{"id":365831,"date":"2025-03-19T08:12:00","date_gmt":"2025-03-19T12:12:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dctheaterarts.org\/?p=365831"},"modified":"2025-03-19T08:12:00","modified_gmt":"2025-03-19T12:12:00","slug":"a-survivor-stands-in-her-power-in-spellbinding-hang-at-1st-stage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dctheaterarts.org\/2025\/03\/19\/a-survivor-stands-in-her-power-in-spellbinding-hang-at-1st-stage\/","title":{"rendered":"A survivor stands in her power in spellbinding &#8216;hang&#8217; at 1st Stage"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Here is what we know. Three years after what appears to have been an unspeakable crime, a survivor arrives at an office and faces off against two others who are ostensibly instruments of the judiciary. They question her about her family, her choice to come alone, and ultimately about a decision. We learn that their job is to witness, record, and potentially influence the survivor\u2019s consequential decision \u2014 its full portent unrevealed until late in the play. The bureaucrats are focused on procedure. But the survivor still clearly suffers the aftermath of the crime she endured, as does her family.<\/p>\n<p>One of the marvels of the play is that the world outside is of the play but not in the play, the world we must create in our imaginations about the particulars that we are not shown. Here is what we don\u2019t know. What happened three years ago is a mystery. The names, identities, and formal roles of the bureaucrats, as well as the survivor\u2019s name, are unknown. Furthermore, we don\u2019t know the nature of the decision she must make.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_365839\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-365839\" style=\"width: 800px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-365839\" src=\"https:\/\/dctheaterarts.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/026_hang_full-set-800x600r.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" srcset=\"https:\/\/dctheaterarts.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/026_hang_full-set-800x600r.jpeg 800w, https:\/\/dctheaterarts.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/026_hang_full-set-800x600r-300x225.jpeg 300w, https:\/\/dctheaterarts.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/026_hang_full-set-800x600r-460x345.jpeg 460w, https:\/\/dctheaterarts.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/026_hang_full-set-800x600r-768x576.jpeg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-365839\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Lolita Marie in \u2018hang.\u2019 Photo by Teresa Castracane Photography.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Situated in Britain, <em>hang <\/em>by debbie tucker green, directed by Deidra LaWan Starnes, traps us within an imagined legal system (in an indeterminate time) that grants crime victims outsize power to render a decision about a perpetrator\u2019s fate. <em>hang<\/em> premiered at London&#8217;s Royal Court Theatre in 2015, in a production directed by the author.<\/p>\n<p>Playing at 1st Stage, this drama is for theatergoers who relish mystery and don\u2019t want to be spoon-fed a story. Moreover, it\u2019s for patrons willing to wrestle with wrenching questions about what a system of justice owes to victims, those unafraid of an unflinching glimpse of what reclaiming power might look like, as well as what surviving really means.<\/p>\n<p>As the action progresses (or devolves), tempers flare. Demands intensify. The bureaucrats bicker and misstep, and the survivor gives as good as she gets as she battles them in a duel for power and control. It\u2019s riveting to behold the bureaucrats neglecting the emotional and human dimensions of the survivor\u2019s trauma in favor of procedure, inanities, and just plain clumsiness. Of course, nothing like this occurs in real life, where functionaries overlook the deeper emotional weight of a situation, prioritizing process over the personal anguish involved. <em>Nope, no resonance to today!<\/em><\/p>\n<p>But playwright debbie tucker green isn\u2019t having it. Her script is constructed with vivid direct imagery, resisting abstractions. She zeroes in on the trauma. For example, the survivor explains that her child has attended three schools and has been in six classes with four teaching assistants \u2014 not that he is having a problem in school. She is blunt about intimacy with her husband, rejecting euphemism. She conjures sight and smell when she talks of piss-stained sheets rather than soiled bed linens. Indeed, her script is a tour-de-force combination of specificity, brutal honesty, and raw power. It locks you into her survivor\u2019s journey.