Review: "Muffed” with The Factory Theater and Unheard Of.

before we get anywhere, it seems necessary to sit down and dissect the charmingly verbose title of Zack Peercy's (deep breath), The Meaningful Action Theatre Company Presents A Workshop Reading of “Muffed: A Recounting of Farmington, Maine’s 43rd Annual Chester Greenwood Day Devised by the Members of the Meaningful Action Theatre Company and Produced by David New," (for the sake of brevity, and sanity, we'll call it Muffed from here on out), now in a new staging co-produced by The Factory Theater and Unheard Of.

for starters, The Meaningful Action Theatre Company is not a real theater company, though they most certainly carry the trademarks of a myriad of current, and extant, theaters I've encountered here in Chicago, complete with young, eager ensemble members, absent and obstinate board members, and a penchant for protecting abusive artists for the sake of financial gain and clout.
Chester Greenwood Day, on the other hand, is a real holiday celebrated in early December by the residents of Farmington, Maine, honoring their hometown hero who invented the earmuffs back in the 1870's.
finally, inexplicably, David New is a very real person - seated behind me at my performance, no less! - who has indeed stepped up to support this production of the show (he is also, believe it or not, Peercy's real-life landlord).

thus, earnestness and frivolity, fact and fiction, oddball humor and heartwarming sentimentality all co-mingle in director Kayla Menz's high-spirited production, where the structural template of "The Laramie Project" meets the absurdity and wit of The Simpsons. what we are witness to is, as the title states, a workshop reading of a new play devised by the aforementioned Meaningful Action Theatre Company chronicling a series of moments and encounters with residents of Farmington, all leading up to the 43rd annual celebration of "the man behind the muff."

in typical documentary theater style, the actors play both "themselves," and a wide array of Farmington residents, ranging from government officials to history professors to local law enforcement to change-hungry students to little kids entering the gingerbread house building contest. there's great humor in the larger-than-life characterizations the ensemble brings to their work, both as the actors they're playing within the kayfabe of The Meaningful Action Theatre Company, in addition to the wide variety of hats - literal and metaphorical - they switch between throughout the evening (watching an actor like Jaycey Carlson flopsweat from one costume to another is a delightful bit worth the price of admission).

how silly is *too* silly, though? as many great laughs as there are throughout Muffed, the nonsensical nature of the wonderfully game ensemble threatens to become at odds with Peercy's eventual turn to the serious as the script goes on. overall, the battle to mix sincerity with goofiness is mostly a successful one, with themes of community-building and mindful labor practices emerging late in the game to land a meaningful punch, though not in a way that comes off as didactic or preachy. as a writer, Peercy wears his heart on his irony-laced sleeve, and seventy-five minutes of blisteringly funny storefront theater self-owns and small-town antics can't help but lead to a conclusion steeped in feel-good, community-centric whimsy.

a work like this warrants a cast of wonderfully willing participants, and Menz's cast more than delivers, from Reginald Hemphill's eager and conflicted Company Leader, to Josh Philoon's anti-capitalist tirades, to Liz Falstreau's scene-stealing turn as - what else - the ghost of a dead opera singer. the sense of camaraderie onstage is a delight to witness, and one imagines, as the run goes on, their ease with each other in performance will grow and grow.

Muffed, more than anything, feels like a homemade present you'd make for your parents; scrappy and jagged and not totally cohesive, but full of character with its heart in the right place. in Peercy's own words, "the best muff is the muff you make yourself."

“Muffed” runs an estimated 100 minutes, and performs at The Factory Theater (1623 W. Howard) through September 20th 2025. Tickets are available HERE.