Dana H.
Lyceum Theatre
October 9, 2021 

Photo courtesy of Dana H.

Lucas Hnath’s Dana H. is a compilation of a series of interviews with his mother, Dana H.  She tells the story of how her work as a spiritual and psychological counselor was brutally hijacked for five year by someone under her care.  The performance contains the actual tapes from the interviews.  Deirdre O’Connell, the actor playing Dana H., fully embodies her characters while lip-syncing to the recordings.  Director Les Waters brings depth and texture to this unique and riveting theatrical experience, creating intense, jaw-dropping moments that are viscerally engaging. 

Deirdre O'Connell as Dana H.
Photo courtesy of Dana H.

Sitting in an arm chair center stage, Dana H. (played by Deirdre O’Connell) is open and calm.   She begins to tell of the work she does as a spiritual counselor, helping people cross over and comforting their loved ones and family members.  She reveals the number of death experiences she counsels in one week’s time.  She then asks the interviewer to do the math to calculate the number of these encounters she has experienced in over two decades of doing this work.  It is about this time that you realize that her calm and open demeanor covers an elevated level of detachment.  Dana H. then shifts into the story of Jim.  She was counseling Jim in his transition from prison to living independently.  He was medicated, due to psychological distress, broke from reality, and violently turned against her.  Dana H. tells the details of a five year ordeal under his brutal control.  His involvement with white supremacist gangs kept them on the run.  She was living in constant fear and danger.  An isolated act of kindness by a stranger was the one chance she had to escape and rebuild her life.  

Deirdre O'Connell as Dana H.
Photo courtesy of Dana H.

Deirdre O’Connell steps up in this very unique challenge of lip-syncing to seventy-five minutes of audio recordings.  Her performance is seamless.  Her emotional state is spot on connected to the recorded voice of Dana H.  The timing of her movements is rhythmically at one with the vocal patterns.  Every breath bonds her with the real Dana H.  It is a truly captivating performance.

 Lucas Hnath skillfully edited and compiled these very personal interviews to create an engaging piece of theatre.  The brutal journey is masterfully plotted.  Mr. Hnath far exceed any sense of accomplishment as he applies his writing skills to this horrific and emotional story to which he is so closely related. 

Dana H. is playing at the Lyceum Theatre, running in rep with Is This a Room.  Get a ticket!  It cannot be compared to anything you have experienced in the theatre thus far. 

Domenick Danza

Hillary and Clinton

Hillary and Clinton

Golden Theatre

April 27, 2019

Photo courtesy of Hillary and Clinton

It is 2008 in New Hampshire and Hillary Clinton (played by Laurie Metcalf) is losing in the primary to Barack Obama (played by Peter Francis James).  She calls her husband, Bill (played by John Lithgow), to help her.  Her campaign manager, Mark (played by Zak Orth), is dead set against Bill Clinton’s help in the campaign.  Barack offers Hillary the position of running mate if she drops out of the race.  She wins New Hampshire, and makes the same offer to Barack.

In Hillary and Clinton Playwright Lucas Hnath has written a fictional account of these conversations in a highly successful effort to deliver a strong message.  By writing these well known, true characters, Mr. Hnath engages his audience on an emotional level right from the start.  He frames the play with an opening and closing monologue that broadens the magnitude of the spectrum already established by these characters, and puts into perspective his themes of winning vs. losing, personality vs. professional accomplishments, and right time vs. wrong time.

Laurie Metcalf as Hillary Clinton
Photo courtesy of Hillary and Clinton

If you think, as I did, that any production starring Laurie Metcalf and John Lithgow that is directed by Joe Mantello has got to be good, this show proves that point.  Joe Mantello shapes the action and layers in moments of honesty, humor, and irony.  Ms. Metcalf is riveting, as always.  Mr. Lithgow is simply remarkable.  Neither of them attempts an imitation of the people they portray.  They both create individual and genuine characters facing personal challenges while juggling monumental reality.  Equally strong performances are also delivered by Zak Orth and Peter Francis James.

Hillary and Clinton is playing at the Golden Theatre.  Go see this show!  You will be engaged on numerous levels and propelled into deep thought on more than just the subject matter.

Domenick Danza

A Doll’s House, Part 2

A Doll’s House, Part 2

Golden Theatre

April 1, 2017

Photo courtesy of A Doll's House, Part 2

What happens to Nora Helmer after she leaves her husband and children, closing the door behind her?  Playwright Lucas Hnath tells his rendition of that story in A Doll’s House, Part 2.  The play digs deeply into the institution of marriage, the value of opening old wounds, and the futility of walking away.  Directed by Sam Gold, the production has a stark coldness that effectively triggers emotional response and intellectual discourse.

There is a knock on the door.  Nora (played by Laurie Metcalf) returns after fifteen years.  She is greeted by Anne Marie (played by Jayne Houdyshell), the housekeeper who raised the children in Nora’s absence.  When Torvald (played by Chris Cooper) arrives home from work unexpectedly, Nora is forced to face him without much preparation.  She is there because Torvald neglected to give her a divorce, and Nora now finds herself in desperate need for that legal document to be filed.  Torvald refuses.  Anne Marie recommends that Nora seek the assistance of her daughter Emmy (played by Condola Rashad) in convincing Torvald.  Against her better judgement, Nora agrees.  Her discoveries are difficult, yet her determination is unwavering.

Laurie Metcalf & Chris Cooper
Photo courtesy of A Doll's House, Part 2

The scene between Nora and her daughter is stunningly written, directed, and performed.  Mr. Hnath sets up the character of Emmy as a mirror image of Nora.   She sees her younger self as headstrong and idealistic.  Condola Rashad masterfully propels the action of the scene deeper with impeccable timing, eye contact, and subtle gestures that reveal the character’s intellect and independence.  Laurie Metcalf matches this skill as she allows her character to face her deepest fear and speak without regret.  Mr. Gold uses level and body position in this scene, as he does throughout the production, to illustrate the power struggle between the characters.  The scene where Chris Cooper and Laurie Metcalf face off is riveting and direct.  Jayne Houdyshell rises up as she refuses to have Nora compare her actions to the choices Anne Marie has made.

Playwright Lucas Hnath

Mr. Hnath makes very bold statements in his well-structured and skillfully crafted play.  When Nora returns, she speaks at length about the detriment of the institution of marriage.  This resonates with irony and humor against the political changes in legal marriage over the past few years.  Torvald explains how instead of leaving the marriage after her “epiphany,” she should have stayed to work it out with him.  By expressing this we see how Torvald has grown over the years.  With this concept of marriage as a challenging negotiable partnership juxtaposed against the one earlier expressed by Nora, we get an alternate view of Ibsen’s independent heroine through the lens of the adaptability of the characters she left behind.  In the closing scene we are compelled to ask ourselves where to look for evidence of the changes we seek in the world.

Presently in previews at the Golden Theatre, A Doll’s House, Part 2 opens on April 27 and runs for a sixteen week limited engagement.  It is relevant and absorbing.  See it for yourself. 

Domenick Danza