'Chesapeake' ★★★

( April 13, 2012 )

At the height of the so-called culture wars of 20 years past -- when the late Senator Jesse Helms was raging against "obscene" artists funded by the NEA - you could look from the sidelines and marvel at the distance between these two passionate American constituencies. In Lee Blessing's very amusing little one-actor play, a senator's dog, a savvy Chesapeake Bay retriever named Lucky, acts as an intermediary. Blessing tells his shaggy-dog story entirely through the mouth of a performance artist named Kerr, amusingly played by Greg Matthew Anderson. -- Chris Jones

Through May 6 by Remy Bumppo Theatre at the Greenhouse Theater Center, 2257 N. Lincoln Ave.; $30-$40 at 773-404-7336 and remybumppo.org