30
Oct/20

TEMPING

30
Oct/20

Temping is a solo piece that puts audience members to work one person at a time (photo by Max Ruby)

The Wild Project Gallery
195 East Third St. between Aves. A & B
Through December 4, $25-$45
dutchkillstheater.com
thewildproject.com

Temping has never been so satisfying. Since March 17, I have been fortunate enough to be able to work from home for my day job, sitting in my rolling chair at my desktop computer nine to five, Monday to Friday. But as an arts and culture writer, I am still at the same desktop computer, in the same chair, early in the morning, late at night, and on the weekends, watching virtual dance, theater, film, and music and Zooming into panel discussions and other online presentations. It all gets rather exhausting, very fast.

So I nearly jumped out of my rolling chair when I found out about Dutch Kills Theater and Wolf 359’s Temping, which opened last night at the Wild Project on the Lower East Side. Yes, it takes place at the actual location, in a physical space, although you are by yourself for the entire fifty-five-minute “show.” You arrive at the assigned time and go inside, where you are met by a person on a screen who has you fill out some paperwork and check your temperature. You then enter a small cubicle that comes with all the necessities: computer, printer, stapler, garbage can, shredder, cut-out cartoons and postcards on the wall, a very old-fashioned push-button phone, an in-box, and books and papers arranged relatively neatly in a bookcase. There’s also chocolate.

Your cubicle awaits in Temping at the Wild Project (photo by twi-ny/mdr)

You have been hired to fill in for Sarah Jane Tully, who is finally going on her long-dreamed-of vacation to Hawaii. She works for the Illinois-based global professional services firm Harold, Adams, McNutt & Joy, which, per a handout you receive, “strategically designs and administers retirement plans, saving our clients time and money, or as we like to call it, ‘timemoney.’” The handout also includes instructions on how to use Outlook, Excel, and the funky phone. Yes, I know what you’re thinking: I finally get the chance to experience a theatrical production in person and I have to sit behind a desk and work? Well, yes. But it’s a lot of fun, complete with a subtle dose of the state of the world in 2020, even though the show began as a workshop in 2014 at Dixon Place and has had runs in Maryland, Ottawa, and here in the city, including at the New York Film Festival and the Future of Storytelling Festival. However, it’s tailor-made for the pandemic; the set is even thoroughly sanitized for a half hour between each session.

You’ll get emails, prerecorded messages, and printouts that will help guide you through your responsibilities while also eliciting emotional responses, from happy laughter to sorrow and anguish, especially if you are familiar with office politics, which rears its ugly head here several times. And you’re likely to get mad at the printouts offering discounts on vacations, something that wouldn’t have meant much back in 2014 but is one of the things we are most missing in these dark days, stuck at home. Although you will not see or hear from anyone after the initial virtual temperature check and introduction, you can correspond with your coworkers through email; a clever reply might elicit an improvised response.

Temping was written by Michael Yates Crowley, directed by Michael Rau, and designed by Asa Wember, with the set by Sara C Walsh; the cast features Sarah Jane Tully as herself, Chas Carey as James, Patrick Barret as Jason, and Emily Louise Perkins as the phone directory voice. The more involved you get, the more you immerse yourself in this fictional world, the more you will get out of it. Knowledge of office work is a plus but not necessary; I was able to scour around the cubicle a bit because I finished the tasks very quickly. The show is built to each individual’s ability, so every performance is unique to the participant, and this iteration will have a different impact on the audience, as the pandemic lockdown and resulting economic and health-care crises have shone a new light on retirement, vacation, employment, and, of course, death. Which is what actuarial tables are all about.