Theater Matters with Jarice Hanson: Audience participation required: Three plays raise questions around moral integrity and point of view

By Jarice Hanson
For the Valley Advocate

Plays about difficult subjects, like the consequences of personal actions, politics, and social change, require more of the audience in terms of asking them to consider how their own sense of morality and moral integrity filters into their willingness to accept the playwright’s ideas.

Media theorists have long argued that any form of media (like theater) does one of two things. Plays either reflect social reality (like a mirror) or they can frame social reality (like a window frame that limits what’s beyond the frame). In theater, the playwright uses point of view to ask audiences to consider what they see as a reflection of, or a framed “image” of, a part of society.

In two recent plays and one still running in our area, the audience is left to make critical decisions about the consequences of actions that are at the heart of the content.

‘Becky’s New Car’ and playwright Steven Dietz

In May, the Suffield Players at Mapleton Hall in Suffield, Connecticut, presented Steven Dietz’ “Becky’s New Car,” directed by Advocate critic emeritus, Chris Rohmann. Dietz is a prolific writer and has been called one of the “Twenty Most Produced Playwrights in America” by American Theatre Magazine. “Becky’s New Car” uses a device that asks the audience to vote by raising their hands, as to whether Becky, an unhappy middle-aged woman, should contemplate an extra-marital affair with a rich, lonely widower, or not. Though a comedy, the consequences of character actions are dire.

A good director knows that the way to play a comedy is to treat it seriously, and Rohmann encouraged his performers to let the comedy emerge from the situations, rather than leaning too closely toward farce.

Lisa Parker, as Becky, quickly developed a rapport with the audience through charm and charisma. Her husband Joe, (played by Joe Van Allen), ignores her, and her son, Chris (played by Andrew Ciocca Peloquin), lives in the basement and needs to get a life.

The dashing, newly widowed millionaire, Walter Flood (played by Konrad Rogowski) stops by the car dealership where Becky works and the two are attracted to each other. But does Becky allow herself to think about stepping out on her unhappy marriage? She clearly weighs the options and understands the consequences of her moral dilemma, but who can she turn to? She surveys the audience to ask whether she should accept Flood’s offer to visit his home. Interestingly, the night I attended the show, every man who raised his hand voted for her to resist the temptation to visit the millionaire, while every woman who voted encouraged her to go.

The comedy emerges as the other characters, Steve (played by Keith Giard), the “company man” at the dealership fails to see what’s happening, Ginger (played by Virginia Wolf), who would snuggle up to Mr. Flood in a New York minute, and Kenni, Flood’s daughter (played by Katherine “Kat” Marcil), each bring a different twist to the story, complicating Becky’s decision.

This is a simple story, told well by the members of the Suffield Players, that deals with the subject of fidelity and morality in a way that explores multiple points of view on stage and in the audience. If there was a flaw in the production, it undoubtedly lies with the script, where playwright Dietz abandons the idea of Becky talking to the audience and maintaining that critical connection that makes the audience participants in the story. At the same time, this cast was obviously having a great time with each other, and the audience reacted accordingly with appreciation.

Barrington Stage Company’s ‘Eisenhower: This Piece of Ground’

For only seven performances, Broadway veteran John Rubinstein opened the Barrington Stage Company’s summer season in an intense solo show about Dwight David Eisenhower, the 34th President of the United States. Rubenstein’s Ike prowls the stage like a cat, trying to make sense of his personal integrity, moral stance on leadership, and his low ratings from a newspaper that called him “weak” and “ineffective” when compared to other presidents.

Ike is supposed to be recording his thoughts for a future book on his life and legacy, but while he talks of his early life and his military service, he examines what it means to be a person who chooses the “middle way” to leadership. There is no doubt as to playwright Richard Hellesen’s interpretation of Eisenhower as the right leader at the right time in history, but it is the perspective of a good man trying to do his best that frames this story in a way to show how leadership styles have changed over the years, with the balance of integrity and moral guidance teetering along the way.

Rubinstein commands the stage for almost two hours. He channels Eisenhower the boy, the man, the general, and the president as he reaches into his past to examine the people who made him who he became. The playwright’s point of view is clear: Ike is not perfect and doesn’t pretend to be, but he is honest and moral, and brings those qualities to the battlefield and the presidency. Comparisons to other presidents, including our current one, are not lost.

Barrington Stage’s intimate St. Germain Stage offers a mirror to two of today’s leading political women in ‘N/A’

During the same week that “Eisenhower” ran on Barrington Stage’s mainstage, a provocative two-hander opened at BSC’s more intimate St. Germain Stage. While the title is suggestive, the characters, though never explicitly named on stage, are undoubtedly representing Nancy Pelosi (N) and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (A).

The characters are played by wonderful actors, who not only resemble the real women in Congress, they also represent different generations, different leadership styles, and different world views.

AOC is portrayed by Diane Guerrero, familiar to viewers of “Orange Is the New Black” and “Jane the Virgin.” Guerrero has a personal history with her parents’ immigration and deportation. The point of view she brings to her role gives depth to her portrayal of AOC, who became the youngest woman ever to be elected to Congress. The passion she displays is real.

Equally powerful is Kelly Lester’s portrayal of Nancy Pelosi.

The playwright of “N/A” is Mario Correa, a Latino immigrant who was a staffer to a woman member of Congress (not Pelosi). In the playwright’s notes, Correa uses his observations of the way work gets done in Congress, and empathizes with how the institution, which was not built for women, has changed as women become more central to it. He asks: “How do you create change, how do you foster progress? And who gets to do it?”

In this 90-minute production, leadership is the overarching theme, while morality and moral integrity are the pawns. The battle between the characters’ points of view offer subtle interpretations that reflect the changing roles of women and women’s leadership at this particularly difficult time in history.

This is an important play, rich with suggestion and open to audience interpretation. It urges the audience to examine issues that emerge around power, leadership, gender, and where we make our moral judgments at this time in history. These very well may be some of the most important questions we can now ask.