Ana Villafañe, Holland Taylor (Photo: Daniel Rader)

N/A

By Deirdre Donovan

Who's afraid of the political machine?  Not Mario Correa. 

In his new play, N/A, directed by Diane Paulus and inspired by real people and events, he crafts two tough-as-nails congresswomen: N, the first woman Speaker of the House, and A, the youngest woman ever elected to Congress.  

N and A, of course, are inspired by Nancy Pelosi and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Their fictional showdown in N/A mirrors events that happened between the midterm elections of 2018 and 2022. As superbly played by Emmy Award-winner Holland Taylor and On Your Feet! star Ana Villafañe, respectively, theatergoers watch these two whip smart women go to the mat on some controversial issues of our day, especially the funding of the ICE detention centers on the border in 2019 under the Trump administration. 

This play is more than a portrait of two women politicians, however. It's a play about ideas. In its five scenes, Correa illustrates how our elected officials are like chariot-drivers who hold the reins of our society in their hands, even though the chariot and horses are made of too-rickety stuff and unequal to the visions of its drivers. The A and N characters both call the current system "a leaky bucket."  Yet, they also agree that it's all that they have to work with, if progress is to be made.

When the lights go up, A is broadcasting to her followers on her cell phone in N's office, expressing her utter surprise at unseating the incumbent congressman who was highly expected to win: "Hi everybody, it's me again. So yeah, we are not in Kansas anymore! And by 'Kansas,' I mean Queens-and the Bronx. To those of you who are new to my feed, welcome to my crib! Kidding. I'm in Washington, in the Minority Leader-my bad-Democratic Leader's office."

Even though N and A both are Democrats, and supposedly on the same team, they look through a different lens when it comes to politics. N sees the big political problem as the "calamity of a president" who occupies the White House in 2018.  A believes it's the many democrats in Congress who are no longer representing their working-class constituents but are in bed with corporate types on Wall Street.  Or, as A puts it, "I know that it's more comfortable to pretend that 'our team' is all good guys and theirs is all bad, but there's rot inside your own "team," or I wouldn't be standing here."

Ana Villafañe, Holland Taylor (Photo: Daniel Rader)

Myung Hee Cho's set, lit by Mextly Couzin, is the epitome of minimalism: several pieces of plastic furniture, with a few props (a landline phone, a gavel, a silver bowl). Its deliberate simplicity ensures that the audience's focus will remain on N and A, as they put on their gloves and challenge each other.

Humor is peppered in. N and A, generations apart, don't always share the same cultural references. Case in point: when A tells N that the Capitol Police keep trying to make her go through a metal detector like she's staff, N quips: "Truthfully, I'm shocked there's anyone here who doesn't recognize you. You've landed on our shores like The Beatles." When A doesn't respond, N wryly adds, "They were a band."

In spite of her high visibility, A comes across as a political tyro. N has invited A to her office to learn more about this 28-year old woman who unseated her congressional colleague and friend. To test her mettle, N asks A what she specifically wants to see change in our country. After A rattles off her ambitious agenda--a Green New Deal to save the planet, an end to the militarization of our border by abolishing ICE, tuition free college--N dismisses it as an "Amazon wish list." She then gives A her first lesson on Washington politics: one needs to corral 218 votes from colleagues to pass a bill in Congress.

The see-saw between N and A's viewpoints may have audience members siding first with one, then the other congresswoman at different moments during the play. But, with her 31 years of congressional service and her impressive command of legislative language, N, time and again, proves to be the top dog of the duo.

A wears bold red lipstick and pant suits; N wears Armani suits (costumes by Myong Hee Cho). But what's far more interesting than their clothes and make-up is discovering what each woman had to overcome to get to Congress and stay there. Fortunately, Correa avoids any gooey sentimentality and just has his characters reveal their backgrounds in sound bites.

A confesses that she came from a middle-class family until her father got sick and died. Following his death, the hospital bills kept coming, the bank eventually took their house, and her mother began cleaning other people's homes. N, though a child of privilege and daughter of a former congressman, reveals that it was a tough go for her when she was first elected to Congress in '87. Or as she puts it, "There were so few women, you could fit us all into a van. One van. There wasn't even a ladies' room anywhere near the House Floor! We had to petition the Speaker to give us a toilet.  The one place we could escape the stench of their cigars."

Holland Taylor, Ana Villafañe (Photo: Daniel Rader)

No question that the opening of N/A is a welcome addition to the summer's crop of shows. Penned by a former congressional aide turned playwright, it shines a light on two women of courage.

N/A

At the Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater, 150 W. 65^th St., Midtown Manhattan.

For more information, visit www.NAThePlay.com.

Running time:  1 hour; 20 minutes.

Through September 1.