Interludes

THE HANGOVER REPORT – Mary Kathryn Nagle’s ambitious new play MANAHATTA draws parallels between two tragic histories

• By drediman
• December 6, 2023
• No Comments

Last night, Mary Kathryn Nagle’s new play Manahatta opened at the Public Theater’s Anspacher Theater. After having had previous regional productions at Oregon Shakespeare Festival and Yale Repertory Theater, the ambitious play finally arrives in New York at an auspicious time for both theater and society at large. In her play, Nagle simultaneously chronicles the unsuspecting sale of the island of Manhattan to the Dutch and the 2008 Financial Crisis through the lens of the Lenape people, drawing parallels between the two tragic histories in the process.

In its time-collapsing structure and the uncanny connections it makes, the play calls to mind two masterworks of modern drama – Tom Stoppard’s Arcadia (which you can currently see Off-Broadway courtesy of the folks at Bedlam) and  Stefano Massini’s The Lehman Trilogy. However, given Manahatta‘s compactness, play doesn’t quite have the breathing room to more fully and more convincingly explore its themes as the two aforementioned masterworks do. As such, some of the cause-and-effect connections it attempts to make can seem a tad tenuous, however fascinating. Nevertheless, these are important stories that need to be told by the people who should be telling them.

Unsurprisingly, given the close proximity to where many of the play’s tragic events have occurred and thanks to The Public’s excellent production, Manahatta probably plays with more urgency in New York than it did in its previous runs. Despite my slight reservations with the play itself, I found Laurie Woolery’s staging to be expert, particularly in the way it seamlessly handles the “time traveling” transitions. The cast is also superb, particularly the trio of Rainbow Dickerson, Elizabeth Frances, and Sheila Tousey – all three imbue their portrayals with gravity and fierce integrity that stays with you.

RECOMMENDED

MANAHATTA
Off-Broadway, Play
The Public Theater
1 hour, 45 minutes (without an intermission)
Through December 23