Twisting or using the memory of both public leaders and private figures thrust into the media spotlight now seems a common American practice. Opponents of affirmative action claim that Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. would have abhorred the practice, while members of Congress, after viewing Bill Frist’s “video diagnosis,” professed to know that Terri Schiavo would have wanted to live brain dead. “After Ashley,” performed last weekend in the ’92 Theater and directed by Rachel Silverman ’09, detailed a similar story of how the media as well as those close to victims of tragedy rewrite the lives of lost loved ones to further their own material gain.
The production opens with Justin, played by Dylan Marron ’10, home sick from school and watching a Dr. Phil look-alike on television with his mother, Ashley, played by Caitlin Winiarski ’10. As the scene progresses, the audience finds Ashley increasingly disturbing as a mother figure: she tells Justin he was an “accident”; she complains that Justin’s father does not satisfy her sexually; and, finally, she confesses to considering an affair with the parent of another student. Justin’s mild-mannered and good-natured father, Alden, played by Jesse Bordwin ’10, returns home exhausted from a long work day to be greeted by a confrontational Ashley. As the scene closes, the audience feels disgusted with Ashley’s behavior, especially considering that her teenage son seems more mature in comparison.
Then Ashley is raped and murdered by the family’s mentally unstable gardener, a homeless man who Alden convinced his wife to hire. Alden capitalizes on the tragedy through a bestselling book and television show produced by David Gavin, played by Shawn Diefenbach ’07, the sleazy host of “Profiles in Justice.” Justin, morally disgusted by his father’s behavior as well as that of Gavin, whose character seems to be based on a male version of CNN’s Nancy Grace, attempts to ruin Alden’s success by announcing his drug addictions on the air while blaming his father for his mother’s death. When Gavin announces that an area billionaire has offered to build a battered women’s shelter, complete with a gourmet chef, a pool, tennis courts, and volunteers named “Ashley’s Angels,” Justin and his new girlfriend, Julie, played by Rikki Goldberg ’09, concoct a scheme to publicly expose the fraud that Gavin and Alden have made of Ashley’s memory.
The ideas that propelled Gina Gionfriddo’s script are certainly pertinent and should continue to be in the aftermath of the recent death of celebrity Anna Nicole Smith. Some of the dialogue, however, could have benefited from a degree of subtlety that was woefully absent. While many actors contributed impressive performances, the consistent moralizing behind the text was unnerving. The despicability of the success and fame that Alden and David Gavin claimed from the family tragedy was quite obvious to the audience from Act I: preaching about it constantly for the rest of the show seemed slightly unnecessary. Individual actors, however, still managed to perform remarkably well with the lacking script: the scenes between Marron’s Justin and Goldberg’s Julie were consistently realistic and often touching, while Diefenbach hilariously portrayed the manipulative, conniving motives behind David Gavin.
Yet, when Ashley entered in the final scene of the play, looking down on her son and his girlfriend and smiling, it was as though Gina Gionfriddo was beating the audience over the head with her message. Exploiting a tragedy for personal gain is reprehensible, but this fact was obvious to every audience member before they arrived for this performance.
After Ashley, with Dylan Marron (’10), Caitlin Winiarski (’10), Jesse Bordwin (’10), Shawn Diefenbach (’07), Rikki Goldberg (’09), and Alex Powar (’09).
Directed by Rachel Silverman (’09), Stage Manager Ariela Rotenberg (’10), Set Designer Anthony Nikolchev (’08), Lighting Design by Anna Martin (’09), Costume Design Andrea Lipsky-Karasz (’08), Sound Design Ted Feldman (’09), Props Design Claire Greenwood (’09), Master Electrician Danica Pantic (’09), Light Board Operator Miriam Krent (’09), Sound Board Operator Laura Shapiro (’09), Stage Crew Lizzy Susca (’09), Crew Assistants Ian Agoos (’10), Ben Ahles (’08), Becca Rieger (’10), Alli Rock, Poster Design David Kongstvedt (’10), and Painter Josh Pavlacky (’08).
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