The City of Conversation Sheds Light on the Current Scene

Jeananne Kelsey, Tyler Lambert, and Dorinda Toner

By Tina Arth

Want to spend 2 hours learning how American politics wound its way to the current stalemate? Want to relive those awful Thanksgiving conversations in somebody else’s living room? Want to get more than a little depressed, but also be stimulated to closely examine your own assumptions and analyze your principles? No, Theatre in the Grove’s current production of playwright Anthony Giardina’s City of Conversation doesn’t provide the rollicking fun of, say, South Pacific, but it’s a powerful, thought-provoking, and demanding play that brings some important theater to the community.  Director Tanner Morton has assembled a quality cast and production crew to give Forest Grove audiences a revealing glimpse of the strange sociopolitical landscape of Washington D.C.

The show made its debut in 2014, well before the Trump era, but City of Conversation provides a fascinating road map from the late seventies to the present. The action takes place over three-plus decades, beginning in the latter days of the Carter Administration and ending just after the election of Barack Obama. For years, dinner parties in the home of D.C. hostess Hester Ferris have brought together Washington insiders of all persuasions for some serious horse-trading to get the work of government done – Ferris is a die-hard liberal, but her parties have paved the way for compromise between the likes of Strom Thurmond and Teddy Kennedy. Ferris is preparing to entertain conservative Kentucky senator Mallonee and his wife when her son Colin arrives from London with his fiancée, the ambitious Reaganite Anna Fitzgerald, and sparks fly.  The scene shifts to the Reagan Administration; where a serious argument about Robert Bork’s Supreme Court nomination leads to estrangement between Hester and her son, daughter-in-law, and grandson Ethan. The conclusion shows Ethan, in D.C. to attend an Obama inaugural party, visiting his grandmother after years of separation.

Dorinda Toner delivers a sterling performance as Hester Ferris – her character shifts dramatically in practically every scene as she moves from sharp politico to fierce doting grandmother, with a strong dose of pushy sister and semi-detached lover thrown in for good measure. Her relationship with Anna (Jeananne Kelsey) is defined quickly when the young, corn-fed Anna asks Hester if she can watch Hester get ready for her dinner party – she immediately sees through Anna’s gee-whiz naiveté and quickly cuts her down. Kelsey maintains her corn-fed Midwestern affect with chilling MAGA precision, and when the knives really come out in Act II both women play their respective roles beautifully.

Tyler Lambert does double duty as Colin and later as his grown-up son Ethan, with changes in hair (on his head and face) and wardrobe to define the different roles. Lambert’s “Ethan” is particularly moving – he creates a nice picture of slightly damaged goods, the bright but withdrawn product of two generations of political infighting and maternal neglect. Ethan’s friend Donald (Richard Howard III) appears for only a few minutes in the final act, but Howard manages to telegraph the pair’s backstory quickly, with lots of non-verbal cues in place of excessive exposition.

The set is classic Theatre in the Grove, with the attention to detail and functionality audiences have come to expect from set designer Zachary Centers. Costumes shift nicely between eras, with attention to the social milieu of the characters – I was particularly impressed with Toner’s final scene, where the clothes, wig, and makeup worked perfectly with her portrayal of the now-aged Hester.

The City of Conversation provides a nice window into a Washington D.C. other than today’s “all impeachment, all the time” coverage. It’s well worth a couple of hours for both the acting and Giardina’s incisive, tightly written script.

The City of Conversation is playing at Theatre in the Grove, 2028 Pacific Avenue, Forest Grove through May 5, with performances Friday and Saturday at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday at 2:30 p.m.