Theatre J: The Occupant

It is safe to say the Edward Albee's place in the pantheon of Great American Playwrights is without dispute.  Of his major works, I have only seen one on stage: "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?".  If you haven't, be prepared, it's a dense, long visit into the lives of two bored and self-indulgent intellectuals who love to draw others into their web of dysfunction.  Knowing this, I was uncertain what to expect from "The Occupant".  I knew it was an play about the Great American Sculptor, Louise Nevelson, and that it was set in an imaginary interview that occurs after her death.  This certainly sets up an accurate framework for the play.  Gratefully, I admit, it was also not as demanding as "WAoVF?"!

While the description is what you get, what "The Occupant" really is is a love letter to Louise.  It is a sympathetic telling of her life and through it some issues are raised.  Ideas like the nature of value of truth.  Always an interesting topic to mull about.  The cast is only Louise and an unnamed interviewer identified at "the man."  In preparing for this production, I confess I was so excited to see one of my favorite actors in the lead.  Susan Rome is a powerful and creative performer.  And she did a beautiful job with this role; however, I thought as the play progressed and I was also trying to just get a handle on the arc of the character as written by Albee--sort of apart from Rome's particular performance--I came away thinking that she played Nevelson with perhaps too much tenderness.  I think if she and the director had started out with a more imposing interpretation, and then allowed her confusions and her vulnerabilities to emerge, it would have been a more effecting performance.  The pleasant was Jonathan David Martin as The Man.  The age differential made him appear more like "The Boy", which I sure is intentional as it comports with most specifically the end of Act One.  He was a fresh face and played the part with an impishness that did not extend to rudeness, but came off as a sincere curiosity and a desire to discover the "truth". 

Throughout the play the set is simple, the TV interview show crossed with a professors lecture podium.  The audience is constantly addressed as the third character.  Near the very end as Nevelson reveals the moment of her artist success, the back of stage rises and suddenly she walks into a veritable forest of her sculptures.  Very nice.  On stage at The Trish Vrandenburg State at the Edlavitch DCJCC.  A fine production in every respect, even if I wondered at other artistic choices.