Tony Abatemarco and Paige Lindsey White in ICT’s production of Trying
Culture Writer
When it comes to being civil to others, it seems some people must try. Perhaps a sort of “Scrooge complex” could be the individual’s natural condition, or a bad reaction to life’s “curves.” In the case of retired U.S. Attorney General Francis Biddle, his condescending nastiness appears to accrue to embitterment from the childhood death of his son decades earlier. It may also arise out of a sense of perhaps well-earned superiority and the tired impatience and entitlement of old age.
Such is the underlying premise of Trying, the poignant chronicle of the months-long relationship between Biddle (Tony Abatemarco) and Sarah Schorr (Paige Lindsey White), the young woman who assists as his secretary as he finishes the writing of his memoir.
Playwright Joanna McClelland Glass is the young woman in her play, inspired by Glass’s real-life experiences working for the curmudgeonly Biddle. Biddle had had a stunningly successful public career, highlighted by his stints as attorney general under Franklin Roosevelt and as one of the judges in the Nuremberg trials of Nazi war criminals.
Suffice it to say, prior to Schorr’s employment with Biddle, an ample quantity of would-be secretaries had come and gone from Biddle’s employ, his disparaging treatment no doubt having sent one and all fleeing in tears, their self-esteem ripped to shreds.
According to Glass, she and Biddle “tried to span their differences of youth and age, of class and culture.” But this isn’t at all the way it seemed in Glass’s play, in which none of these factors seemed to be main drivers of Biddle’s behavior.
In any case, in Trying, Sarah tries to weather the “wild beast” for a time until one day she resigns from the overriding unpleasantness and futility of working for such a man. But by this time she has demonstrated her worth as a smart, highly motivated and valuable assistant. Biddle begs her to stay, promising to try to do better. The moment marks the end of the beginning of a trusted and productive partnership, cut short by Biddle’s death at age 82.
Later scenes are separated by several months, highlighting the growth in the pair’s working relationship. In short, the employer/employee bond is ultimately characterized by Biddle’s trust of, and surrender to, Sarah. She even takes over his desk!
I was surprised, but favorably impressed, by the play’s final scene, wherein Biddle has died and Sarah is organizing his papers and other professional effects. Where one would expect her to be sad and maudlin, she appears happy and self-satisfied. Of course, given Biddle’s physical condition, she would not have expected him to live much longer. And the two had clearly achieved the completion of the memoir and the organizing of his chaotic affairs, both tasks that had bedeviled Biddle before Sarah’s arrival.
In the hands of director John Henry Davis and these two fine actors, the characters complement one another, certainly not as peas in a pod, but rather like the efficient pairing of paint and a brush.
The play’s action takes place in late 1967 and early 1968, on a cluttered set full of mid-20th century office furniture and piles upon piles of the judge’s books. JR Bruce’s well detailed set design exudes realism, except that a wall of shelves, filing cabinets and books has nothing behind it where one would expect a wall to be. Instead there is a sort of night-sky backdrop, which rendered the set unfinished and disconcerting, as if the play were sharing a stage with the simultaneous run of a sci-fi thriller.
In spite of its stylistically ambiguous set design, Trying succeeds as a compelling character study, and even more so as the touching story of a short-lived but productive and deeply meaningful partnership.
Trying continues at International City Theatre through Sept. 14. Tickets are $47 for Friday and Saturday evening performances and for Sunday matinees, and $42 for Thursday evening performances. Evening performances are at 8pm; Sunday matinees are at 2pm. ICT is located in the Long Beach Performing Arts Center at 300 East Ocean Blvd. Call (562) 436-4610 for reservations and information. Tickets are also available online at InternationalCityTheatre.org .
