THEATER REVIEWS : Winter Wonderland : ‘Hellcab’: Christmas on Chicago’s Mean Streets

“Hellcab” at the Tamarind Theatre in Hollywood is funny, short and tight, a series of vignettes showing the passengers in a single cab on a cold Christmas Day. The unnamed cabby (Paul Dillon) who drives the mean streets of Chicago from 6 a.m. until dark looks menacing, but he is green enough to be surprised by every urban nut he encounters. His reactions to the people he sees through the rearview mirror hold the play together. In his responses we begin to discern a man who is often terrified and always decent.

Playwright Will Kern based the play on his own experiences, and he says it is 90% fact. Cabby X deals with a strung-out lady (Tara Chocol) and her momentary boyfriend (the truly frightening Andrew Hawkes), a hyperventilating couple on their way to the maternity ward (April Grace and Reggie Hayes) and an out-of-town restaurateur (Loren Lazerine) whose racist bile activates the cabby’s protective instincts.

Finally, the cabby picks up a devastated rape victim (Laura Kellogg Sandberg). His inability to help her upsets him so much that he pours his heart out to his next and last fare, an architect with a good ear and an open heart (the solid Hayes). The connection between the two men is as transient as they come, but in it we find a kind of permanent grace.

While it may pretend to be tough, “Hellcab” in fact has a sentimental heart. Jennifer Markowitz directs the excellent cast, most of them repeating roles they first performed at Chicago’s Famous Door Theatre. “Hellcab” is short enough to be an hors d’oeuvre before a holiday dinner and full enough to be the main repast.

* “Hellcab,” Tamarind Theatre, 5919 Franklin Ave., Hollywood, Tuesdays-Sundays, 8 p.m. Ends Jan. 7. $15. (213) 466-1767. Running time: 1 hour, 10 minutes.