By Michelle Martin
Staff Writer

Pacing the stage, picking up family mementos and musing on the meaning of life make up the bulk of John Powers’ entertaining one-man show, “Life’s Not Fair … So What?”, now in previews at the newly refurbished Lakeshore Theater on the North Side.

Powers, of “Do Black Patent Leather Shoes Really Reflect Up?” fame, wrote and stars in the show, which uses the occasion of an empty-nester packing up as chance for lecture about life.

While the play’s character is named John Powers, the work isn’t strictly autobiographical, said Powers, who was raised in Mount Greenwood on the Southwest Side of Chicago.

“The things that happen in the play fall into three categories,” he said in an interview before previews started. “Things that happened to me, things that happened to others and things that should have happened to somebody.”

He uses those things, and a generous sprinkling of one-liners and jokes, to teach the kinds of life lessons most parents want to teach their children, by words if they can’t quite succeed in teaching them by example.

“It talks about things that maybe you haven’t thought about differently, but maybe you should think about differently,” he said. “I talk a lot about my father and my daughters. That’s what life’s about, letting go and grabbing on. … It’s a story about those people who will always consider you a child, and those people who have only known you as an adult. Each of us is a rock that sends ripples through generations.”

Other family-friendly nuggets include:

“It’s relationships that matter, not awards and recognition.”

“The important things don’t involve money. Money is important if you don’t have it—it’s nice to have some money, but it’s not important to have all of it.”

“We always complain about luck when it’s bad. It’s always, the grass is always greener on the other side. We never think it’s luck if it’s good.”

“Sometimes, motivational speakers will say, ‘You can be anything you want to be.’ They’re idiots. I spent a good part of my childhood dreaming of being a major league baseball player. I had no talent. … What we should tell people is, ‘You can be more than you ever dreamed possible.’”

During the play, he talks about teachers he has known—the title, according to his monologue, was a motto of his eighth-grade teacher, Sister Lee—both formal and informal, and how he hopes he has been a “wizard” to his children, giving them wisdom they didn’t know they had.

The teaching theme seems to come naturally to Powers, who taught at the college level in Chicago for years. But the experience might hurt, rather than help, the play. One audience member and former student said watching it reminded him a bit too much of sitting through one of Powers’ lectures.

The play marks the first time that Powers, who has made a franchise out of growing up Catholic in Chicago, has crossed the line from writing to acting.

“I’ve been a professional speaker for the past 14 years, so I do have a sense of being in front of an audience,” he said.

But from early previews, he might need more practice. Where he seeks to blend elements of humor and heartbreak, he too often hurries from one to another, not giving the audience a chance to shift gears. His stage delivery mirrors his rapid conversational style, and the audience sees John Powers, the writer, reciting his work, more than John Powers, the character, reflecting on his life and what he has learned and lost over the years.

The challenge doesn’t daunt Powers.

“If life gives you a choice between boredom or terror, you always choose terror,” he said. “It might be a big hit. It might not. If it’s not, life goes on. What have I lost?”



“Life’s Not Fair … So What?,” written by and starring John Powers, directed by William Pullinsi, is in previews at the new Lakeshore Theater, 3715 N. Broadway. Individual tickets $25-$35. Call (773) 472-3492 for performance and ticket information, or (312) 977-1710 for group rates.