A Twist of Water will flow into the Mercury Theater

Stef Tovar in Route 66 Theatre Company's A Twist of Water

Photo: Brandon Dahlquist

Route 66 Theatre Company's hit production of the new play A Twist of Water, which closed at Theater Wit on Saturday, will transfer almost immediately to the Mercury Theater, according to the Chicago Tribune. The play, by former TOC contributor Caitlin Montanye Parrish (who's now a graduate student at the University of Southern California, studying writing for screen and television) with direction by Erica Weiss, sets an intimate tale of a contemporary family's emotional struggle against an epic recounting of Chicago's civic history. Twist earned a number of strong reviews (including from our own Julienne Bilker) upon its February 21 opening, on the eve of Chicago's city elections.

But perhaps its biggest boost came when Chris Jones's Tribune review, which ran that Friday, directly suggested that Mayor-elect Rahm Emanuel should see the play; on Saturday night, Emanuel took Jones's advice, a move that turned heads in Chicago in addition to earning items in the Los Angeles Times and the Wall Street Journal. (Longtime Rahm watchers know, of course, that it's far from unusual to spot the mayor-elect and his family at Chicago cultural events large and small. As our Dance editor Zachary Whittenburg's review notes, Rahm attended Giordano Jazz Dance Chicago's spring program Friday night, though I've yet to see any publications take credit for it.)

A Twist of Water has since sold out a great number of performances in its 99-seat space at Theater Wit, extending a week beyond its initial closing date of March 20, but prior bookings meant it couldn't extend further. The transfer to the 330-seat Mercury will afford many more Chicagoans the chance to see what Bilker called a "smart, affecting new play" and "compelling work" in which "Weiss’s agile direction is apparent in this solid ensemble’s deft navigation of a broad emotional spectrum." A Twist of Water will reopen at the Mercury April 14. Update: Tickets are now on sale through June 5.