Review Roundup: I BECAME WE Opens at Atlantic Theater Company

I BECAME WE is being presented by Atlantic Theater Company at the Linda Gross Theater. Written by Obie Award winner Mona Pirnot, the production is directed by fellow Obie winner Sarah Benson and features music by Relentless Award winner Jack D. Coen.

The formally experimental work takes the shape of a first-person monologue performed by a 16-person choir. It follows a woman in her mid-thirties as she wrestles with one of life's most consequential decisions, combining plainspoken contemporary language with the musical conventions of classical choral performance.

The cast includes Alison Cheeseman, Paul Chew MinChul, Oliver Holt, Heather Jones, Helen Karloski, Chad Kranak, Katie McCreary, Neil Netherly, Logan Pitts, Carrie Quarquesso, AnnMarie Sandy, Michael Steinberger, Gergorio Taniguchi, Tyler Tejada, Elizabeth van Os, and Jen Wu.

The production began previews October 16 and officially opens October 27, with performances scheduled through November 15.

Caroline Cao, New York Theatre Guide: But just when I Became We tips into exhaustion, enter the secret star and 17th choir member: child soloist Paige Nesle, of the NYC Children’s Choir, representing an adult Pirnot reverting into childlike vulnerability in the aching “I Don’t Know” (performed with mezzo Helen Karloski). There’s a moment where Nesle shuts her eyes after she blunders a note but soldiers on with her mousy lilt. Whether in error or calculated acting, this moment touches a big theme of I Became We: There's no choice but to move on from the imperfect.

Thom Geier, Culture Sauce: Near the end of the 70-minute show, a seed planted in the opening moments bears fruit with the appearance of a 17th choir member (the preternaturally poised Paige Nesle at my performance) who shifts the material into a whole new direction: plaintive but hopeful, initiating a clear-voiced call-and-response with the full choir that will leave you dewy-eyed. It’s an astonishing moment of pure, goosebump-inducing beauty that taps into the pregnant possibilities of change. I Became We is a singular achievement, a choral masterpiece that is thoughtful, smart, funny, and frankly unforgettable. It contains multitudes.

Michael Sommers, New York Stage Review: On one hand, I Became We is a little story about educated, reasonably well-off, white people’s problems in the metropolis, so it may not appeal to everyone’s social conscience. On the other, a sophisticated chamber musical of this quality is a rare event and should be grabbed with both hands.

Kenji Fujishima, TheaterMania: Coen’s score also features solo and quartet numbers. These usually underscore more intimate moments in Pirnot’s monologue, when she gets introspective or another character offers words of wisdom. (Under Sarah Benson’s direction, lighting designer Tuçe Yasak adds to the intimacy of these moments by discreetly spotlighting individual performers.) He saves his most memorable stylistic coup de théâtre, though, for a concluding number in which a child (Paige Nesle) walks onto the stage and performs a duet with an alto in the context of a phone conversation in which the narrator finally confesses her increasingly complicated feelings about motherhood. In a show that offers a brilliant demonstration of the power of music to make deeply personal feelings broadly accessible, this moment carries the force of a universal epiphany.

Average Rating: 87.5%