Stage Banter: The Arena Stage Blog

WELL: Emily Ackerman on 'Life Imitating Art'

posted by Emily Ackerman (the actress playing Lisa Kron in Well)

Talk about art imitating life—I knew there was a reason I wanted to do this play. This is a picture of me at ten years old in a dress that my mother made for me. At my request, it was very specifically modeled after a dress that Laura Ingalls wore on Little House on the Prairie. Please note that there is a bonnet tied around my neck. I often wore it in public.

This is all of the neighbor kids dressed up for a 4th of July parade. Again, Laura Ingalls had a very strong influence in our costuming choices. I am the one in the middle mugging for the camera and wearing a red bandanna on my head. I was also hogging that basket which was full of candy.

Dressing up was a very large part of my childhood, and if I could wear a costume over regular clothes, I would always wear a costume. Here I am wearing what I called my "princess dress." This dress was always worn with that green towel around my neck as a cape. In my opinion, it matched the dress, and was the only towel/cape that would do.

Race on Stage: A Conversation with the Actors

by David Dower

Emily Ackerman as Lisa Kron and Donnetta Lavinia Grays as Lori Jones in Well

On Thursday, October 11th, we'll host an interesting discussion following the performance of Well. Arena's Associate Executive Director Desirée Urquhart will moderate a conversation with Donnetta Lavinia Grays ("Lori Jones" in Well), Tracey Scott Wilson (author of the play The Good Negro which we'll be reading in our Downstairs Series on October 22nd), and Harriett D. Foy ("Lorraine" in The Women of Brewster Place). 

Our topic: Race on Stage

There are a couple of convergent events that make this a great moment to stop and discuss, with our audiences, where we are as a community around the issues of race as played out on the stage of Arena Stage, in the local, national, and global context of our Washington, D.C. location.

Edward Albee on Lisa Kron's WELL

by David Dower

We got this wonderful note about Lisa Kron's Well the other day from one of America's greatest playwrights.

Edward Albee wrote: "Lisa Kron's Well is a splendid play—very funny and deeply serious. If an audience will give itself to it without preconceptions of how a play should behave, then they will have a deeply satisfying time."

He's right on about this. The play does seem to make a demand of the audience that folks meet it on its own terms. I've seen it with many audiences at this point and I've talked to many people afterwards. If you've seen it, I'm curious how you felt about it. If you haven't yet, you'll have to hurry now to experience what Mr. Albee is talking about. But you'll know where to find me to let me know if you agree with him.

Ask your question here! Post-show talk-back with the "Well" cast

After today's matinee performance of "Well", Janine Sobeck from Arena's dramaturgy department moderated a lively post-show discussion with the cast.  There were several of you that did not get to ask your questions because we ran out of time.

Ask your questions now by clicking on the comments link at the end of this entry and we'll get the cast to respond to you here. For those of you that weren't here today, you can still go ahead and ask the cast a question anyway.

To find out when post-show talk-backs occur, look for the starred dates on the season calendar.

Lisa Kron’s Well: When a Play Sings Your Story

by David Dower

Lisa Kron’s WELL is up and running in the Fichandler. If you missed the article on Arena’s signature space, here’s a link. It’s a good read. It’s also timely, as director Kyle Donnelly has outdone herself in taking full advantage of the Fichandler stage's idiosyncracies.

There is something happening here that I always look for as a producer, but don’t always see. After the show is over, when the company has taken its bows and the house lights have come up and people are heading for the exits, invariably there will be small groups of people scattered around the theater who remain in quiet conversation about what they’ve just seen. Often they are in the grip of strong emotions. I first noticed it at the Open Rehearsal but it’s been happening ever since.

I’ve made a point of engaging several of these small groups, trying to understand what’s moved them about the play. After all, it is a riotous comedy. On its surface it seems to be up to nothing but hijinks—the kind of madcap romp where a person with a high and mighty opinion of themselves gets their comeuppance. And, as a mark of how successful the production is, the laughs and surprises just keep on coming all night.

