Greta (Marilu Henner) and Tanner (Shannon Purser) discuss the ACLU and more in Matthew Freeman’s The Ask (photo by Joan Marcus)
THE ASK
Theater 555
555 West Forty-Second St. between Tenth & Eleventh Aves.
Tuesday – Sunday through November 22, $49-$149
theaskplay.com
theater555.com
When I saw the world premiere of Matthew Freeman’s The Ask at the wild project two years ago, I called it “stimulating . . . Freeman writes with a refreshing assuredness. . . . It expertly captures the changes that are evolving primarily on the left in today’s society. Greta and Tanner are battling each other instead of the other side, unwilling to compromise their values.”
The play is now running at Theater 555 in essentially the same production: Returning are director Jessi D. Hill, Craig Napoliello’s detailed set, costume designer Nicole Wee, lighting designer Venus Gulbranson, and sound
designer Ben Scheff. The script has been tweaked but has not been significantly altered, and Betsy Aidem (Greta) and Colleen Litchfield (Tanner) have been replaced by the talented duo of Marilu Henner and Shannon Purser, respectively. So what went wrong this time around?
It’s December 2022, and twentysomething American Civil Liberties Union gift planning officer Tanner arrives at the well-decorated Upper West Side apartment of Greta, a wealthy seventysomething photographer who has been a longtime donor to the ACLU. Tanner wants to know why Greta failed to donate this year and whether she can give more than usual now; they also discuss how Greta can leave the ACLU money in her will. Before making any decisions, Greta is concerned about the direction the ACLU is going in.
“I am upset. I’m disappointed. I did not give because I did not want to give,” Greta explains. “Yes, you send too many emails, but I do read them. And all I’m reading is how you want money for things that have nothing to do with your mission, nothing. I even read a story about how members of your staff were calling the Constitution a white supremacist document. So, of course, I think to myself: What the heck is going on over there? And then Dobbs, we lose Roe, and you’re over here playing around with trying to cancel student debt while fucking Alito is burning witches.”
Tanner is careful with her responses, trying to avoid offending Greta without commenting negatively on the organization.
“If you agree with the ACLU most of the time, you should be a member. If you agree with the ACLU half the time, you should be a board member,” Tanner jokes. Greta replies, “I think I have heard that one. I feel like that’s less a joke and more of a saying.”
As they continue their cat-and-mouse game, they reach a wall when Tanner is unable to speak the one word that is most important to Greta.
The Ask may be only two years old, but it already feels stale and outdated. The extremism, particularly on the left, has grown so divisive, tearing at the seams of the Democratic Party, that the debate between Greta and Tanner seems less critical in 2026 as Democratic Socialists win primaries and general elections.
In addition, while Aidem and Litchfield had an immediate chemistry, five-time Golden Globe nominee Henner (Madwomen of the West, Gettin’ the Band Back Together) and Emmy nominee Purser (Stranger Things, Riverdale), in her off-Broadway debut, lack electricity, failing to make a connection. At times it’s like they’re in two different shows, Henner overdoing her sexy vivaciousness and Purser underplaying her sensitivity and restraint.
The finale is still powerful, shining a light on where we are as a society and where organizations such as the ACLU are heading, but even at a mere seventy-five minutes, The Ask is too slow, asking too much of the audience.
[Mark Rifkin is a Brooklyn-born, Manhattan-based writer; you can follow him on Substack here.]