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Confirmation
NORTHERN LIGHTS Joseph Hullett's "Confirmation," directed by Jocelyn Brown, is an astute political commentary about the black and white and gray world of abortion in America. The premise is the more important as it is likely George Bush will make one or more appointments to the Supreme Cout bench during his term, potentially shifting the precarious hold on pro-choice. A reversal would have a tremendous impact on the lives of millions of women, reverting back to the pre sexual liberation days of the late sixties. The drama is an acurate portrayal of the corridors of power and intrigue in Washington's inner circles, where lives and reputations are built and lost on the capricious leaks, accidents and stifled scandals inherent to frail and flawed human beings who purport to raise themselves against any turpitude when standing on the staunch moral issues of Puritan America. Thus, an arch-feminist movement matriarch can have deep ambivalence about abortion when it touches her personally, and a strong anti-choice nominee can have harbored doubts when his former wife found herself in the very situation. The inevitable ingenue intern wreaks havoc when she stumbles upon revelations whose implications could tilt the balance of power. Ultimately, the final choice to reveal or not rests with her and her own shadowy guilt about her nascent Lesbian sexuality. The innocent end up paying the, literally, ultimate price for the sins of the vile vicissitudes of the wily old dogs - and bitches - of Capitol Hill. The script is superbly tight, power packed with linguistic gems as we trod through living rooms and offices eavesdropping on private conversations between friends and enemies, witnessing change abouts and impossible bargaining positions brought about through veiled threats, blackmailing and posturing. We see the columnist as calumnist, the difficult choices forced by integrity when good and bad are no longer all or nothing propositions in the murky, muddled waters of reality. Bethany Prestigiacomo steals the show as power woman libber Jeri Ransom wheedling her inept mate Guardian journalist Preston Woods, suavely portrayed by Tony Howley, as a Good Old Boy Peter Pan symbol dexterously manipulated. Paul Castellano is abject Senator Kingman, who exemplifies the consumate male chauvinistic pig. Casey Long is affable schemer Achenbach ruthlessly plotting on behalf of President Dixon, voiced over off stage by Bob Campbell. Andrea Marie Freeman is wide eyed, innocent intern Brianna, torn between competing allegiances and her own budding individuality away from her family's hold. Myrna Niles portrays Cailin O'Casey, the unwavering Irish matriarch grappling with her own ambivalences opposite former mate and Supreme Court candidate Solomon Cohen, a gentle man of unshakable principles played by Kim Kiedrowski. In the balance is America's uneasy acceptance of basic
women's rights, and - dare we even utter the word? - atheism versus Puritan
ideals at odds with the realities of the modern secular world, as well
as the right to privacy of public figures and what constitutes ethical
disclosure.
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WALLFOUR.COM Director Jocelyn A. Brown did an exceptional job of creating opposition in her cast of “Confirmation” at the Chance Theater. This chess game takes place in Washington D.C. in our present day, its moves centering around the current pro-choice/pro-life debate. Confrontation between characters come from all sides and at a fast pace. This is one of those scripts where all the dialogue seems deliberate, there isn’t a random word choice anywhere. Through adversarial relations, Brown has staged a production that is full of hardball negotiation at high stakes to match the heatedness of this real-life issue. Although the actions of each character is fueled by their own agenda, the play carefully removes itself from bestowing upon the audience its own agenda. The script presents both sides of the woman’s right to choose equally well. Viewers on either side of the issue, should be satisfied with the representation of the opposing viewpoints. At the outset of the play the strong willed Jeri Ransom (Bethany Prestigiacomo) seemed in dimension to be limited to an aloof, if not condescending, character driven solely toward one end. The lights come on to Ransom in a conversation with similarly agenda driven Preston Woods (Tony Howley) a reporter slash alcoholic, whose character, although a dynamic drunk, seems similarly limited to a single motivation and single sided personality. It is with the introduction of Brianna Tidemore (Andrea Marie Freeman) who brings out a facet in Ransom that Prestigiacomo is able to run with, making the character more complex, yet her character never seems to land in any place further than where she