I got to check another name off my “actors I’d love to finally see live on stage” list at the end of June: Holland Taylor. I was trying to fit one more show in in June, knowing that July would be hectic with work travel, and N/A was in previews at the Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater at Lincoln Center.
In N/A, Holland Taylor plays “N” and Ana Villafañe plays “A.” “N” is a life-long member of the House of Representatives, a former Speaker of the House and now Minority Leader. “A” is a newly elected Representative (“of the Bronx and Queens!”), the youngest woman ever elected to the House. While they are part of the same political party, and share many goals and ideals, their philosophical and strategic disagreements place them at odds even on common ground. The characters are clearly based on Nancy Pelosi and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, although neither woman’s name is spoken during the roughly 90-minute performance (nor is any other politician’s name, although when they discuss “that man” it is equally clear who they are referring to). Taylor and Villafañe both delivered powerhouse performances during the preview I saw. There were a few small gaffes, but hey – that’s what previews are for. Reviews I’ve seen online since the show officially opened have all been positive, regardless of the age of the reviewer (I’ve seen reviews from a 13-year-old actor to a 70-year-old frequent theatregoer).
Taylor’s “N” is all quiet control, occasionally condescending (and quite aware of when she’s doing it, and to who) but also willing to acknowledge when that condescension is misplaced, leveraging decades of compromise and slow progress to institute positive change. She moves carefully across the stage at all times, regardless of her emotions. Villafañe’s “A” is boundless energy, also occasionally condescending (in that “youth knows better than age” way), striving to do the Right Thing even when it’s not the most politically expedient thing, swinging for the substantial changes over the incremental. At times, she veritably ricochets from one end of the small set to the other, and in one highly effective moment she conveys movement without moving or speaking, trembling in place. They balance each other very well – or perhaps I should say, in the playwright’s words, they orbit one another well, literally and figuratively dancing around each other and the issues that concern them. Most of their scenes are together, although each gets at least a few moments on stage alone. Those moments are as telling, as informative about the characters, as when they are verbally sparring.
Mario Correa’s script mixes actual conversations and sound bites from the real “N” and “A” with conjecture about what they may have said to each other in private in various meetings between 2018 and 2022. The playwright gives each woman equal weight, neither idolizing nor vilifying either one. The audience the night I saw the show seemed evenly distributed age-wise, obvious in the response to N’s lines about disaffected youth who spend all their time trying to raise their social media cachet and A’s lines about older people who think “close enough” is “good enough.” (I’m paraphrasing here, but you get the point.) I personally came out of the show with a greater appreciation of what it takes to accomplish anything in Washington, playing what Otto Von Bismark called “the art of the possible” (a quote I have to admit I mostly know because Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice based a song around it in Evita), a greater appreciation for how even people who broadly want the same thing can have very specifically different ways of attaining it.
N/A is a classic two-person show, perfect for the more intimate Newhouse space where the audience surrounds three-quarters of the stage. The set is minimalistic, the few pieces of furniture see-through plexiglass, allowing the focus to stay on the actors. The passage of time and change of locations is indicated through photos and words projected on the rear wall, including some well-known photos from our recent history. Fair warning: there are some fast-flashing lights and loud sound cues, especially in the scene that takes place on January 6th.
N/A runs at the Mitzi Newhouse Theater at Lincoln Center through September 1st (the run was recently extended). I highly recommend seeing it.
I’ve always loved live theater, and in the past couple of years I’ve been making a stronger effort to see more of it. Theater Thursday is an occasional series where I talk about live theater, both shows I’ve seen recently and shows I’ve loved in the past.