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Regional Reviews: Washington, D.C. The World to Come
Director Howard Shalwitz–who previously served almost four decades as the company's artistic director–is working with a cast of Washington area all-stars: Naomi Jacobson (recipient of three Helen Hayes Awards), Michael Russotto (one Helen Hayes Award and several nominations), and Brigid Cleary (four nominations), along with the accomplished Claudia J. Arenas, and Ro Boddie. Micha Kachman's scenic design captures the seemingly ordinary setting of a lounge in the SeaBreeze Hebrew Home for the Aging: a fireplace, cozy chairs and sofas, a view of palm trees and surf through a wall of windows, and a slanted translucent roof. A self-selected "Supper Club" of residents–Barbara (Cleary), Fanny (Jacobson), Hal (Russotto), and Ruth (Arenas)–meet here every night to play games and share their lives. Gradually, the audience picks up on the extraordinary things the club members have come to view as part of their everyday lives. There's the fact that all people age 75 and over are now required to leave their private homes and live in a facility like theirs if they can afford it, or in encampments if they cannot. They have all lost loved ones in ecological disasters. In addition, their current home seems to have only a single employee (Boddie), or maybe a succession of identical workers: it's hard to tell through the face-obscuring protective gear he wears (Ivania Stack's costumes suggest the unseen dangers that words can't express). Most worrying is the overarching sense of catastrophe lurking just outside, and the question of whether their home will keep them safe from such rumored external threats as flocks of enormous man-eating ostriches, lack of needed medicines, widespread famine, onslaughts of rain and hail, and bursts of fiery light from the sky (well articulated through Colin K. Bills' lighting design). Ruth, whose late husband was a rabbi, says she believes "our most transformational journeys can happen even towards the end of our lives," but the others aren't so sure. The World to Come runs through March 1, 2026, at Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company, 641 D St. NW, Washington DC. For tickets and information, please call 202-393-3939 or visit www.woollymammoth.net.
By Ali Viterbi Cast: |
