Stephanie Shum, Natalie West Sadieh Rifai, Glenn Obrero and Kirsten Fitzgerald

Thus far, 2026 has been an uncommonly good year in Chicago for new work, bringing forth plays and musicals that push against the boundaries of theatre, in terms of both narrative and construction. The closing production of A Red Orchid’s 33rd season, Hanna Kime’s The Targeted, is another worthy entrant in the new play sweepstakes.

Lawrence Grimm, Kirsten Fitzgerald and Stephanie Shum

Unfolding over a single weekend in a secluded lodge, The Targeted focuses on five individuals who have gathered at “The Solidarity and Truth Summit,” a three-day conference led by Jeff (Lawrence Grimm). Jeff has a PhD in biochemistry and was a scientist at Purdue — or so he claims — but he is not here in his capacity as a scientist, but as one of the most outspoken victims of the powers-that-be — the people who rule the world, either overtly or behind the scenes.

Kirsten Fitzgerald, Natalie West and Sadieh Rifai

Jeff is one of the “Targeted,” a select number of individuals of extraordinary sensitivity who are punished by having the government torture them via implants, electromagnetic rays, and assorted other mechanisms. There is also a systemic effort to brand them as insane, so that their pain and suffering will never be recognized. But thanks to the internet, these people have found each other, and for the first time are gathering as one, in solidarity: Rhonda (Kirsten Fitzgerald) is their inspiration. Her book about the experience has gained her a legion of fans, two of whom include Sherry (Sadieh Rifai), a housewife afraid to tell her husband about what plagues her, and Eric (Glenn Obrero), a young man convinced the bump on his arm is an implant, who lines his beanie with foil and sleeps under foil sheets. Eric is here with his overprotective sister Mia (Stephanie Shum). Mia is a first-year resident and not one of the Targeted. She is only there to watch over her brother, and her presence immediately arouses suspicion in Rhonda, who does not trust any “normies” and wants her removed from the lodge.

And then there’s Didi (Natalie West), a sweet, dotty older lady who wears a lead-lined cloak and lives in storage units, moving whenever “they” get too close. More about Didi later.

Glenn Obrero and Stephanie Shum

The Targeted has a terrific premise and director Grace Dolezal-Ng makes the most of a wonderful cast. It is also quite gripping and very funny — especially when Grimm is on stage — but as the play went on, I felt a sense of a missed opportunity. In this day and age, conspiracy theorists abound and are ripe fodder for satire, but Kime deals herself a stacked hand by focusing on the most benign conspiracy theorists possible. We also never really learn quite why they are “the Targeted,” a plot hole that doesn’t jibe with the mechanics of the movement. This lack of depth extends to some of the characters, particularly Sherry and Rhonda. Sherry functions mostly as comic relief; in most of the scenes she is paired off with Rhonda, and while the actors are superb together, her big emotional moment feels like it comes out of nowhere. Rhonda is a two-note character: those notes being anger and distrust. Fortunately for the show, she is played by Kirsten Fitzgerald, an actor who can convey depth and nuance with the slightest flicker in her expression and voice. Fitzgerald rescues the character, dominating The Targeted in the process every time she is on stage, and the play is lucky to have harnessed this formidable talent to its service.

Sadieh Rifai, Natalie West and Kirsten Fitzgerald

Is it possible for an actor to be too good? I posit that it is and submit as my thesis Lawrence Grimm as Jeff. Grimm channels the faux paternal, silken tones, and mien of the conference guru set with frightening accuracy. His lectures are masterpieces of understated comedy; the audience laughter coming not from jokes in the dialogue but from his inflections and phrasing. So why is this a problem? Simply put, I could not for the life of me figure out if Jeff was truly one of the Targeted individuals or just a charlatan. Grimm has a beautifully written exchange with Mia (“Mia, is it?”) at the end of the play that should be a powerful emotional moment. And maybe it was for some. Not for me though. Even in that final moment, I could not decide where Jeff’s loyalties lay. It’s an incredible performance that never tips its hand in the slightest.

Natalie West, Sadieh Rifai and Glenn Obrero

Where The Targeted really shines is with everything to do with Mia and Eric. The characters are beautifully sketched out and the actors are incredible, playing off each other and giving us a fully fleshed-out, and doomed, sibling relationship. Mia’s rationalism will forever be at odds with her brother’s self-diagnosis and as much as she loves him, she cannot comfort him. This conflict forms the heart of the play and leads to an absolutely brutal scene between the two siblings that is one of the most devastating things I’ve witnessed on stage this year. Whether Eric’s pain and torment is real or psychosomatic is irrelevant. What matters is that he believes it is real. He is in pain and the person he loves and trusts the most in his life willfully refuses to acknowledge his suffering. How can any relationship — platonic or romantic — survive that? Is it any surprise that the Targeted are so isolated?

Lawrence Grimm and Stephanie Shum

And so we come to Didi. With Didi, we get the idea that she has been through everything the others have endured and has somehow managed to find a way to exist; Natalie West’s performance is a small gem, creating a character who is defined by her kindness. Her scenes with Eric are the loveliest in the play. By virtue of his youth, Eric is the most vulnerable of the lot — there’s an off-stage event that initially seemed to me to be foreshadowing his fate, and I was mightily relieved when it did not — and in Didi he finds what all of the Targeted are looking for: someone who understands them; someone who understands their misery.

Kirsten Fitzgerald and Sadieh Rifai

The Targeted has no answers. And it is to Kime’s credit that she doesn’t even attempt to provide any. It’s simply asking us to put aside snide dismissal and condescension and consider a life from which there is no escape, just management.

It doesn’t have an ending either. But at least for some of its characters, there is hope.

And sometimes that’s enough.

Stephanie Shum, Glenn Obrero and Lawrence Grimm

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photos by Evan Hanover

The Targeted
Chopin Theatre Mainstage
1543 W. Division St. in Chicago
95 minutes, no intermission
ends on June 14, 2026
for tickets, call 312.943.8722 or visit A Red Orchid Theatre

for more shows, visit Theatre in Chicago

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