L-R: Margot White, Mark Lotito, Leanne Cabrera, Ryan Avalos, and Lauriel Friedman in TECH SUPPORT. Photo by Russ Rowland. |
Tech
Support by Debra
Whitfield, currently premiering at 59E59 Theaters on East 59th Street in
midtown Manhattan, is one for the ages – but not in a good way. It is a trite rom-com, dependent upon a
preposterous time-travel premise, in which Pamela Stark (Margot White), a
middle-aged rare book dealer living in Manhattan in 2020, inadvertently embarks
on a series of journeys to random years in the twentieth century: 1919, 1946,
and 1978.
Pamela is in the throes of a divorce
and something of a Luddite, capable of adjusting a pop-up toaster or opening a
Tupperware container, but not much more.
She perceives herself as “an analogue girl in a digital world.” And so, when her computer’s printer acts up,
she is forced to telephone “tech support” for assistance but when she presses
the wrong button on her phone, she somehow finds herself back in the year
1919. It is there that she meets Charlie
Blackwell (Mark Lotito), the kindly proprietor of Mrs. Blackwell’s Boarding
House; Grace (Lauriel Friedman), an intelligent and politically ambitious
women’s suffragette; Maisie (Leanne Cabrera), a much milder, fragile and
old-fashioned – albeit pregnant - suffragette; and Chip (Ryan Avalos), a decent,
handsome young man who, unbeknownst to him, is responsible for Maisie’s
pregnancy.
(Pamela’s subsequent time travels are
predicated on even sillier contrivances: she fiddles with the dials on a
Victrola and a radio, pushes the wrong door buzzer, and provides a Lyft driver
with a house number but no street name.)
But back to 1919. Pamela prevails upon Maisie not to undergo an
abortion, not because Pamela herself is pro-life (indeed, she actually
professes to being pro-choice) but only because abortions in 1919, unlike in 2020,
are really dangerous. In fact, Pamela
admits to once having had an abortion herself, although she also allows that
“I
had a lot of sleepless nights and if I had it to do over again, I’m not sure
I’d make the same decision. But I’m glad
I had the choice!”
Anyway, Maisie doesn’t get an abortion
and gives birth to Chip Jr. (Ryan Avalos), the spitting image of his father,
wouldn’t you know, and it’s a good thing for Pamela that she did because when
Pamela lands in 1946 (right after the end of World War II), she meets Chip Jr.
and they fall in love. (Wasn’t so great
for Maisie, though, who died in childbirth, which is simply glossed over. Maybe an abortion illegally performed by a
doctor in 1919 might actually have been safer for Maisie than giving birth that
year, but we’ll never know and won’t really bother to think about.)
And this is what is wrong with the
play. The playwright consistently
attempts to have things both ways, without actually dealing with serious issues
in any depth. And so, in similar
fashion, when Grace’s subsequent marriage to Charlie is teetering on the brink
of collapse because her successful political career is interfering with what her
husband really wants - a wife who will
stay home, cook, clean and darn his socks - we are treated to this banal
exchange:
Grace: You know that I love my job and I feel that I’m just now starting to
make a difference. But I love you
more. What does it matter how many men
and women I help, if the one who means the most to me isn’t there? I want to come home. If it means resigning my office, so be it.
Charlie: I don’t know what to say. I’m
flabbergasted.
Grace: You don’t have to say anything except “welcome home.”
Charlie: Oh Gracie….I love you so much. I
guess all I really wanted to hear you say you loved me enough to give it all up
–
Grace: I don’t understand –
Charlie: You don’t have to quit. I won’t
let you quit – you’re doing a lot of good for the city and I want you to know
that you have my “full support.” Just hire
another assistant, so we can have dinner together, every once in a while.
The play is also insufferably knee
jerk pretentious. According to Pamela, for
example,
“…for
some women it’s [abortion’s} become more dangerous because of antediluvian laws
passed by old white men –“
and according to Grace
“There
are forward-thinking men and women here {New York] but I’m not so sure about
the rest of the country – especially in the hinterlands.”.
And there you have it: Tech Support is a hodgepodge of
homilies and its audience is trapped in this time warp for 85 minutes. But I feel sorrier for the play’s cast of
five, all of whom are consummate professionals who will be trapped in this time
warp for the next several weeks (the play is scheduled to run through September
21). All five actors should be commended
for performing exceptionally well, especially in light of the material they
have been given to work with.
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