Finally, a play in a gym! Working out is as routine as it gets for many urbanites. With routine comes familiarity, and with familiarity comes “family”… right? Sometimes not. Gyms are chalk full of potential, but the bikes swirl, the treadmills run, and no one talks to the familiar faces they see everyday. Webster Fitness regular Biff needs some help from his “family”, but is the gym ready for his bully brand of friendship? As each member tries to keep to themselves, the need for community creeps in. Billy needs to learn how to talk to strangers, Bull needs a spot to get that 500 lbs off the bar, and Biff needs a buck for a Gatorade. Just a buck. Nobody has a buck? Can Biff cajole the solitary members of Webster Fitness into noticing one another and the special makeshift “family” they have right under their noses?

This beefy new comedy performs in an actual Lincoln Park gym, Webster Fitness Club.

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(Recommended) CAN YOU SPOT ME? Sandbox Theatre Project’s site-specific comedy features eccentric characters, over-the-top scenarios, and everyday gym members going through their daily routines. Written by director Justin D.M. Palmer and actors Cliff Chamberlain and Chelsea Cutler, the show makes a pertinent point about our insularity even in social environments. Brightly funny, Can You Spot Me? also exploits the comic opportunities of its fitness club venue: the small playing space means that audiences watch some of the action in the gym mirrors, but this adds a realistic touch. The company crams more than a dozen clever characters, and even an amusingly choreographed alt-rock anthem, into this hour-long silly, smart, agreeably sweaty show. — Jenn Goddu. Through 6/25: Sat-Sun 9PM. Webster Fitness Club, 957 W. Webster, 773-456-2329, $15.

Can You Spot Me?

Sandbox Theatre Project at Webster Fitness Gym. By Cliff Chamberlain, Chelsea Cutler and Justin D.M. Palmer. Dir. Palmer. With ensemble cast.

A play about pumping iron set in an actual gym: Depending on your level of jadedness, the concept either intrigues or bores. Thankfully, Sandbox doesnt rely on the gimmick to carry the show. An old hand at site-specific theater, here the troupe demonstrates its understanding that without a worthwhile performance, an alt-venue production is like a giant birthday cake lacking a stripper inside: attractive but disappointing.

Fortunately, this is no such hollow endeavor. Spot Me's script is crisp, fresh and funny. Palmer and collaborators work from a timeworn templatea Cheers-like portrait of a public space that weaves together vignettes of regulars and newcomersbut they reinvigorate the trope through sharp writing and spot-on comic timing. Wisely ditching the obvious slice of life realism one would expect from in situ drama, Palmers company embraces a quirky, heightened style thats nonetheless rooted in real emotion. Theres a charming anonymity to the proceedings, as the ensemble understands the selfless give-and-take this kind of comedy requires. And just as it risks losing momentum by tying all the stories together in a neat moral, it pushes past the potential tedium by breaking into an 80s-inspired workout video. Its a daffy, off-kilter choice that works in part because it shouldn't.--Kay Daly

"This project is partially supported by a Community Arts Assistance Program grant from the City of Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and the Illinois Arts Council, a state agency."