![]() ![]() ![]() I worked retail (albeit at a more-sedate-by-comparison bookstore) for several holiday seasons in my younger days. The other nine characters are also based in part on people Gómez knows through his mother’s job, and that familiarity means that there is a bone-deep verisimilitude to the interactions between these characters. (The playwright acknowledged as much in an online interview at the Denver Center for the Performing Arts, where Wally World had a workshop production in early 2019.) (That shooting is referenced, though it’s not a major part of the plot.) And the store manager here, Andy ( Sandra Marquez ), is inspired by Gómez’s mother, Andrea. His mother manages a Walmart in El Paso (the same city in which Wally World is set), though not the one where a terrorist attack by a white supremacist claimed 23 lives in 2019. It’s also a world with which Gómez is deeply familiar. From an assistant manager quitting abruptly the day before, to interpersonal employee clashes up to and including sexual harassment, to customers who take an, um, improvisational approach to attending to their bodily needs, Gómez throws a lot into the frenetic mix. ![]() The incidents that befall the beleaguered employees on Christmas Eve in Wally World put the misadventures of the Griswold clan to shame. Gómez’s play is set in a store obviously modeled after Walmart, but with a name reminiscent of the amusement park in National Lampoon’s Vacation. And if you need a last-minute dose of resistance and joy to help you get over the last days of 2020, About Face Theatre’s digital celebration of Black queer lives, Kickback, has heart and fire to spare. If you’re not working retail this Christmas Eve, spare a thought for those who are-possibly by carving out time to listen to Isaac Gómez ‘s Wally World, a two-act audio play now available through Steppenwolf’s “Steppenwolf Now” digital season. Best of Chicago 2022: Sports & Recreation.Best of Chicago 2022: Music & Nightlife.Get your Best of Chicago tickets! Line-Up Announced > Close ![]()
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