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I was surprised to learn that JC Lee (Luce), the author of this new play in previews at MCC Theater, is a man. I erroneously assumed that a play about the battle between two feminists of differing generation and race must have been written by a woman. Perhaps it needed a woman to more clearly articulate what is at stake in their struggle. In any case, it came across to me as a muddled look at important issues. From moment to moment, it is hard to tell whether Theresa (the always wonderful Jayne Houdyshell; A Doll's House Part 2, The Humans), an established author on women’s issues, is really interested in defending truth in academia or just fighting to keep rising star Msemaji (the superb Pascale Armand; Eclipsed) from taking over her spotlight. Although Theresa loathes social media where everyone, no matter how stupid, has equal voice, when she discovers unsubstantiated evidence online that Msemaji may have misrepresented her biographical details, she is tempted to weaponize the information. The arguments about gender and race put forth by Theresa and Msemaji seemed circular and repetitive. There are two supporting characters — Kelly (Molly Camp; The Heiress, Close Up Space), moderator of their debate at an academic conference, and David (Richard Masur; Democracy, Olive and the Bitter Herbs), Theresa’s literary agent. The role of Kelly is satirized too broadly and David’s character seemed mainly there as a plot contrivance. The lack of a sympathetic character was an obstacle for me. The scenic design by Clint Ramos (Once on This Island, The Village Bike), with its revolving set and sliding panels and the projection design by Jeanette Oi-Suk Yew were perfectly executed. The set for the hotel room has an LED cityscape outside the window that was so eye-catching that I became more interested in watching it transform than in paying attention to the actors. The costumes by Jacob A. Climer (Kid Victory) were spot-on. Director Liesl Tommy (Eclipsed) did her best with a shaky script. I wish that the script were up to the high level of the production. To me, this is one more case where a play was rushed into production before it was ready. Running time: one hour 45 minutes; no intermission.

Fondly, Collette Richland *

The first thing you should know about this collaboration between Elevator Repair Service  (Gatz, The Select, Arguendo and The Sound and the Fury) and playwright Sibyl Kempson is that at least one-fourth of the audience did not return after intermission. If coherence and intelligibility are among your requirements for a theatrical experience, this new play at New York Theatre Workshop is definitely not for you. It has plenty of interesting characters, a clever set by David Zinn, Inspired costumes by Jacob A. Climer and Zinn and an intricate sound design by Ben Williams, assisted by Gavin Price. Unfortunately these strong points are overwhelmed by the lack of a discernible narrative arc and an unfortunate tendency to pile on the surreal and the ridiculous beyond what the play can bear. The plot, to the extent that one exists, involves a middle age couple Fritz (Vin Knight) and Mabrel (Laurena Allan) FItzhubert whose supper is interrupted by the arrival of Local Representative Wheatsun (Greig Sergeant). They show him a tiny door within the house that eventually leads them to a Grand Hotel in the Alps populated by a motley array of guests and staff. Once there, things grow increasingly incomprehensible. Nativism and ancient Rome are somehow involved. The terrific cast seem to be having a wonderful time. Notable are Mike Iveson as a priest who narrates the first part of the play while playing the piano and later plays a hotel waiter, April Matthis as the title character (a radio show host) and Fritz’s sister Dora, and Susie Sokol as a Cat Butler (really!) and the hotel’s milkmaid. I will confess that I had several chuckles along the way, but became restless during the second act when the fun became increasingly labored. ERS founder John Collins directed. Perhaps ERS should rethink the idea of working with playwrights. They did far better when they started with an existing text. Running time: 2 hours, 40 minutes including intermission.