Theater review by Raven Snook
Words are wounding in Matthew Freeman's taut two-hander The Ask, an entertaining and empathetic examination of generational and philosophical differences that divide the political left. Savvy sexagenarian Greta (a flawless Betsy Aidem) welcomes Tanner (Colleen Litchfield)—a young, nonbinary representative from the American Civil Liberties Union—to her well-appointed Upper West Side study. A longtime liberal and high-level donor, Greta is polite but peeved: Her old ACLU contact has departed without warning, and she is wary of what she sees as the organization’s mission creep beyond civil liberties. Tanner knows they're there to listen, even when the conversation stings. But they also try to gently explain the group’s expanded priorities as they steel themself to make a big-money request.
Inspired by his own long tenure as an ACLU fundraiser, Freeman gives this extended power play an uncomfortable verisimilitude. Aidem and Litchfield, who costarred in Leopoldstadt on Broadway, mine the unease for laughs but also understanding. As you listen to their arguments and their anguish—when Tanner uses inclusive gender language, Greta feels erased—you lament how quickly common ground can be swallowed in an ideological abyss. Craig Napoliello's chic-but-funky set, with Cindy Sherman photographs and other art hung on black-and-white wallpaper, reflects Greta perfectly: a woman who has fought her whole life but now worries that her kind is facing extinction. (A conversation about the rechristened brontosaurus feels particularly poignant.)
Director Jessi D. Hill keeps the staging simple and the pacing brisk, and elicits lovely performances from both actors. Aidem's Greta may be funnier and more fleshed out, but Litchfield's smart but circumspect Tanner is the one who pierces your heart as they calmly try to navigate an impossible conversation that echoes debates on social media and at dinner tables across the country. The Ask may be all talk, but it's packed with intellectual action.
The Ask. The Wild Project (Off Broadway). By Matthew Freeman. Directed by Jessi D. Hill. With Betsy Aidem, Colleen Litchfield. Running time: 1hr 20mins. No intermission.
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