Each of the thirteen actors who have piloted the Hellcab since the premiere of Will Kern's play in 1992 has brought his own interpretation to the role. But Scott Cummins also brings directorial savvy to his stint in the driver's seat, reflected in the current production's fresh topicality ù with references to escalating varieties of occupational hazards, racial discrimination on the part of both drivers and customers, and the social and geographical distinction between the South and Southeast sections of this balkanized city.
What remains unchanged, however, is the precise craftsmanship inherent in Kern's tough-tender tale of a lost soul rediscovering his humanity. Our nameless cabbie's automobile might be his only estate, and Christmas Eve the occasion of his encounter with as grotesque an array of apparitions as our urban landscape can bring forth, but Hellcab is a parable of death and resurrection as complex and elevating as its Dickensian prototype, the universality of its milieu contributing to its non-stop year-round run for nearly a decade.
Audiences who have not yet taken a ride in the most memorable vehicle since Charon's ferry should be warned that the hellcab is scheduled to lose its parking space (since 1994) at the Ivanhoe next year. But as long as there exist corners in this imperfect universe where there is not Peace On Earth and Good Will To All, the hellcab's domelight will continue to shine its small beacon in a dark world.
