniable warmth and good faith. That tenderness of characterization is both the strength and weakness of “Light.” It makes you care about these two tired, puzzled men groping for understanding but also offers false hope about the likelihood of their finding it. When Mike and Sing unite to trick the blatant racist Sal (John Kooi), it’s easy to imagine that respect between individuals is all it takes to root out institutionalized racism and corruption–because this is Chicago.
Art accompanying story in printed newspaper (not available in this archive): photo/Lisa Ebright.
