Summer, 1976
Brilliant in every way.
Summer, 1976 at the Studio Theatre is one of those plays you must see. It is written by David Auburn and directed by Vivienne Benesch.
It is the story of two women, Alice and Diana, living in Ohio in the mid-seventies. They meet over a playdate with their respective young daughters, and found they bonded in some ways, even though they come from very different backgrounds, and are living very different lives. Both Holly Twyford who plays Alice, and Kate Eastwood Norris who plays Diana, can be described as brilliant actors. They take the words Auburn wrote and bring them to life in a way that you become totally involved in their lives. You end up really caring about them. The story spans about twenty years in their life, but you don’t actually hear about the detail in the last years, except when they meet accidentally in New York, and catch themselves, and the audience, up. I won’t give the details of their story, you will have to go see this play to get that.
But when you watch this play it helps to remember the 1970s was a time when Feminism—or “women’s liberation”—gained strength as a political force. You know both women, Diana not a college graduate, but a serious reader, and Alice, a college graduate who had gone to a year of grad school, had to have read, and heard about, Betty Friedan, Gloria Steinem, and Bella S. Abzug. The had to know Congress passed the Equal Rights Amendment, that Phyllis Schlafly fought it, and not enough states would pass it to include it in the constitution. They had to know the Supreme Court decided positively Griswold, and Roe v. Wade. So, when you listen to their conversations with each other, about their lives, you know they wanted more out of life than what they had at the moment.
It all takes place on a very simple set, in ninety minutes, without an intermission. The scenes change with some lighting changes, and both actors keep you enthralled. Kate also speaks in the role of Alice’s husband when the scene calls for it, and does that superbly. The two of them, Twyford and Norris, command the stage, and keep you totally focused. I can’t say it enough. Both are amazing to watch, and two of the most talented actors you will ever get to see.
Lee Savage designed the set, Helen G. Huang the costumes, and Jesse Belsky the lighting. All simple and effective.
Summer, 1976 will be at Studio Theatre through December 22, 2024.