Faculty show chronicles a woman's movement

Author: Eleanor Johnstone

Although "The Heidi Chronicles" shook Wright Theater the weekend before campus emptied for break, its powerful performances and messages chased this reporter into the holiday and back to the press. Directed by Middlebury's Professor of Theater and Women's and Gender Studies Cheryl Faraone as the centerpiece of the Wasserstein Fortnight Symposium, Wendy Wasserstein's play offers an insightful look into the lives of those who lived through the feminist movement in the '60s, '70s and '80s in the U.S. The play focuses on Heidi Holland's life from high school dances to becoming a single mother in her late forties and the characters female, male, straight, gay, traditional and rebellious who win, lose and share with her.

Beautifully portrayed by Lucy Faust '09, Heidi's existence is summed up in her future best friend Peter's (Rishabh Kashyap '08) high school icebreaker, "You look so bored, you must be very bright." The play follows the constants in her life - a frustrated romance with the loquacious, contentious, womanizing journalist Scoop Rosenbaum (Neil D'Astolfo '07.5), her friendship with homosexual Peter Patrone (Kashyap) and her passionate study of women in art as well as the variables including girl friend Susan Johnston (Allison Corke '08), women's support groups and the media.

Heidi's relationship with her girl friends becomes one of the most transient subjects of the play. Though she keeps in touch with her high school friend Susan, the scenes that follow them through the decades reveal a durable and honest Heidi absorbing her friend's flighty shifts from boy-crazy teen to she-man feminist and finally fast-talking and corporate TV think tank. At one point Heidi confesses to the empty sense of sadness that Faust radiated so well. Although she shares the egalitarian sentiments of her fellow women, Heidi remains true to her classical and modest self throughout the decades, finding herself very lonely on the edge of the radical fads of the '60s, '70s and '80s. The dynamic that Wasserstein establishes between her heroine and the chattier, more radical figures in the play questions the verity and endurance of Feminism. In a private moment at his wedding to another woman, Scoop confides in Heidi that he could not marry her because two determinedly successful professionals do not equal a happy home. If women can have it all just as well as men, then who compromises what when? Women such as Susan and Denise (Stephanie Strohm '08) profit from the movement, designing sitcoms around the aspirations of women while news anchor April (Emily Kron '09.5) engages Heidi, Scoop and Peter in an interview that quickly becomes a battle of the liberal wit in which Heidi has no room to breathe. Yet many of these professional success stories seem to ride on highly compressed engines of domestic and personal frustration. So who exactly is the new woman? Even if she has it all, is she really enjoying it? Peter also questions the justice of the movement, demanding to know the difference between men rejecting women from the work force and women rejecting men from the struggle for liberation. Curiously, at the end of the play the two friends who appear to have endured the test of time are male - Scoop, consistently a brilliant and stubborn jackass, and Peter, an honest and modest homosexual weathering conservatism and radicalism with reason. The one exception is Heidi's adopted daughter to whom she sings as the lights fall on the last scene.

Faraone and her cast found a rhythm within the text of "Heidi" that held the audience for the entirety of the show. Actors slipped comfortably into their period-accurate costumes, displaying a deep understanding of their text. All actors seized their roles with playful confidence, most notably Natasha Chacon '10 and Justine Katzenbach '08.5, who swaggered and over-sweetened (respectively) with admirable abandon. Benjamin T. Meader '09.5 displayed a remarkable versatility free of hesitation while Faust, Corke, Kashyap and D'Astolfo dexterously handled the subtleties of behavior that convincingly carried them from their late teens into their thirties and forties. These core four achieved a remarkable balance of energies that was crucial to the whole production - Faust received D'Astolfo's buoyancy with a sophisticated alacrity, Kashyap responded effectively to every temperament on the stage and Corke emanated a remarkable warmth free of frivolousness and fuzz that laid a solid foundation for the loss Heidi later feels when Susan stifles it with business.

In appearance and serviceability the technical design opened both actors and audience to Wasserstein's meditative and exploratory play. The crucial role of time in the play was given ample room and respect by Associate Technical Director Hallie Zieselman's spacious and versatile set - a warmly colored series of levels that were defined by props and a variably lit scrim. A loose tangle of rope reminiscent of Miss Havisham's wedding dangled from the fly space as a subtle but poignant reflection of the struggles faced by those who may appear calm and content. Professor of Theater Mark Evancho's warm lighting plot took full advantage of the creativity that the set afforded, successfully defining space and time with changes both subtle and bold.

When my friend asked me about my reaction, I had one answer - terrifying. The production kept me on the edge of my seat with its beauty, poignancy and honesty. Some have wondered whether or not Wasserstein is still relevant to women today. In my experience with this particular play, she is dead on. Many of the issues she addresses affected our parents and grandparents and, as for ourselves, we are the ones Heidi holds in her arms at the end of the '80s. The questions that persist are human questions. Wasserstein asks her audience to seek honesty between the party lines of both women and men. It is not Feminism we are dealing with, nor rash chauvinism - these are only subsets of the larger quest for the identity and inner satisfaction that we all share.