Inspired by the true-life experiences of former United States Ambassador Julissa Reynoso, this bracing world premiere chronicles the challenging education of a 21st-century American diplomat. Leaving behind a successful Wall Street law practice, Julissa steps into the role of supervising Caribbean and Central American Affairs for Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
A pretty unflattering, not-super-functional autobioplay. Spoilers to follow in this one.
Julissa Reynoso, a political appointee to Hillary Clinton’s State Department, is placed in charge of a more knowledgeable, more experienced career bureaucrat, Ricardo Zuniga. Over the next few years, she leans heavily on his expertise as she tries and fails to negotiate the release of a civilian hostage from Cuba. Reynoso is nevertheless promoted to be the U.S. Ambassador to Uruguay, whose President she convinces to take in released prisoners from Guantanamo Bay on the basis that they are innocent non-troublemakers. The men proceed to stage widely-publicized protests and create a mildly embarrassing international incident. Meanwhile, Zuniga, now promoted to White House special assistant, plays a crucial role in negotiating Cuba’s release of the civilian hostage as part of a broader normalization of relations with the U.S. The end of the play nods, with some wistfulness, to the fact that this thawing would later be reversed by the first Trump administration.
Reynoso and Michael J. Chepiga aim for an inspirational paean to the worthwhile complexities of diplomacy, statecraft, and Reynoso’s own journey from an immigrant background. The show and the flowery description in the Playbill both opine that this is such important work, and how nothing can change if people aren’t willing to open a dialogue with each other. That Reynoso centers herself in that narrative but doesn’t depict herself as experiencing a single tangible success is, therefore, a bit of an eyebrow raiser. Good message, and kudos to her for not overstating her resume, but does this illustrate what she wants to say? For all I know, in real life, she may have had a long, distinguished career as a diplomat, but over the course of the play, she makes a much stronger case that she failed upward and maybe shouldn’t have been appointed to this role in the first place. Score one for the deep state.
Public Charge is pretty dry, but it especially feels like it’s spinning its wheels in the latter half, when, as Ambassador to Uruguay, Reynoso is much more interested in her earlier Cuban portfolio, even as she exerts little continuing influence on it. There is a humorously revealing moment when she learns that her gambit to get the hostage released doesn’t pan out, and she exclaims, (paraphrased) “Oh no! My job! Also, that could be bad for other reasons, too.” No notes on that one. Staging perfunctory: no set, lots of video, lots of standing and talking. Zabryna Guevara flubs a lot of lines but it’s in previews so whatevs. Very uninspired theater that raises the question, “Who called in a favor to make this happen?”