Starting a new theater company during this perilous time for arts funding takes guts, imagination and talent. All three are well represented in OnWord Theatre’s inaugural production “Hillary and Clinton,” which opened Saturday in the penthouse of a downtown San Diego hotel.
Lucas Hnath’s 2016 play, directed in its San Diego premiere by OnWord’s producing artistic director Marti Gobel, is creatively staged and well-acted and the play is smart, sharp and riveting. Launching the company in a nontraditional venue and seamlessly managing a last-minute cast change also show that this company has the flexibility to weather whatever storms may come in the increasingly uncertain arts landscape.
Hnath’s 75-minute play offers an insider’s view of Hillary Clinton’s topsy-turvy 2008 presidential campaign, which showed early promise before Barack Obama’s folksy “Hope”-fueled campaign exploded in popularity.
While the characters in this play are named Hillary, Bill and Barack, they’re described as different people on a different Earth in an alternate universe, since nobody on this planet (besides those three people) knows what actually went on behind closed doors. And in the end, the politicking in this play is beside the point. It’s more about sexism, interpersonal dynamics, public perception and private trauma.
The play takes place in a New Hampshire hotel room, where Hillary’s campaign is sputtering and out of money. Despite the protestations of her strategist Mark, Hillary calls in her estranged husband, Bill, welcoming his offer of campaign funds but not his unsolicited advice. His controlling, and sometimes undermining, efforts have already caused trouble, and a long-overdue reckoning between them is overdue.
Danielle Bunch gives a worldwise, bold and confident performance as Hillary, who struggles to connect with voters who find her too cool, unemotional and unrelatable. Geoffrey Ulysses Geissinger, who stepped into the role of Bill Clinton just three days before opening night, gives a wonderfully nuanced performance as the former president, whose philandering helped create the steely woman Hillary has become. Geissinger brings both folksy charm and dark calculation to the role.
Kevin Phantom plays Barack as a soft-spoken, but cold-blooded manipulator. And Kenna Harrington plays the smart but exasperated strategist Mark.
OnWord’s production is being staged in a beautiful and luxurious two-story penthouse at the Alma San Diego Hotel downtown. About 30 seats are arrayed around the living room and the action unfolds all around them. The unique setting and immersive quality of the show add a fly-on-the-wall feel to the show.
I was impressed by the production, as well as the professionalism of the pre-show check-in process, which involves an elevator escort to the penthouse, and pre- and post-show audience engagement. All around it was an auspicious start for San Diego’s newest company, OnWord Theatre.
‘Hillary and Clinton’
When: 7 p.m. Thursdays and Fridays; 4 p.m. Saturdays; 2 p.m. Sundays. Through April 19
Where: Alma San Diego hotel, 1047 Fifth Ave., downtown
Tickets: $45
Phone: 619-892-8123
Online: onwordtheatre.com
