Lupita Nyong’o portrays a woman in the weeks and months and possibly years after she is hit by her boyfriend, in Marin Ireland’s play, reopening tonight at Greenwich House Theater after a short run two years ago Off-Off Broadway.
In the aftermath of the violence, Nyong’o’s character (who is identified in the program only as “A”) meets with an unhelpful lawyer, a therapist, a support group; puts up with well-meaning and not so well-meaning friends; tries to tell her mother what happened; goes on awkward dates with new men — and through it all, remains feeling uncertain, humiliated, continually asking herself questions, like: Was it my fault? What happens now? and “Why do I still feel like, covered in grime?”
But the audience of “Pre-Existing Condition” gets plenty of answers about domestic violence:
One in three women experiences abuse, one of the characters says. “The number one reason women don’t leave an abusive relationship is because of her kids. And the number one reason women DO leave an abusive relationship? Is because of her kids.” It’s not useful to think of a batterer as a Jekyll and Hyde because that implies you can separate the two; “this capacity is always in him.” Even the title is informative: we learn that before the Affordable Care Act, many insurance companies refused to cover treatment for survivors of domestic violence, which they deemed a pre-existing condition. There are enough facts about domestic violence to fill an especially effective Public Service Announcement. It would be unfair to say that “Pre-Existing Condition” sometimes feels like one. But I would be lying to deny that much of the drama in watching this play comes from knowing something about it that’s not in the script.
Ireland, a first-rate actor making her playwriting debut with this play, reportedly started working on it 14 years ago. This was shortly after she was performing in the Wooster Group production of “Troilus and Cressida” in London opposite Scott Shepherd, who was also her boyfriend at the time. During rehearsal, she showed up with a black eye. Ireland launched a campaign to address the problem of sexual harassment and violence in the world of professional theater, which was written up in the New York Times in 2015; the reporter led with the story detailing Shepherd and Ireland and the black eye, no names changed.
“Pre-Existing Condition” is clearly not supposed to be autobiographical. But it is hard not to think of Marin Ireland’s personal story because we are told very little about A other than the scant details of her abuse, which dovetail with what we know about Ireland’s. A is Everywoman – or One-of-Every-Three-Women. This is surely some of the reasoning behind the choice to have “A” portrayed by a rotating cast. Nyong’o is in the role until September 26. She will be followed in succession by Phillipa Soo, Susannah Flood, Hari Nef, Edie Falco, and Whitney White, each performing for two or three weeks. It’s of course good marketing, but it can also be read as a gesture of solidarity.
The downside is that A comes perilously close to an avatar of a survivor as she deals in short scenes (more like sketches) with a series of characters, none of whom we learn much about either, all portrayed by the same three actors who performed in the original production: B (Dael Orlandersmith), C (Sarah Steele) and D (Greg Keller.) D seems to be different men that A is dating, but I wasn’t always sure; perhaps Ireland is making the point of how all first dates seem the same. D (which is to say Greg Keller) most stands out as A’s mother, who prattles on so much about herself that A can’t get in a word edgewise to tell her about her trauma – one of the several touches of subtle humor in the play.
Given so little that’s specific about the characters, the burden is on the performers to turn them into reasonably credible human beings. All three of the non-rotating cast do this well, even when they’re spouting statistics.
Lupita Nyong’o is a person of great natural grace, which might give a different spin on A than the actors who will succeed her. In the face of the lawyer’s blunt lack of interest, or the friend who tells her to move on, she seems less than humiliated, putting on a face that’s not quite dignity; something closer to bland courtesy. But there are moments in “Pre-Existing Condition” – moments of fury — that transcend any particular performance, and that defeat the playwright’s apparent effort to make this a study, rather than a howl.
Pre-Existing Condition
Greenwich House Theater through December 19
Running time: 80 minutes no intermission
Tickets: $49 – $179
Written by Marin Ireland and directed by Maria Dizzia
Cast: rotating in the role of A: Lupita Nyong’o, Phillipa Soo, Susannah Flood, Hari Nef, Edie Falco and Whitney White –.
Dael Orlandersmith as B, Sarah Steele as C, Greg Keller as D
Photo by Jessica Kourkounis
