My World is My Stage

Molly Smith Metzler’s Elemeno Pea was by far my favorite play of the entire festival. Was it the most well written script? Probably not. Did it feature the best direction? No. Was I blown away by the performances? Not really? So then why was it my favorite? Because it spoke to so many experiences and it seemed like the only play that asked me questions without answering them before I had a chance to.

In the story, Buffalo born Devon and Simone have a sister’s weekend in Martha’s Vineyard where Simone has become the personal assistant to a woman who has married into her wealth. Devon’s first day in the Vineyard everything seems to come to a crashing halt when Simone’s boss, Michaela Kell, finds out she is getting a divorce. Questions about class, race, and the cost of “perfection” are all brought to the front and Molly Smith Metzler asks the audience to draw their own conclusions.

One of the best moments in the play is when Michaela reveals that she had a late term abortion and that decision is what is behind her husband wanting to get the divorce. She reveals that the reason she choose to have the abortion is that after finding out the baby would be a dwarf the husband was insistent on forcing the child to undergo surgeries that would make him “normal” and fit in to the “Martha’s Vineyard Society.” She was unwilling to put her child through that type of pain and scrutiny, so she decided to abort the child. She couldn’t bring up a child in a world that forces you to live up to this false sense of “perfection.” Up until this point, we’ve only seen Michaela as a bitchy, over-indulgent, self-rightous woman who we shouldn’t feel compassion for although Simone insists that she’s a good person. 

Not only did I appreciate the play, I really appreciate all of the material they provided about the writer. Here are a few excerpts:

On her seemingly sterotypical characters:

I think if you only read the first half of the play, you might think it was just a stupid, rich-person comedy. These people aren’t the stereotype you think they are at the top of the play- or that I thought they were at the top of the play. All three of these women surprised me in interesting ways as I got to know them.

Some of my colleagues stayed in the mindset of the first 10 pages. Yes, the broad style in which she chose to (and I don’t think the direction helped out much either) introduce us to the characters did make it hard to like/appreciate them so when the play goes to those emotional places later on, a lot of the audience was there with her. I think Metzler may also speak to another issue; script submission policies, especially first 10 page reads. If someone only read the first few pages of this work, they may (or already may have) passed on it. 

Talking about the play’s concepts and why she wrote it:

…I’ve been thinking about you gain entry into that world; what you give up to be in that world; what it feels like to wake up and live in the houses I saw

The theatre world. Being of that world. What do I have to give up to be there? Am I there? Am I sleeping and waking up in the same glass houses I’ve been throwing stones at? Already? Am I on that path? Do I want to be?

Responding to why she has minimalist stage directions:

I don’t want to be too specific. I’ll write something like “the couch is very confident” and let them figue out what that looks like. I love collaborating; that’s why I’m not a novelist. I love the idea that the four or five of us sit down and realize this world, and I fund that thrilling.

Speaking about the parallels between Simone’s perception of herself as more than an employee and Michaela’s position as a wife but more as a contractor:

One of the things I observed [the summer she worked on Martha’s vineyard] is that if you are magnificently beautiful, like Michaela, you can get in. But if you come in on that boat, it’s a very different game. The “trophy wife” is very different than the “moneyed wife.” It is kind of like being hired because you have a very specific skill set: you have to do four hours of Pilates every day and be gorgeous. It’s very lonely to me because you don’t actually get to make any friends; you don’t have anybody’s respect. It seemed to me a very sad and lonely gig.

She wrote about her experiences and those around her. Why do people of color get demonized when we do the same thing? When majority writers do it, they are “emphasizing the specific in order to highlight the universality” but when POCs do it, they are being too “culturally specific” and not speaking to the greater human race. Explain that too me!

Sorry to flood you all at once with my Humana thoughts but I wanted to get them out this week. I’ll talk about the last piece tomorrow and a wrap-up Friday.

Peter Sinn Nachtrieb’s BOB is a very smart and well-written work. I also enjoyed the direction by Sean Daniels. The story is a commentary on American society. Follows an abandoned child (who was left in a bathroom of a White Castle) as he strives for self-actualization. The comedy comments on the values we hold highest in our society and questions their standing. Most people walked away from the festival concluding that this was their favorite piece. While I enjoyed it, I think that it fell flat towards the end and took the cheap way out on some topics instead of always striving for the smarter, more thoughtful route.

