Review: N/A - A NEW PLAY at Barrington Stage Company

Barrington Stage Company (BSC) is well known for developing new works including American Son, Freud’s Last Session, On The Town, and The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee.  Now, under the artistic direction of Alan Paul, BSC presents N/A, a bold and timely new play by Mario Correa. This regional premiere production, deepening BSC’s commitment to bold, character-driven new works feels not only urgent but necessary, it’s about legacy, ambition, and the complexities of progress.

N/A is a gripping two-hander that imagines a fictional meeting between two powerhouse women in American politics: one, a seasoned Speaker of the House; the other, a newly elected congresswoman with a disruptive streak. As generational, ideological, and political tensions rise, N/A explores what it takes for women to wield, challenge, and share power in Washington—and what that means for the rest of us.

The production is directed by Katie Birenboim and features Kelly Lester as N and Diane Guerrero as A.  With Scenic Design by Brian Prather; Costume Design by Mika Eubanks; Lighting Design by Wheeler Moon; Sound Design by Brandon Bulls; Wig Design by Brittany Hartman.  Production Stage Manager is Rebecca C. Monroe.

Correa’s initial inspiration for N/A lies in the time he spent as a young staffer to an Italian American woman and mom who was also a member of Congress that had “come into her own” during the women’s movement of the 1970’s.  Correa credits her with teaching him a great deal by “having observed how she made her way in an institution that was really not built for women, certainly not women in midlife”.

Although Correa chooses not to name the characters, but refer to them simply as N and A, they are based on Nancy Pelosi and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (AOC). He did so to lessen audience members’ tendencies toward preconceived notions and feelings about the two public figures.  While the dialogue is not based on transcripts or actual conversations, in the numerous meetings and conversations that make up the 80 minutes (with no intermission) these women do talk to each other the way members of Congress talk with each other.  Correa “wanted to give enough context that the audience knows what was going on, but the terms they use to refer to certain things, the dynamics of how members trade for votes, all of that was really very close to what I observed”.  According to Director, Katie Birenbaum “the play explores a famously complicated and much mythologized female relationship: that between the first female Speaker of the House and the youngest elected Congresswoman in United States history.  People have long speculated about supposed rancor and conflict between these two women – and indeed, they represent a clash not only of politics but of ideologies, backgrounds, and generations”.    N/A asks what if these two women  disagreed on almost every political issue imaginable, and, indeed felt resentment and even jealousy toward one another, but also deep respect and admiration?

While I have no personal experience with AOC, I did have the opportunity to meet and work with Nancy Pelosi multiple times during my years in San Francisco.  In my opinion, as well as others in the opening night audience, Kelly Lester and Diane Guerrero as N and A respectively are formidable, rock solid, and completely believable.