| Both Nancy Pelosi and Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez were in the news today, both of them with actions true to the way their characters are written in the new play “N/A” by Mario Correa, a playwright who knows his subjects. But I found “N/A” to be less about any actions its two characters take than to be about why they take them and about why our form of democracy works or doesn't work. The play is more a play of ideas than a character study though it is told through the ieas of the two women who inspired it. And it is told with wit and intelligence. It has two great performers in Holland Taylor and Ana Villafañe. At 80 minutes,the play is perhaps brief but it is complete and packs in more ideas (and laughs) than plays twice its length. Unfortunately the Mitzi Newhouse was only about 2/3 full and I truly feel that a play which can deal with the workings of government and democracy in our time while neither confusing nor talking down to the audience deserves more than this. I look forward to Correas next project which is a film about Texas State Senator Wendy Davis but hope that he returns quickly to the theater for which he seems well suited. |
