CRITIC'S PICK
By Nina Metz

A year after he made "The Maltese Falcon," director John Huston enlisted in the Army, where he made war documentaries. His third and final film for the military was "Let There be Light" (1945), which chronicled the rehabilitation of the "psychoneurotic soldier," signifying men suffering from shell shock. The Army suppressed the film, ostensibly because it portrayed American GI's as less than rock solid. It was not shown publicly until 1980.

While working at a local video store, Jen Ellison came across a copy of the film and, along with co-writer Dave Stinton, reworked and condensed its themes into a stage play. Ellison directed this very impressive premiere at WNEP Theater. The theater space itself can be awkward, but it has never looked or sounded better.

The play retains the stiff, non-verite style of the propaganda film, as well as the somber, recurrent voiceover. At WNEP the focus has been narrowed down to just four soldiers, each of whom has a specific malady such as amnesia or psychosomatic paralysis.

As the Army shrink (the nicely businesslike Joe Janes) exhales a puff of cigarette smoke, he abruptly asks each patient, "How'd that make you feel?" and then gives an encouraging "atta boy" when he gets the proper response. In turn, each man has a bizarrely contrived breakthrough.

Peter James Zielinski is especially good as the grunt who hides his Purple Heart. The actor is a recent Illinois State grad, but he knows his nuances, and gives a charmingly detailed performance in a flashback scene at a USO dance, tossing a cavalier wink as he downs some spiked punch.

Steve Zimmers' evocative sound design and Jacob Snodgrass' lighting work in perfect concert with Don Hall's set of green Army cots, straight-back wooden chairs and an old-fashioned radio in the corner.

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