By Carol Davis
SAN DIEGO — Anna Deavere Smith’s latest commentary on the status of our health care system is one of the topics covered in her latest set of interviews, or as she calls them, “Assemblage of stories,” in Let Me Down Easy. It is now in a stellar showing at the San Diego Repertory Theatre downtown San Diego, and for starters, a must see.
It took the cooperation of three of our prestigious theatre companies (The La Jolla Playhouse, San Diego Repertory Theatre and Vantage Theatre), fifteen members of a technical support crew and over 300 interviews highlighting twenty three of those three hundred interviewed to mount this one-woman, one hundred and some minute show. But where to begin?
Smith is an accomplished actress, teacher and storyteller. I remember seeing her in one of her first performances at the California Performing Arts Center in Escondido, Fires in the Mirror, concerning a series of interviews that later turned to monologues, about an incident that happened in 1991 in Crown Heights, Brooklyn when a Hassidic Jew lost control of his car and killed a 7-year old African American child. It was spellbinding. The accident caused racial unrest that no on could imagine and fractured the community of Crown heights.
The following year in Twilight: Los Angeles, she zeroed in on the racial unrest after the Rodney King ‘incident.” For those not old enough to remember, we watched with horror as a young black man was dragged out of his car and while resisting arrest, brutally bludgeoned again and again by L.A.’s finest. The innocent verdict involving the four officers that did these acts and the prejudice that was spewed was a blight on our society. Needless to say riots broke out and, well… it was a mess.
Once again the topic of Smith’s conversation is in the news on a daily basis. The physical, mental, racial, affordable and spiritual health of our nation as a whole is in question. In case you missed the BIG debate last year over universal health care, or what some are calling Obama care, you can tune in to Let Me Down Easy and get a pretty good picture of the ongoing dispute about health care, what we want from it and how we treat the sick, elderly and vulnerable. In her words, this play is about “the power of the body and the resilience of the human spirit.” It also talks to how we approach terminal illness and death.
Of the 300 interviewees Ms. Smith recorded, the 20 or so personalities we met are as diversified as in any community both in personality and disposition. Some more focused than others, some more humorous than others and some more tragic than others. The production, directed by Leonard Foglia, seemed a little scattered at first glance and it took a while to connect some of the dots.
However, connecting the dots is not necessarily a must although the personalities, some names recognizable others not, do have a common thread that becomes evident. They range from prominent doctors like Phil Pizzo, Dean, Stanford University School of Medicine, to Michael Bentt Heavyweight Championship Boxer to Eve Ensler, (quite a funny take on her raisin theory and our bodies) Writer, Activist to Hazel Merritt, a patient in one of the hospitals, to Trudy Howell, Director, Chance Orphanage, Johannesburg, South Africa, to Lance Armstrong, Tour de France Victor to Joel Siegel, Movie Critic to Ann Richards, Former Governor of Texas. (Both Richards and Siegel talk about their fight with cancer and how they deal)
You can see that the cast of characters is of the32-flavor variety. What you will not see in this written review is the way Smith disappears into her characters carefully, methodically, precisely and with conviction. Her moves, accents, mannerisms and body language become the person. It’s almost like a sleight of hand.
In the first half of the intermissionless show Smith brings Lance Armstrong on to discuss his fear of failure in racing the Tour de France. He talks about his bout with cancer and how his competitive nature would not even let him consider not licking it. Every move she makes from scratching a thigh to listening to an iPod, to his gut felt laugh, sitting sprawled across a white leather looking sofa is Armstrong personified.
One of the funniest, not ha ha funny, is when Ruth Katz a patient in Yale New Haven Hospital was told by a young intern that the hospital had lost her charts and she would have to start from the beginning to tell him about her illness and treatment. The young intern never took his eyes from his notes or regarded her as anything more that a statistic until she told him that she was, in fact, Associate Dean of the medical school. He asked, “At this medical school?” That got his attention. After that, it took only one half hour for them to find her records.
But before we realize it we were listening in to Trudy Howell telling us how the children in her Chance Orphanage, dying from AIDS, face death. It is one of the most heartwarming and gut wrenching stories “Don’t Leave Them in the Dark” of the evening. With her lilting South African accent pulling us into this account, Smith shows us how much of a pro she really is, tears streaming down her eyes in an almost whispered voice. There is no doubt that she is Trudy Howell incarnate.
The titles of her stories are projected (Zachery Borovay) on an overhead screen so that we know who and what the next subject is and what he or she does. (It’s also in the program). The set (Riccardo Hernandez) is minimalist at best with four mirrored panels in the background, a sofa, coffee table, dining room table and chai s and none look like they are in any particular order.
One of the more fascinating highlights (at least to me) were the slight costume changes consisting of a jacket, a lab coat, a cowboy hat, two bottles of beer, a Ipod, a suit jacket and a shawl (Ann Hould-Ward) that were all just left on the stage when she finished with one character and moved on to the next. I kept expecting someone to come and remove them, but it never happened and for a reason. At the end of the performance there was something of every one of her characters left on the stage. Hopefully, that’s how we all leave this earth, with a little of ourselves behind for another conversation.
See you at the theatre.
Dates: through May 15th
Organization: San Diego Rep., La Jolla Playhouse, and Vantage Theatre
Phone: 619-544-1000
Production Type: Play
Where: San Diego Repertory Theatre 79 Horton Plaza, 92101
Ticket Prices: $39.00-$53.00
Web: sdrep.org
Venue: Lyceum Stage