The staff of Phillyist totally digs James Sugg. We totally dig Geoff Sobelle (yeah, I know, the last two links go to the same place—I saw both shows on the same day). We totally dig Dito van Reigersberg, aka Martha Graham Cracker. And, because three out of four ain't bad, it kind of stands to reason that I totally dug Chekhov Lizardbrain, Pig Iron Theatre Company's latest original work, which deals simultaneously with Chekhovian theory and contemporary neuroscience. (Don't worry, it's not as boring or serious as it sounds.)

Lights up (and what interesting lights, by James Clotfelter, they are!): curtain opens on Sugg, standing against a gorgeous canyon-like background (designed by Anna Kiraly), playing the show's title character, as well as a curious fellow named Dmitri, in top hat, tails, and sock garters—that's right folks, he's pantless. Sugg is one of those incredibly versatile performers who brings something new to the stage every time he graces it: it doesn't feel like you're watching James Sugg playing Chekhov Lizardbrain, it feels like you're watching Chekhov Lizardbrain himself. It's something lesser performers aspire to. Sugg's two characters interact impressively with each other in Jekyll-and-Hyde-like fashion, with less disastrous results: the title character in his amazingly-projected mumble, and Dmitri in a high-pitched, neurotic half-whisper (kudos, by the way, to sound designer Nick Kourtides on this excellently and unobtrusively-miked show). Although Sugg didn't sing a note of music throughout the show, his classical vocal training shines through the spoken dialogue.

Which isn't to say that the rest of the cast (Sobelle, van Reigersberg, and Gabriel Quinn Bauriedel) didn't shine in their respective roles—only that Sugg, as title character, was granted the most stage time. Each played a very different character representing a different "part" of the brain and the different emotional and physiological reactions associated with it: the lizard brain, dog brain, and the human brain. It was an interesting conceit to make the three characters brothers, as well, making clear the extent to which each "brain" was similar, and where the similarities ended—and how chaotic the interaction between the three can be. The whole production is a lovely showcase of each of the actors' unique talents (although I half-expected van Reigersberg to come out in one of Martha Graham Cracker's wigs and start belting out "Rocket Man," because that's how I've become used to seeing him of late), even to the extent that I can't imagine it being performed by very many other actors, if any at all.

Clockwise from top left: Geoff Sobelle, Dito van Reigersberg, Quinn Bauriedel, and James Sugg. Photo by Jason Frank Rothenberg.