Theater Review: An American Daughter

by John Garcia of John Garcia's The Column

We are all not perfect and have had our share of embarrassing mistakes. And for some, there is the added trauma of having video and/or photographs to capture that moment of stupidity to live on forever. And just like it happens every time, you are about to accomplish a major feat in your life, only to have those pics or video pop back up in every media outlet, especially the internet to destroy what you are trying to achieve.

Lyssa Dent Hughes (Mary-Margaret Pyeatt) has been nominated by the President to become the first woman surgeon general, only to have a simple mistake pop up back into her life, jeopardizing her nomination. This is the beginning of An American Daughter, written by Wendy Wasserstein, who sadly passed away in January 2006. The show opened on Broadway at the Cort Theater in April 1997, only to play for 89 performances. It would receive (and eventually win) only one Tony Award nomination: Best Featured Actress in a Play, which Lynne Thigpen won.

The central problem with this play is alas Wasserstein's script. She throws so many political issues, statements, theories, and arguments into her writing which are mostly never fully developed or explained. She then adds a second layer of the true duties of the media, gay issues, abortion, power hungry women, biological clocks ticking, extramarital affairs, and a family tree into the mix. All of these elements swirl high above and around Wasserstein's characters with only a precious few landing with resolution. Too many others are left unresolved, leaving you perplexed and even frustrated.

There are several, long scenes involving elitist, rich, highly educated, and politically savvy characters talking on and on about this and that, without any true, solid, organic connection between the characters and their long winded dialogue. You get a sense of Wasserstein trying so hard to make political statements with punch lines, but never connecting the heart and soul of these characters to the material.

In lesser hands, this play could be hard to watch, but under Coy Covington's rich direction and the majority of his cast, they rise high above the material. Covington keeps the pace brisk and moving with purpose. This piece can easily dive into long, endless pauses, but Covington never lets his cast lose its pace and organic flow. His blocking and staging has purpose with an aura of naturalism. Characters move with determination or organic truthfulness, without false pretense or never looking like lost kiddies on the playground. His direction is quite detailed in the sense that you feel like real life is being explored on stage, making the audience feel as though they are in the actual Hughes living room, and not in the theater. Some of the finest directors around town are those who are also superb actors, thus you can easily add Covington to that very, very short list with this production.

Visually the piece looks clean, slick, and elegant. Michael Campbell's lighting design is superb. For some reason when it comes to plays (not musicals), lighting designers use bland beiges and whites to light them, but Campbell's palette steers far away from this. He uses blues, pinks, oranges, and other dark hues to give the piece a classic, Broadway look. He has special spots that are lit beautifully to give the emotion and staging purpose and unique individualism. Campbell's design is some of the best I've seen for a play so far this season.

Dennis Canright's scenic design is the perfect compliment to Campbell's lighting. For the walls he has fashioned crème satin fabric into individual hanging sections to become the walls. They reflect the light with shimmering effect. There is tile and bone colored floors and a fireplace that give the set warmth. Canright has designed in the middle of the set double wide doors and steps that give the piece a very waspy look that works like a glove with Wasserstein's dialogue.

Mary-Margaret Pyeatt portrays the leading female role, Lyssa Dent Hughes, whose family tree traces all the way back to President Ulysses E. Grant. Ms. Pyeatt delivered a sensational performance earlier this season in Leonard's Car. Unfortunately here she gives the character an icy, cold demeanor that never truly melts. This is a problem because the audience never really warms up to her or her problems. Pyeatt struggled a lot in the first act to get into sync with both her characterization and the other cast members around her. She was robotic and simply was not getting into the subtext within the skin of her role. But in the second act, something changed within her performance. Her entire scene involving a television live interview was pure brilliance. She finds the sturdy ground of her characterization and delivers a marvelous performance. I just wish that she had that same emotional connection in the first act as well. This could also be the script itself.

The majority of the cast deliver glowing performances. David Meglino portrays Morrow McCarthy, who accidentally during brunch in front of a reporter lets it slip that Hughes lost a jury duty summons years ago. Wasserstein fails miserably in giving the character the real reason why he said this. Nonetheless, Meglino gives the character a robust, wicked sense of humor and lively disposition. While the character is gay, Meglino does not stereotype the role, which is wonderful to see. This is Mr. Meglino's Dallas debut performance, and he is smashing.

Another fun performance to watch is Harry Reinwald as Senator Hughes. The character could have easily become cliché, but both director and actor steer clearly way from this. Reinwald is humorous, engaging, and shows honest love and support for his daughter. The actor gives the character dignity and restraint, but also the voice of a loving father and husband. I thoroughly enjoyed Reinwald's performance very much.

Add Dennis Canright to the list of gratifying performances in this company. Canright shows in equal amounts the loss of his fame as a noted writer and his support for the rise in his wife's career. He is supportive, but also must deal emotionally with the affair he had with a former student. This is another failure in Wasserstein's writing in that we never get the full story, but Canright achieves organic truth and conflict without the written word. From chain smoking to trying to grasp hold of his marriage, Canright stays in complete character from beginning to end. He is terrific in the production.

Connie Lane, Laura Warner, and Meglino supplied the loudest and best laughs of the evening. Ms. Lane's performance achieves some of the biggest laughs of the evening as the Senator's wife Chubby. She is endearing, charming, warm, loving, and full of life. Always dressed impeccably, Lane would continually steal scenes with her solid comedic timing, pace, and delivery that is matched with her facial expressions.

But it is Laura Warner, who walks away with the show and the audience's heart in a brilliant, entrancing performance as Judith B. Kaufman. Judith is Lyssa's best friend and also happens to be a woman's oncologist. She is also black, Jewish, in her 40's, and desperately struggling to conceive a child. Warner is the warmth and heart of the play. She is angry, but also so alone, trying to find a reason for her life. Warner connects honestly and beautifully with everyone on stage, bouncing the "ball of actor energy" between them all, never once dropping the ball. Warner's stage presence, organic naturalistic approach to her acting gives her an exquisite performance from beginning to end.

Finally, a standing ovation to Irving Community Theater to tackle a difficult, adult piece like this. Many theater companies are playing safe in producing productions that won't offend or alienate their subscribers. An American Daughter does contain some adult language and situations that would not sit well with the older generations. At Friday's opening a couple of white-haired grandmas and grandpas did get up and walk out, which just makes you want to scream, "Oh grow up!" Must everything being mounted on stage come from from the 1940s-50s?

I sincerely hope this does not influence ICT to just stick to the old war horses. I totally understand that you need to pacify your older, paying customers, but you also need to grow artistically, and with this production ICT has grown artistically. While the script has its severe problems, visually and artistically ICT has a smash on their hands. Bravo ICT, Bravo!

GRADE: B