Sarah on theater

Nice verbatim piece woven together from congressional testimony of Anita Hill and Christine Blasey Ford, complemented by those of Justices Kavanaugh and Thomas. The level of prerequisite knowledge is relatively high, but it seems fair to assume sitting up here in a putatively experimental off-off-Broadway venue in New York.

History rhymes. The contrast is stark between the kinds of questions asked of the women and the men and the tenor of their answers—the irascible non-sequiturs of the accused stand in stark contrast to the cool pragmatism of women who had long accepted that they would never see justice. And still they don’t. The odds were always long. Facing a justice system fundamentally unequipped to deal with this type of crime, a powerful boys’ club that overwhelmingly gives the men the benefit of the doubt, and, particularly in Ford’s case, an intractable question exactly how much character weight to place on someone’s actions at 15, folks line up in their usual teams, call it a “he-said-she-said,” and sleep comfortably without further inquiry. “If she’s lying, what motive could she possibly have for accusing you?” No answer is ever provided.

Great cast: Elizabeth Marvel and Amber Iman are perfect as the two principals and complemented well by Jon Michael Hill and Josh Hamilton. They use earbuds to match the cadence of the original testimony and for one stretch swap the women and men to emphasize the gender dynamic—how we hear people differently—which is a nice touch. Blocking was notably intricate for such a short-run show, weaving in and out and around the chairs of nine imaginary justices. Bunch of recognizable faces in the house—director Lee Sunday Evans, Glenn Davis supporting his co-star from Purpose, Shaina Taub on leave from Ragtime. Grab a seat if you can.