Dr. Kelly Taylor (Molly Camp) moderates a discussion with Dr. Theresa Hanneck (Jayne Houdyshell) and Msemaji Ukweli (Pascale Armand) in Relevance (photo by Joan Marcus)
MCC Theater at the Lucille Lortel Theatre
121 Christopher St. between Bleecker & Hudson Sts.
Tuesday – Sunday through March 11, $49-$99
212-352-3101
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“What you hear underneath it is hate. It’s pure, unadulterated hate,” Dr. Theresa Hanneck (Tony winner Jayne Houdyshell) says at the beginning of JC Lee’s electrifying Relevance, which opened this afternoon at the Lucille Lortel Theatre. The timely and topical MCC world premiere takes place at the fictional American Conference for Letters and Culture, where Theresa, a white woman in her late fifties, is being honored with the Alcott lifetime achievement award for her influential career as an outspoken feminist writer and teacher. As the play opens, she is on a panel with up-and-coming writer and activist Msemaji Ukweli (Tony nominee Pascale Armand), a twentysomething African American woman who quickly reveals that she is not afraid to take down her idols to prove a point. The talk is being moderated by vice committee chair Dr. Kelly Taylor (Molly Camp), a white woman in her thirties who desperately wants to avoid controversy, especially involving race, gender, and age. After Theresa brings up the concept of privilege, Msemaji fires back, and the two women go for each other’s throat as Kelly tries to calm things down.
David (Richard Masur) and Theresa (Jayne Houdyshell) have a lot to talk about in MCC world premiere at the Lucille Lortel (photo by Joan Marcus)
Theresa is livid about how she was treated by Msemaji; her longtime agent and former lover, David (Emmy nominee Richard Masur), thinks she should let it go, but Theresa is dead-set on revenge, belittling her new rival. “You pick a topic people are afraid to confront, you feign bravery with a cursory glimpse, and everyone showers you with accolades for showing them a touchstone they already knew was there,” she says, convinced that Msemaji is a phony. Meanwhile, Msemaji is not going to back off just because of Theresa’s history. “Her work is a clarion call from the past, a touchstone for my generation as we move the conversation forward, unmarked by the same scars that are tokens of her survival,” Msemaji explains. The ever-widening generation gap is also evident in social media; whereas Msemaji spreads her message on Twitter and on such sites as Jezebel, Theresa has never tweeted and doesn’t even know how to scroll on her smartphone. “Twitter is hardly Vidal versus Buckley,” a defiant Theresa says. “It’s people climbing on top of one another to see what the kids at the cool table are talking about. Who can ‘out woke’ who. It’s as much a debate as a Fox & Friends panel.” But when she digs up some dirt on Msemaji, Theresa becomes digitally literate on the spot while she decides how far she is willing to go to protect her legacy and not be shoved aside.
Msemaji Ukweli (Pascale Armand) knows just what she wants in Relevance (photo by Joan Marcus)
Relevance is gripping theater, focusing on many of the key hot-button issues that have led to rising hatred on the streets, in the government, and, of course, across social media. Lee (Luce, Looking) and director Liesl Tommy (Eclipsed, The Good Negro) zero in on the bickering that exists among liberals with views not that different from each other but who find themselves at odds regarding their methods. Houdyshell (The Humans, A Dolls House, Part 2), one of the leading ladies of New York theater, is a force of nature as Theresa, a strong, determined woman who is not about to yield her place as a major figure in the women’s rights movement. Armand (Eclipsed, The Trip to Bountiful) is tough as nails as Msemaji, a bold, future-thinking woman who knows it’s her time to shine. Camp (The Heiress, Close Up Space) strikes just the right note as Kelly, whose conflict-avoidant perkiness covers a steely ambition to excel in a position long dominated by men. And Masur (Transparent, One Day at a Time) is subtle and gentle as David, a seemingly reasonable man who has his own personal agenda.
Tony winner Clint Ramos’s (Eclipsed, Sunday in the Park with George) revolving set goes from conference stage to hotel bar to bedroom, with such songs as Joan Armatrading’s “Drop the Pilot” — which includes the line “Don’t use your army to fight a losing battle” — accompanying the changes. However, Jeanette Oi-Suk Yew’s projections, mostly depicting what is happening “live” on social media, can be overwhelming and distracting. Relevance unfolds like a classic courtroom drama, with Theresa and Msemaji evoking Clarence Darrow and William Jennings Bryan going at it back and forth, each one making salient, hard-hitting points, taking on hypocrisy while also serving their own substantial egos. Lee and Tommy do a superb job navigating the deeply intellectual and philosophical arguments being made, which easily could turn to the pedantic and pretentious but instead are thought-provoking and eye-opening. In a world fraught with oversensitivity and political correctness, Relevance also stands as a cogent reminder of what could possibly be accomplished if some people could just come together and fight on the same side — and the tremendous cost incurred when they don’t.