THEATER

The Artistic Home is certainly daring and ambitious to dredge up Inge’s Natural Affection. It easily fascinates early on with its dramatic set up and feels right at home in the theater’s cozy storefront space ( the generous amounts of Chicago-area name-dropping also helps ) .

But Natural Affection comes off as a disappointment. The problematic script calls for the characters to unbelievably turn their emotions on a dime. And when the cast does just that, it comes out in such a loud ( and unconvincing ) screech that you question why the Artistic Home even deigned to lavish any attention on this histrionic muddle.

Don’t fault the actors for trying. When not in emotional duress-mode, the cast is quite enjoyable. Mike Carroll comes off best as the boyfriend Bernie with his thick Chicago accent and contempt at making less money than his girlfriend. Kathy Scambiatterra and Peter Fitzsimmons have some uncomfortable moments of mother-son incestuous tension, while Mark Dillon has fun being the drunk questioning his sexuality.

Under John Mossman’s direction, Natural Affection certainly received a handsome production at the Artistic Home. Kurt Boetcher’s aspirant working-class apartment is cozy and detailed ( the spinning aluminum Christmas tree is a great piece of camp ) . Lighting designer Molly Neylan frames the drama nicely around the characters, who are all done up nicely in Elizabeth Ann McKnight’s period costumes.

AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH

If that sounds like a recipe for serious gloom and doom -- think again. From director Davis Guggenheim comes the Sundance Film Festival hit, AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH, which offers a passionate and inspirational look at one man's fervent crusade to halt global warming's deadly progress in its tracks by exposing the myths and misconceptions that surround it. That man is former Vice President Al Gore, who, in the wake of defeat in the 2000 election, re-set the course of his life to focus on a last-ditch, all-out effort to help save the planet from irrevocable change. In this eye-opening and poignant portrait of Gore and his "traveling global warming show," Gore also proves himself to be one of the most misunderstood characters in modern American public life. Here he is seen as never before in the media - funny, engaging, open and downright on fire about getting the surprisingly stirring truth about what he calls our "planetary emergency" out to ordinary citizens before it's too late.

With 2005, the worst storm season ever experienced in America just behind us, it seems we may be reaching a tipping point - and Gore pulls no punches in explaining the dire situation. Interspersed with the bracing facts and future predictions is the story of Gore's personal journey: from an idealistic college student who first saw a massive environmental crisis looming; to a young Senator facing a harrowing family tragedy that altered his perspective, to the man who almost became President but instead returned to the most important cause of his life - convinced that there is still time to make a difference.