Holland Taylor and Ana Villafañe are perfectly cast in this intelligent and illuminating comedy about the relationship between the first woman Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, and the youngest woman ever elected to Congress, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
Their names are never mentioned, but there’s no effort at disguising their identities or altering their biographies; some of what the characters say is even lifted verbatim from recognizable speeches and comments the Congresswomen have made.
In the program, and the script, the characters are called N and A, which explains the play’s title. One thing you cannot say about “N/A” is that it’s Not Applicable. Opening on the night of an unprecedented debate between a President and a former President, the play is itself something of a debate over issues, strategies and priorities that directly apply to the state of the nation now.
At the same time, “N/A” aims to entertain.
Set almost entirely in N’s office in the United States Capitol, “N/A” begins right after Primary Day in 2018, when A unexpectedly has won the Democratic primary for Congress against a ten-term incumbent, and N has called her in for a chat. It ends six scenes and some four years later, after N has announced she would be stepping down as Speaker. Most of the scenes occur after a vote in Congress has brought them together to complain or cajole, or try to negotiate.
In a program note, playwright Mario Correa, who was a Congressional aide in his twenties, explains that he wanted “N/A” to avoid depicting a “fight” between two women. “I wanted to write about a battle of ideas, the philosophical and strategic disagreements that have placed two historical figures seemingly at odds, despite shared values and objectives.” And that’s what “N/A” achieves, with N and A exchanging views on issues like health care, climate change, and immigration, but ultimately arguing over the best way to effect change. For example, there’s a fascinating fact-filled argument when A tries to get N to support the elimination of ICE (U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement),
N: There is no support in the Congress to abolish ICE.
A: Really? I could walk out that door and find you a hundred members who would vote to abolish ICE today.
N: Good. Get another 118 to join them, plus 60 Senators and a new President, and we’ll talk.
A: What about moral leadership! It’s the job of our leaders to LEAD..
N: Not over the cliff, it isn’t.
This is just an excerpt; It’s to the playwright’s credit that both sides are given their full due, accurately reflecting the actual debate – or at least, what the debate was at the time, a few short years ago. It’s bracing to realize how much the contours of the debate over immigration have shifted.
Correa is also the playwright who a decade ago conjured up “Tail! Spin!” a wildly comic collage of lurid political sex scandals, which starred Saturday Night Live alum Rachel Dratch.
If “N/A” offers little of SNL’s brand of satiric silliness, the play is threaded with a comic looseness. When A first enters N’s empty office in awe, she starts spontaneously livestreaming from there with her smart phone. N shows up in the middle, and A apologetically explains that she did it for her many new followers
“You know–followers?” A says, to make sure that N, exactly half a century her senior, understands about social media.
“Like Jesus,” N says.
“He had only twelve!” A replies. “That was–I’m kidding. I’m not comparing myself to Jesus!”
“Then you’re the only one,” N says.
A little later, when N says the media did not expect A to win, A retorts: “If it’s printed on trees, no–it didn’t see me coming. No offense.”
“Why would I take offense?” A says. “I’m not a tree.”
Both Congresswomen are undeniably sharp, but it seems unlikely that the real Pelosi and AOC engage in such witty banter, which in my experience is rare to encounter outside a TV show. Coincidentally or not, much of the production’s design recalls a TV studio, at least a political one, with a barebones set and computer graphics of colorful stars with a “whoosh” sound in between scenes.
But it’s hard to object to the laugh lines in the play, which temper — and are tempered by – the serious discussions that are the heart of “N/A.”
It doesn’t hurt that both Holland Taylor and Ana Villafañe are able to deliver the comedy without compromising their credible portrayal of these actual women, capturing their essences without being hat trick impersonations. These characterizations are deepened by biographical tidbits dropped along the way, as the women get to know one another. Some of these glimpses sound fanciful, but welcome nonetheless. At one point, N is interrupted by a phone call, which irritates her, until she realizes it’s one of her granddaughters, who is calling to complain about Nana’s gift. “Bunny, ‘Eleanor Roosevelt Barbie’ IS a real Barbie! She’s historical….Well she’s not supposed to fit in some little car; Eleanor Roosevelt Barbie doesn’t drive– she is driven.”
“N/A” may not be a political play for the ages. As the playwright himself acknowledges, it’s only “lightly imagined.” It doesn’t quite go anywhere. The ending feels almost arbitrary.; nothing is really resolved. But isn’t that exactly where we are right now?
N/A
Lincoln Center’s Mitzi Newhouse Theater through August 4 Update: Extends to September 1..
Running time: About 90 minutes with no intermission
Tickets: $90 – $160
Written by Mario Correa
Directed by Diane Paulus
Scenic design by Myung Hee Cho, lighting design by Mextly Couzin, sound design by Sun Hee Kil and German Martinez, projection design by POSSIBLE, Lisa Renkel.
Cast: Holland Taylor, Ana Villafañe
Photos by Daniel Rader
