THE HANGOVER REPORT – La MaMa exquisitely reconstructs María Irene Fornés’s EVELYN BROWN (A DIARY), a poetic meditation on a lost life

Ellen Lauren and Violeta Picayo in La MaMa’s production of María Irene Fornés’s “Evelyin Brown (A Diary)” at The Downstairs (photo by Steven Pisano).

Also last night, a rare revival of María Irene Fornés’s Evelyn Brown (A Diary) opened Off-Broadway at La MaMa’s The Downstairs performance space (in fact, the piece hasn’t been revived since premiering in 1980). Inspired by a found diary of a domestic laborer — the titular Evelyn Brown — the work uses seemingly inconspicuous journal entries to animate a lost life, through which the playwright poetically examines and meditates upon the very fabric of human existence within time and space.

Fornés is undoubtedly one of the icons of New York’s storied avant-garde theater scene, and the opportunity to experience a creation of hers reconstructed with such exquisite care and attention to detail is a gift not to be underestimated (dramaturg Gwendolyn Alker spent three years recovering and piecing together the forgotten script). Written for two performers, the still experimental work straddles both dance theater and documentary theater. Indeed, movement plays an integral role in the integrated production — in just a few stylized, repeated gestures, the relentless mundanity of Evelyn’s day-to-day life and the unspoken repression she — and others in her station — must have felt are eloquently and succinctly conveyed. As conceived by Fornés’s, Evelyn Brown (A Diary) also dreamily conjures our capacity for escape within our inner lives.

The current production at La MaMa is performed with breathtaking precision by two sublime actresses — Ellen Lauren and Violeta Picayo, who tag team to bring Evelyn Brow to life. Director Alice Reagan has done an impressive job of overseeing the show’s reconstruction, including the meticulous recreation of its suggestive original designs. Wandering in and out of the expansive yet prison-like set, Lauren and Picayo create — with sustained rigor and commitment — the convincing illusion of ghosts imprinted upon the austerity of the times, forever on repeat.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

EVELYN BROWN (A DIARY)
Off-Broadway, Play
The Downstairs at La MaMa
1 hour, 5 minutes (without an intermission)
Through June 4

Categories: Off-Broadway, Theater

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