Marilu Henner and Shannon Purser Photo by Joan Marcus

That's how the character Greta (Marilu Henner) in The Ask, described by playwright Matthew Freeman as "a white woman in her early 70s; a liberal feminist who financially supports the causes we all care about," refers to the mock-up "photograph" of a brontosaurus she displays on a wall in her Upper West Side apartment.

As an aging left-winger myself, I recognize her point. My parents were regarded as leftists when they met in the 1930s, but, although their views on equality and empathy never diminished, some of the words they used and ideas they expressed were dismissed as being antiquated, or even offensive, by the liberals of my generation in the 1970s and '80s. And now I find myself on the other end of the discussion when speaking with younger liberals of today. We all have the same core beliefs. The differences arise when we break those core beliefs into individual issues and in the words we choose to discuss them.

In The Ask, that younger generation is represented by Tanner (Shannon Purser), a Gift Planning Officer at the American Civil Liberties Union described as "late 20s, non-binary, assigned female at birth."

"I spent all my time when I was young fighting the world and now, I don't know, that's your job thank you very much," the famous photographer and activist says to her visitor. It's December of 2022 and the continuous action of the 90-minute play has Tanner meeting Greta to discuss why she did not make her usual substantial donation to the ACLU last year and to see if she would be comfortable significantly increasing it this year.

Tanner admits that the election of Joe Biden has resulted in decreased membership and contributions from their liberal base, who gave greater support in past years to combat the doings of the Trump administration.

"So bad presidents are good for business," Greta concludes.

But while Greta bears no animosity towards Tanner, she does have some complaints, the first of which is that Tanner is not Carol, the long-time staff member who has been handling her giving until she suddenly stopped hearing from her, or anyone else from the ACLU.

Tanner gives whatever explanation they can, but Greta understands their hesitancy to reveal details. As the play goes on, we get the impression that Carol was much more politically aligned with Greta than she expects Tanner will be, and we can draw our own conclusion as to why she is no longer in the picture.

There's the small matter of Greta feeling overwhelmed with the organization's persistent deluge of emails, which Tanner explains as a practice that is more effective with younger members, but the greater issue in Greta's mind is that she feels the mission of the ACLU is shifting away from what she's been sending her dollars to support.

Like many of her time, her admiration of the ACLU began when the organization supported the free-speech rights of a Nazi group intending to hold a rally in the heavily Jewish community of Skokie, Illinois.

"There was something about an organization standing up for the principle of free speech, even for the worst speech imaginable," she recalls. "The idea that in order to defend speech for some of us, we have to defend speech for all of us."

"But isn't it easier for someone with privilege, who is rarely the target of hate speech, to stand up for some abstract principle?," Tanner offers. They won't say it aloud, but Tanner probably suspects it's Greta's privilege that keeps her from recognizing that providing free internet access, forgiving student loans, and other such projects do contribute to preserving civil liberties.

But there's another issue, one that won't be revealed here, which Greta appears to take more personally, and to have someone with the ACLU advocate on her behalf in regards to this issue is the non-negotiable that takes The Ask to its very emotional conclusion.

This is play that works very effectively on two levels. You can feel however you feel about the issues Greta and Tanner discuss, while also recognizing that it's not a fair fight. Tanner cannot fully defend their point of view because they're there to secure a large donation and, for the most part, must stick with the approved language of their organization. This leaves Greta able to express herself unchecked by aggressive pushback.

Both actors are excellent under Jessi D. Hill's direction. You can see Purser's Tanner struggling with frustration as they work hard to keep a pleasant and positive tone. Though Henner's Greta expresses sympathy for her guest, her tone and physicality gradually become more domineering, as though recalling the skills she used to defend her rights as a young feminist.

Hill has Tanner remain diminutively seated for most of the play, while Greta freely roams and gestures around her study, which set designer Craig Napoliello has appropriately crammed with framed photos. Costume designer Nicole Wee emphasizes the generational and cultural differences between the two, with Tanner dressed in baggy casuals while Greta appears sleek in a burgundy top and bell bottoms.

But, though The Ask focuses on what separates the two characters, there are unspoken similarities they share as well. It would be easy to see Greta presented as an example of someone whose fights for justice don't always recognize the privileged position she's obtained, but Tanner also has privileges: being white (at least as currently cast), working for a high-profile company that supports causes they believe in, and living in Bushwick, a neighborhood now bursting with youthful art and culture. Perhaps, decades from now, Tanner will have an encounter with a twenty-something activist who'll regard them as the dinosaur.