Written by: Anthony Giardina. Directed by: Marti Lyons. At: Northlight Theatre, 9501 Skokie Blvd., Skokie. Tickets: Northlight.org; $15-$81. Runs through: Oct 23
Northlight Theatre presents the Midwest Premiere of Anthony Giardina's political/family drama The City of Conversation.
This play starts off in the 1970s as the Carter presidency is slipping into its own malaise and Ronald Reagan is hot on his heels. Socialite and Democratic wife Hester Ferris ( Lia D. Mortensen ) is throwing a dinner party to convince a conservative right-wing senator ( Tim Monsion ) to vote for her husband's legislation. Things do not go to Ferris' plans when her son ( Greg Matthew Anderson ) shows up with his new fiancee ( Mattie Hawkinson ), an ambitious Republican who has turned his head and helped him stand up to his mother.
The interplay from these beginning scenes show the rift between the Democrats and Republicans that will be torn apart by the upcoming years of Reagan's right-wing extremists and the Democratic reaction. Mortensen is in her element in this role; she is powerful yet incredulous at the things she's hearing in her home. Her command of the stage really brings home this woman's desperation as the evening spins out of her control. The right- and left-wing discussions of race relations are beyond timely.
The second half of this show is in the '80s as Ronald Reagan is trying to get his Supreme Court nominee Robert Bork confirmed. Ferris is working to torpedo the nomination while her son and his wife ( now in their own Republican careers ) are trying to get him confirmed. Complicating things is the love they all share for Ethan ( Tyler Kaplan ), Ferris' grandson. ( They clue us in that he might be gay because he is obsessed with Disney's Cinderella on VHS. )
The meat of the play is probably in this section as it shows how the Democrats are using this nomination to get a victory against Reagan and the "back room" gentlemen's agreement dealing of the past is being destroyed for ultimate partisan separation. ( Something we are still seeing the negative effects of ). The audience had a hearty laugh at the line about a President always getting their Supreme Court nomination through.
In the third part of the show, President Obama has been elected. Ethan ( now played by Greg Matthew Anderson ) has grown up to be a gay man with an African-American partner ( Brian Keys ) and reunites with Ferris' grandmother. This is probably the weakest of the scenes in the play but it does crescendo to a moving end that did have me wipe away a tear. The line about thinking the battles about race being over by electing Obama is very accurate.
Mortensen really brings life to every part of this play. Greg Matthew Anderson has the tough role of being different in each part of the play, from young idealist to embittered adult to the grown-up grandchild. He's pretty successful at the first two, and I wish he had created more of a character for the final scene but, then again, it's not the best of them.
Hawkinson is really spot-on as the ambitious fiancee who Ferris rightly calls out as an All About Eve character. She isn't a caricature but you truly feel she believes everything she's saying. ( I love the Tippi Hedren hairdo she sports at one point. ) Monsion is so perfect as the Southern conservative senator that you wish his character would return at least for a moment. The supporting cast is all perfectly cast here.
Marti Lyons' direction keeps things moving and you don't feel like it's too stagy in one set location. For people who are political junkies or love family dramas, this is a really excellent one.