Playwright Lynn Nottage
Only ten days until the Pulitzer Prize committee announces the winners on April 20, but in theater circles, all bets are on Lynn Nottage’s Ruined, which concerns a group of damaged but defiant women in the Congo caught between violent soldiers and rebels. This is a fairly easy call to make. The show earned plenty of raves, including one on NY1 by yours truly. But there’s a question that we can’t help wondering: Why isn’t this excellent new play running on Broadway?
It’s a valid question, since the New York producer is Manhattan Theatre Club, which has a Broadway space on West 47th Street called the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre. Recent residents at the Friedman have included Richard Greenberg’s The American Plan (quite good), To Be or Not to Be (awful) and the upcoming Accent on Youth, a 1934 backstage comedy starring David Hyde Pierce (sounds more like Roundabout programming than MTC).
Now, we liked The American Plan quite a lot, but let’s be honest: Had Ruined played in the Friedman it would now be eligible for a Tony. And folks, we need good plays in that category this year. This season what have we had in the way of new drama? God of Carnage? 33 Variations? Impressionism, for the love of God?!? Ruined is the best of the lot by miles, and yet the most it can hope for is an Obie Award or a nod from the New York Drama Critics Circle. It would seem that MTC is content to program its second-best stuff in its biggest space, possibly because it thinks the subscribers would rather see inoffensive mediocrity than a timely play with teeth.
Of course, we shouldn’t cry too much for Ruined. It will probably get the Pulitzer and is bound to be produced in regional spaces across the country, maybe it will make it to the National Theatre in London. Nevertheless, MTC really dropped the ball with this one. Nottage, director Kate Whoriskey and their astonishing cast deserve better. The production has extended a fourth (yes, fourth) time, now through May 10.
UPDATE: Nottage and her cast will be making an appearance this Monday night, 7pm at Lafayette Avenue Presbyterian Church (85 South Oxford St). The playwright will be joined by WBAI’s Esther Armah (Wake Up Call, Off the Page), for a question-and-answer session that will be moderated by educator, author and artist Mo Beasley. To reserve a seat, call call 646.467.7393 or e-mail wtgintern@aol.com.
I agree with Cote that is is too bad that Manhattan Theatre Club is producing mostly revivals at the Biltmore/Friedman. Maybe if critics like Cote stop unfairly panning their new play selections for that theatre, such as MAURITIUS, they will. I also agree that RUINED is a fine play. The obstacle to it winning the Pulitzer is that it does not illuminate American life, a stipulation for the award. You might say, with Michael Riedel, that neither do SUNDAY IN THE PARK WITH GEORGE and I AM MY OWN WIFE, but you would be wrong. People tend to forget that the 2nd act of the former takes place in contemporary NYC. As for the latter — yes, it takes place in Germany and its central character is a German transvestite, but the play is really about our particularly American need to find heroes to worship, even if those heroes turn out to be less than heroic. Also, RUINED was produced this year, rather than in 2008. The Pulitzer goes by calendar year, not theatrical year.
Lawrence Harbison
Dear Lawrence –
Actually, David didn’t review MAURITIUS; I did, and I gave it four stars. Hardly a pan. Also, RUINED did indeed make its debut in 2008: in November, to be precise, at Chicago’s Goodman Theatre. Finally, it’s my understanding that the Pulitzer rules merely suggest, but do not require, a specific relevance to American life; THE DIARY OF ANNE FRANK and M. BUTTERFLY are two examples of winning plays that don’t adhere to that guideline.
Best,
Adam Feldman