Emily Davis and Deirdre O'Connell sit together in front of one computer screen for a Wednesday afternoon Zoom interview, beautifully lit by dressing room mirrors. O鈥機onnell鈥檚 day is done, having just performed the matinee of Dana H. while Davis is preparing for the evening performance of Is This A Room. (鈥淥ne of us was gonna get screwed,鈥� Davis jokes about the timing.) The two often meet in passing on two-shows day at the Lyceum theatre where the plays are running in repertory.
鈥淢eeting in the middle鈥� might be apt phrasing for what is happening on stage, as well.
Both plays can be categorized as documentary theatre (or sometimes called docudrama, verbatim theatre, or theatre of fact). In this type of theatre, performances are built from existing, historical, source material, such as transcripts, video footage, interviews, journalism/reporting, and scientific research.
Is This A Room is the literal transcript from the FBI interrogation of government whistleblower Reality Winner. Conceived by Tina Satter, artistic director of the downtown theatre company Half Straddle, the piece stages that actual 90 minutes in time, with Davis playing Winner. Dana H. comprises selected taped interviews with its subject, Dana Higginbotham, recounting a five month period of time in which she was held captive in a series of hotel rooms by a former psych patient she had met as ward chaplain. O鈥機onnell portrays Dana, sitting in a chair, facing the audience, lip-syncing along to the recordings. (It鈥檚 difficult to describe the action of the play without sounding reductive. The performance is an incredible technical feat, yet does not betray the character's depths of emotion and vulnerability.)
Both productions meet the material in the middle, so to speak, and by adding their own artistic interpretations to it, create a new piece of art from the historical, recorded words.
Davis talks about approaching the transcript with questions. 鈥淲hen reading it, what kind of sparks are coming off the page in this woman's voice?鈥� 鈥淲hat kind of power and authority does a man's body have on stage that maybe a woman doesn't traditionally have?鈥� They aren鈥檛 recreating the transcript, but rather telling a story by highlighting moments within it. 鈥淲e鈥檙e making choices about how we wanted to pull certain language out,鈥� Davis says.
The beginning process was a little different for Dana H. Playwright Lucas Hnath, who also happens to be Higginbotham鈥檚 son, had Steve Cosson, artistic director of the investigative theatre company The Civilians, interview his mother about this event in their lives. Hnath then took portions of those recorded interviews to create the script for Dana H. so, as opposed to the literal slice of time in Is This A Room, Dana H. edits and compacts the storytelling. The audience is still getting the verbatim interview, but told in the way the playwright wants to tell it.
鈥淚 often feel like the purpose of the piece, at its most basic, is to create a link between Lucas and his mother,鈥� says O鈥機onnell, bringing up yet another way to apply our 鈥渕eet in the middle鈥� phrase. She says her job is to stay out of the way. 鈥淭here鈥檚 a huge amount of interpretation that goes on, and every day it鈥檚 different, but I can feel it like an electric shock if I start acting or enjoying my own interpretive powers.鈥�
When asked about the challenges of 鈥済etting it right鈥� in documentary theatre, both actors answer the question technically. O鈥機onnell mentions being slightly off on a lip-synch; Davis mentions the strict choreography and hitting every single stage picture. After all, they aren鈥檛 recreating something, they are reinterpreting something, so maybe there is no 鈥渞ight.鈥�
They do both, however, still feel a huge responsibility to their plays鈥� subjects. Though it may be interpretation, it still must be truthful. 鈥淲e made something of our own,鈥� says Davis, 鈥渂ut we probably wouldn鈥檛 have gone forward with it if we didn鈥檛 have the blessings of the family...At the end of the day, it is ultimately a kind of celebration of this deeply complicated person.鈥� The real Dana H. has seen the production a few times. O鈥機onnell says that one time she said 鈥淚 was pleased.鈥� Another time she said,鈥漁kay. It鈥檚 yours now.鈥� How鈥檚 that for getting it right?
Is This A Room plays through November 27, and Dana H. runs through November 28.