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_365841\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-365841\" style=\"width: 800px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-365841\" src=\"https:\/\/dctheaterarts.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/034_hang_full-set.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"1000\" srcset=\"https:\/\/dctheaterarts.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/034_hang_full-set.jpeg 800w, https:\/\/dctheaterarts.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/034_hang_full-set-240x300.jpeg 240w, https:\/\/dctheaterarts.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/034_hang_full-set-368x460.jpeg 368w, https:\/\/dctheaterarts.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/034_hang_full-set-768x960.jpeg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-365841\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Lolita Marie, Ellis Greer, and Patrick Joy in \u2018hang.\u2019 Photo by Teresa Castracane Photography.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Equally brilliant is the subtext created by the words unsaid, the sentences unfinished, and the unfilled conversational gaps as acted by Patrick Joy and Ellis Green, who are outstanding as the bureaucrats. Listening to them trip up and speak over one another, either trying to say something or trying not to say something, draws in the audience. We wonder: What were they going to say? Why didn\u2019t they finish saying what they were about to say? Why did one prevent the other one from speaking? The conversational calisthenics also added much-needed humor and the chance to laugh during a devastatingly serious drama.<\/p>\n<p>Helen Hayes\u2013nominated Patrick Joy was subtle and touching. He was notable as the arguably less senior of the officials by eliciting sympathy in a role that could have been caricatured in less able hands. His missteps communicated an ingratiating, people-pleasing personality, without asking the audience to like him. Well-known DC-based actor Ellis Greer\u2019s characterization \u2014 erect posture, never unbuttoned jacket, flashing eyes, and curt delivery \u2014 conveyed a compelling depiction of low empathy, think the anti\u2013Olivia Benson (<em>Law &amp; Order: Special Victims Unit<\/em>). This isn\u2019t to say the functionaries don\u2019t take her seriously. They do, yet are nonetheless inept. In her corner or just in the room? You decide.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_365843\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-365843\" style=\"width: 902px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-365843\" src=\"https:\/\/dctheaterarts.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/017_hang_full-set.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"902\" height=\"600\" srcset=\"https:\/\/dctheaterarts.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/017_hang_full-set.jpeg 902w, https:\/\/dctheaterarts.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/017_hang_full-set-300x200.jpeg 300w, https:\/\/dctheaterarts.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/017_hang_full-set-460x306.jpeg 460w, https:\/\/dctheaterarts.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/017_hang_full-set-768x511.jpeg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 902px) 100vw, 902px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-365843\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Patrick Joy, Lolita Marie, and Ellis Greer in \u2018hang.\u2019 Photo by Teresa Castracane Photography.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Lolita Marie, a three-time Helen Hayes Award recipient and 2025 Supporting Actor nominee, furthers her reputation in the leading role of the survivor. Marie is spellbinding, severe and challenging, soundless and withdrawn, always intense, and mostly vulnerable. Her portrayal of one indefatigable woman standing in her power lifts her survivor\u2019s story from bleakness to bravery. You can\u2019t look away from her pride and seething pain as she parries with Joy and Greer as the bureaucrats. The tension that she creates plays out with every movement, every utterance, and her every breath. In the final scene (no spoilers), Marie holds us breathless in the palm of her hand and does not let go.<\/p>\n<p>Director Deidra LaWan Starnes\u2019 production is a triumph. Under her direction <em>hang<\/em> is thrilling and taut with tension from beginning to end. You will feel it long afterward.