I don’t really have much to say about Anne Washburn’s A Devil at Noon outside of that it isn’t my cup of tea. I say that without really knowing exactly what type of tea it is. It seemed like it wanted to be a play about the neurosis of writers but it turned into this funky, convoluted, caricature of itself. I’m being harsh, I know, but I just didn’t get this one. What’s funny is that this play felt like one of those plays that makes you feel bad for not getting it, like you’re not smart enough. But, whatever. Also, there was this REALLY racist moment with ninjas at the start of the play. :-/

The play that stays in my head the most is Adam Rapp’s The Edge of Our Bodies. This play, that’s mostly a one-woman show, explores the lost of innocence in an unavoidably uncomfortable way. Rapp’s character reads from her journal, detailing her excursion to New York City. She flees her boarding school in order to tell her older boyfriend that she may be pregnant. What unfolds is a very gritty exploration of how we come into ourselves and the experiences that lead us there. The play’s linear narrative structure is broken up at times with allusions and vignettes of a play I’m not familiar with. Unfortunately for me, that threw me off a little, and I’m sure for those who knew the other piece, it helped to drive home the overall message of the play. While the play isn’t my aesthetic, I can see why this is one of the best new plays out there.

Jordan Harrison’s Maple and Vine was a really well done play. It screams Regional Theatre and quite possibly, Broadway. While some may take that as a dig, I actually applaud Mr. Harrison for being able to write a play that not only challenges the way people think about the world but one that also fits nicely into what most artistic directors would like to put on their stages. While the play does bring up issues on how we view interracial relationships (in this case a Japanese/Caucasian one) and homosexuality, by placing the play in a Utopian, 1950’s American society, it looses a little of it’s potential “sting.” It seems to make a statement that all is well in 2011 in regards to racism and sexual orientation discrimination. Maple and Vine was one of my favorite pieces of the festival overall though. I felt like the storytelling was really some of the best.

I had the chance to see this play in Denver during the NNPN National Showcase of New Plays a while back. At the Showcase, it was presented in a stage reading and at Humana, the play was fully staged. While I really appreciate the staged readings, as an art form, and what it can do for plays, there is nothing like seeing a play fully staged; all of the added elements really bring a story to life in ways that the reading can’t. 

The story is a coming of age of three young kids who are forced by their parents to mature faster than normal. Edith, a twelve year-old, and her older brother, Kenny (16) are left to raise themselves as their doctor father spends most of his time away from them. Leaving them with a beater of a car, two ATM cards, and the farm, the father remains absent for most of their lives, outside of the occasional phone check-in. Benji, Kenny’s boyfriend, is kicked out of his house by his mother when she uncovers his homosexuality.

What this play does a GREAT and REMARKABLE job at is normalizing the otherness of this world. While both Kenny and Edith are Filipino-Americans, the play does not force us to accept that. They are two kids who live in the mid-west who happen to eat both Italian bread pizza and chicken afritada. Additionally, both Benji and Kenny’s homosexuality allow us to understand why Benji is ostracized by his parents but doesn’t become a comment on him as a person. Too often the “other” is viewed as such throughout the entire play and we end up seeing a play that comments on this otherness. While I believe there is a place for that, I do LOVE when a play makes the audience accept the “other” as the norm and operates in that world for the entirety of the piece. 

What was interesting was that this seemed to be the “ethnic” play of the weekend. This play was one of three plays that featured actors of color (one of which was a Latino house servant). It was also the only full length play written by a person of color. While it was not the only play that discussed homosexuality, it was the only one that didn’t treat it as an evil or a secret that needs to be suppressed. 

The play was well staged. Two of the three actors were also in the Denver version and I enjoyed their performances both times. The third character was new to me, and although I felt like his portrayal was a little stocky and broad, he did seem to capture the character the author was writing. 

I would love to work on this play. While it isn’t my story, I believe this story has resonance and needs to be told. It definitely fits in my kind of aesthetic (realistic setting and story-telling style, linear narrative, grounded characters). I could see this play in CPT’s future!