began. Freeman’s performance is genuine as it is stunning. As one character she plays the political pawn, spying biographer, sexual submissive, and protégé to a famous mentor. Even while being torn from all sides, she succeeds in each role her character is forced to play. Senator Robert Kingman (Paul A. Castellano) is clearly the most animated presence felt on stage. Castellano is clearly confident in his role of the double-talking, Southern-drawling, backstabbing prick, that one would expect to populate the political arena in a manner that seemed frighteningly natural. The staging for the scenes in the oval office were surprisingly successful. I wasn’t sure that they would pull off the character of President William Dixon (Bob Campbell) because it was done entirely by his voice offstage. However the character of Lawrence Achenbach, a presidential aide, (Casey Long), was able to provide such a quick and natural dialogue that his interaction really set Mr. President up as an offstage reality. This worked especially well with the tiered seating of the audience; the voice of the president coming from behind you at times will make you feel like another subordinate on stage getting barked at by the commander in chief. The most memorable performances had to be that between Myrna Niles, and Kim Kiedrowski. Past lovers, Niles plays Cailin O’Casey a well renowned feminist author and pro-choice advocate, and Kiedrowski plays Solomon P. Cohen an pro-life nominee for the Supreme Court. Their dialogue is all at once powerful, clever, fiery and emotional, yet all delivered in a tone that is not much more than a whisper. The attachment between the two characters is so strong that it never needs to be yelled. They show that empathy is possible even between opponents. Do not miss a word of their scene, and don’t cough at the expense of others during it either. Take note of the trinity of activists in this play. Their roles seem to unfold as progressive stages of an activist career, if not life itself. There is the line given of, “Amateurs have principles, professionals have priorities”. That may or may not be true, but in a biography that would have been written about Cailin O’Casey, she might have agreed, but only in a very early, pre-mature chapter. Though it may not make the best date material if
you are dating someone apathetic or narrowly opinionated, the production
is a must see because of
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ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER Without sacrificing dramatic impact, Joseph Hullett has packed a lot into his political drama "Confirmation," which runs exactly two hours including intermission. At The Chance Theater in Anaheim Hills, the piece's mapping out of a particular incident in our nation's capital is complex, tracing the cause and effect, effect and cause of the story's various players. Yet Hullett's script walks the fine line between clarity and density. The storyline seems basic enough: There's a vacancy on the Supreme Court, and President Bill Dixon has proposed a candidate - Solomon P. Cohen (Kim Kiedrowski), a professor he had at law school. The court is split on abortion; the conservative Dixon knows that Cohen is a staunch abortion opponent. All that remains is final confirmation by the Senate. As "Confirmation" opens, it has been leaked to the press that 30 years earlier, Cohen and his girlfriend aborted their unwanted pregnancy. The woman, Cailin O'Casey (Myrna Niles), later gave birth to the National Women's Plurality, a politically powerful women's movement, so the news is explosive, and "Confirmation" follows the conflict from every conceivable angle - from the press to the president's office, from the Senate to the NWP to Cohen himself. Hullett's smart, literate script, directed by Jocelyn Brown, may leave you breathless. The text, encapsulating 30 years of abortion debate, reveals how vicious political infighting can get, how quicksand-like is the national stage and how power can shift in a split second. Hullett creates a gallery of fascinating characters who are loquacious and voraciously intelligent. The NWP's powerhouse leader, Jeri Ransom, is portrayed by Bethany Prestigiacomo as headstrong and ruthless, able to use her sexual charm to manipulate both men and women. Equally sleazy is Tony Howley as a Pulitzer-chasing reporter who doubles as Ransom's speechwriter and hatchet man... Paul Castellano paints a magnificent portrait of supreme
bravado and widespread influence as a powerful, liberal Southern senator.
Andrea Freeman is utterly credible as a naive young woman in the NWP whose
loyalties are torn between O'Casey and Ransom. Casey Long is slickly confident
as the president's chief of staff, and Bob Campbell, heard only in voiceover,
gives the president a distinctly Nixonian personality.
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