<\/p>\n<p>The production design adds to the power of the acting and script. The set is an austere room mounted on a platform containing folding chairs and a table, all angles. It\u2019s cold and gray and lifeless, except that it is bordered on the floor with a blood-red paint strip, the color matching a single red column towering in a corner. It resembles the standard interrogation room we\u2019ve seen on TV network crime procedurals or a prison waiting room, devoid of humanity except for the water dispenser perched on a chair next to a long counter. Early in the performance, the survivor asks if she is being recorded or watched. The room certainly appears to be one where the audience is placed on the viewing side of a one-way mirror.<\/p>\n<p>Additionally, the music and lighting reinforce the mood of the production. From the sounds of breathing, high-pitched tones, and what seemed to be a background hum as if the room was alive \u2014 or maybe dying \u2014 to lights that blinked and dimmed at unexpected moments, the show achieved a coherent intensity that is hard to overstate.<\/p>\n<p>Is the ending bleak, brave, or both? You decide.<\/p>\n<p><em>hang <\/em>at 1st Stage is a wholly original show. It\u2019s gripping, illuminating, moving, and superbly acted. This is a must-see production that demands to be experienced.<\/p>\n<p>Don\u2019t miss it. Five out of five stars.<\/p>\n<p>Running Time: 90 minutes with no intermission.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/1ststage.org\/hang\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong><em>hang<\/em><\/strong><\/a> plays through March 30, 2025 (Thursdays\/Fridays\/Saturdays at 7:30 pm\u00a0 and Saturdays\/Sundays at 2 pm), at <a href=\"https:\/\/1ststage.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">1st Stage<\/a>, 1524 Spring Hill Road, Tysons, VA. Purchase tickets ($55 for general admission, with limited tickets for $25 and $40 at each performance) by calling the box office at 703-854-1856, going <a href=\"https:\/\/1ststage.org\/tickets-hang\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>online,<\/strong><\/a> or in person before each performance.\u00a0Select performances are open-captioned and\/or audio-described. Open seating.<\/p>\n<p>The digital playbill is downloadable <a href=\"https:\/\/static1.squarespace.com\/static\/6047c3a2157b5f4d3db671f6\/t\/67d2efcde11b100fdf608bf6\/1741877205953\/hang+Playbill+web.pdf\">here<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><strong>COVID Safety: <\/strong>1st Stage is now a mask-optional space with select mask-required performances offered for each show. See 1st Stage\u2019s complete COVID Safety Information <a href=\"https:\/\/1ststage.org\/covid-safety-plan\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">here.<\/a><\/p>\n<p><em><strong>hang<\/strong><\/em><br \/>\nBy debbie tucker green<br \/>\nDirected by Deidra LaWan Starnes<br \/>\nProduced by Patricia Tetro and Jack Wilbern<\/p>\n<p>CAST<br \/>\nLolita Marie (Three)<br \/>\nPatrick Joy (Two)<br \/>\nEllis Greer (One)<\/p>\n<p>PRODUCTION AND DESIGN TEAM<br \/>\nSet Design: Giorgos Tsappas<br \/>\nLighting Design: Venus Gulbranson<br \/>\nSound Design: Justin Schmitz<br \/>\nCostume Design: Cidney Forkpah<br \/>\nProps: Pauline Lamb<br \/>\nIntimacy Coordinator: Lorraine Ressegger-Slone<br \/>\nStage Manager: Sarah Usary<br \/>\nDialect Coach: Jeri Jeannine Marshall<br \/>\nAssistant Stage Manager: Terrence Griffin<br \/>\nArtistic Director: Alex Levy<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Set in an imagined legal system where a crime victim can decide a perpetrator\u2019s fate, the production is thrilling and taut with tension from beginning to end.   By AILEEN JOHNSON <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":45,"featured_media":365839,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"apple_news_api_created_at":"","apple_news_api_id":"","apple_news_api_modified_at":"","apple_news_api_revision":"","apple_news_api_share_url":"","apple_news_cover_media_provider":"image","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_cover_video_id":0,"apple_news_cover_video_url":"","apple_news_cover_embedwebvideo_url":"","apple_news_is_hidden":"","apple_news_is_paid":"","apple_news_is_preview":"","apple_news_is_sponsored":"","apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":[],"apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,18,22],"tags":[298,299],"class_list":{"0":"post-365831","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-featured","8":"category-reviews","9":"category-virginia","10":"tag-debbie-tucker-green","11":"tag-deidra-lawan-starnes"},"acf":[],"apple_news_notices":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v21.0 (Yoast SEO v26.2) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>A survivor stands in her power in spellbinding &#039;hang&#039; 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