Citizen Review: Well

posted by Jacqueline E. Lawton

In the play Well, currently in production at Arena Stage, playwright Lisa Kron examines the nature of sickness and wellness in the body, one’s family and community, and interestingly, the process of writing a play. With bravery and humor, Kron shares semi-autobiographical familial and childhood experiences that are at times breathtaking, candid, surprising, funny, and for the most part, universally, true.

Interwoven in this story is Kron’s mother’s quest for social justice and racial equality in Lansing, Michigan during the 1960s and 70s. Historically, we know that while some communities successfully adapted to racial integration as a result of the Civil Rights Movement, many communities did not. In Well, we are shown a community in the overall successful struggle and acceptance of racial integration. Lisa, who is white and Jewish, grew up as a minority in a mostly Black and Christian community. She shares with us her experience through stories that reveal moments of acceptance, bitterness, joy, confusion, excitement, fear, and loneliness.

Citizen Review: Well

posted by Mia Chung

Emily Ackerman is a brave, remarkable actress. Sure, she has charm and experience and technique and red hair. But to take on the role of “Lisa Kron” in the autobiographical play WELL, which was written by Lisa Kron to be performed by Lisa Kron…that takes something more than the usual guts necessary to walk on a stage. Within seconds of the performance, however, I ceased to marvel at her bravery and simply enjoyed a truthful, exciting play. This is due of course to Ackerman’s inordinate likeability and skill, which is well-matched by Nancy Robinette and the rest of the cast, and Lisa Kron’s knack for revealing how all of us move directly and indirectly around what’s most important to us all the time. This play is worth a second visit.

Citizen Review: Well

posted by Susan Williams

First of all, I went to this play without knowing much about it, and didn't know what to expect. I was more than pleasantly surprised by it. It was funny, innovative and charming without being maudlin or sentimental. That's no easy feat, and my hat is off to Lisa Kron.

Speaking of Lisa Kron, I thought Emily Ackerman WAS her, until I took a closer look at the program. Very fine acting all around, and some of the best ensemble work I've seen in years. Nancy Robinette was brilliant, but isn't she always?

I especially enjoyed the unique devises: the actors going in and out of the play gave a richness to the play as well as a sense of irony. The paper tearing towards the end made it very clear that this woman is extremely ambivalent towards her mother and towards her own talent as a playwright and creative force in the theater. The ending was a bit abrupt, but it worked well.

My only criticism of the play is that it really needs an intermission. To put it bluntly, I needed one, and I'm sure there were many others who felt the same! After all, the play is almost 2 hours long. I'm diabetic, so I had to nibble on snacks before it ended, which I know annoyed a woman sitting behind me!

Other than that, Good Job! So far, Arena is batting 1000 this season.

Pictures: Lisa Kron's WELL in Performance

Emily Ackerman

Scott Drummond , Nancy Robinette, Susan Lynskey, Marc Damon Johnson

Donnetta Lavinia Grays, Marc Damon Johnson, Nancy Robinette , Scott Drummond , Susan Lynskey

Photos by Scott Suchman

Video Feature: the "Well" Cast at Arena Stage's Salon

posted by Vijay Mathew

[Molly's Salon is a regular event that generally takes place on the first Monday of the run of every show. Hosts and topics change regularly, but the main thrust of the evening is to introduce the artists behind the production we're readying for Opening Night. If you would like to attend the next Salon, click here for dates and more information.] 

The night before the company of Well started technical rehearsals on the Fichandler Stage, cast members Nancy Robinette, Emily Ackerman and Susan Lynskey joined Producing Artistic Associate David Dower for an exciting discussion in Arena Stage's Salon Series.

What became clear in the Salon was how incredibly difficult it was to talk about Well without spoiling it for the audience that had not seen it yet. There are many layers and surprises in the play that just have to be experienced first.

So, here are a couple of clips from the Salon that will NOT spoil it for you:

Part 1: Nancy Robinette's funny story about her first time performing on the Fichandler Stage in the Revengers' Comedies

Part 2: Nancy Robinette working on and discovering her character Ann Kron in Well