Kelly Doering
Stage Q's production of Perfect Arrangement
The Bartell Theatre’s Evjue stage has been transformed into a well-appointed Georgetown apartment for StageQ’s production of Perfect Arrangement, a comedy written by Topher Payne that played Off-Broadway in 2015. The play explores the threat of the U.S. government’s “Lavender Scare” — a purge of gays and lesbians from government jobs in the early 1950s because they were considered national security risks, susceptible to being compromised through blackmail.
The action begins at a cocktail party hosted by Millie and Bob (Antonia Villalon and Akshat Sharma). Bob is a U.S. State Department employee whose loyal secretary Norma (Lauren Rusch) happens to live next door with her husband Jim (Brett Kissell). The other party guests are Bob and Norma’s boss Ted (Jim Chiolino) and his wife Kitty (Liz Leonard). Ted announces that since Bob has proven so adept at rooting out communists, he will now be in charge of ridding the government of “drunkards, loose women and deviants.”
After Ted and Kitty depart we learn that Millie and Norma are a lesbian couple, while Bob and Jim, who are also a couple, live in the apartment next door. There is much to-ing, fro-ing and hiding in the closet that connects the two apartments. The “closeted” symbolism is not subtle.
The couples, who had hoped these marriages of convenience would allow them to live their personal lives privately, now fear that their secrets will be revealed, and things get increasingly more stressful for all. Often their attempts to keep their secrets lead to broad comic scenarios, especially when the uptight and vacuous Kitty pursues friendships with both women and when Bob and Norma’s co-worker, Barbara (Sam Biatch, playing one of those “loose women” in the State Department) arrives on the scene with her own secrets and agenda. Under the fey façade of comedy, cracks in the relationships start to surface and secrets from the past further complicate matters.
At the performance I attended there were a few flubbed lines, but the cast is earnest and appealing. Villalon has good comic timing, and Rusch deftly captures Norma’s frustrations with the injustices they face. Chiolino is perfect as the by-the-books boss. Initially I thought Leonard was too broad when playing the superficial, perfectionist housewife Kitty, but I grew to appreciate her performance, especially in a poignant scene with Villalon.
Payne’s writing is best when he uses a light touch, and the surprise at the end of Act I actually had the audience gasping. In Act II things get more heavy-handed as Payne begins to lecture the audience through his characters about the stress of living a lie, the difficult choices that need to be made and the bravery required to love whom you want. Clearly these are weighty issues, but the shift in tone feels awkward. Another concern is the anachronistic dialogue — the play shifts from 1950s-sounding phrases (“You know how hens can cluck”) to contemporary epithets (“Kitty Fucking Sunderson”).
These issues aside, the show, directed by John Siewert, shines a light on the sacrifices that so many people made to move the needle on gay rights and acceptance. It also underscores the worry that in our current political climate, hard-won progress is fragile and under threat.
