By Cindi Boiter
At the Jasper Project, we are committed to supporting, promoting, and celebrating new art wherever we can find it. Last night I found an outstanding example of new theatre just down the road from me at Chapin Theatre Company in the dress rehearsal for Lou Clyde’s new play, How to Supervise Women.
A tight two-act comedy, How to Supervise Women features an equally tight ensemble cast of loveable characters who make one of the most important cultural changes in the history of American women cogently understandable even for folks who might be hesitant to identify as feminists. Set in an aircraft assembly plant in San Diego in 1942, the play introduces us to four women who, though demographically different, find commonality and community during World War II. The women are answering the call to leave their lives as homemakers and take on the responsibilities of the men in the workforce who left to fight in the war.
The playwright does a fine job of representing four recognizable domestic situations in the backgrounds of her lead characters. Shirley Kaminski, played by Debra Haines Kiser, is a widow with three sons serving overseas. The wisdom of knowing what is at stake in the country weighs heavily on Shirley, but Clyde gives her the defense mechanism of humor, which she readily shares with her cohort, helping them all to cope. Loretta Beutel, played by the perpetually cute Zanna Mills, is a young woman with a secret reflective of the limited options available to women at the time. Millie Kram, played by Jill Brantley, is a young mother with a third baby on the way and a husband overseas.
But my favorite character was Joyce Johnson, a young Black woman who starts out relegated to the role of custodian but clearly has much more to offer Consolidated Electronics, if not the world. Played by poet, singer, songwriter, and now actor, Alyssa Stewart, Joyce is aware of the power her almost invisibility in the workplace affords her and uses it to her and her work mates’ advantage. But Joyce is all-seeing. Her smirks, chuckles, and knowing glances are priceless. Having worked for years at Consolidated Electronics, her awareness that poor women and women of color were already a part of the labor force long before the war even started, informs her approach to her job and to dealing with the men in supervisory positions. Let’s hope Alyssa Stewart, the actor, finds herself on another stage soon!
Speaking of the men, the characters Herman Mueller, played adorably by Jack Bingham, and his supervisor and the play’s antagonist George Perroni, played by CTC executive director Jim DeFelice, served the play’s narrative well. While George’s character is somewhat informed by the stereotypical mid-century husband, who offers much sound and fury on the job but ultimately submits to his powerful wife, DeFelice gives his role the kind of humility that makes his character receptive to growth and change. George’s long-awaited epiphany that women are strong, capable, and let’s face it, amazing is facilitated by the pure kindness of Herman’s character. In his words and actions, Herman consistently conveys the message that everyone is really just doing the best that they can under world-altering conditions. In this role, Bingham could not have been more authentically open and vulnerable. I look forward to seeing Bingham on a local stage again, as well.
The cast is rounded out by Samantha Hansford playing the role of Phyllis and Barry Smith as the announcer/messenger, both of whom took smaller roles and made them meaningful. Jamie Carr Harrington directed the play with sound and lights by Simon Marchant. Tiffany Dinsmore and Abby Mathias did an excellent job with costume design, not only remembering to make the characters’ shoes fit the time period but giving some of the characters charming spectator styles that made even a non-shoe person like me swoon a little.
Similarly, Jane Peterson took no short-cuts with the show’s props, putting her graphic design skills to good use wherever she could. To that end, don’t miss the pin-up calendar she designed for the first act! (Full disclosure, Peterson is a member of the Jasper Project board of directors and theatre editor for Jasper Magazine.) And kudos again to DeFelice and Dinsmore for creating an appropriately industrial set complete with uncomfortable aluminum chairs à la The Whig.
How to Supervise Women is more than a comedic play. Lou Clyde has created a rich narrative full of grace notes that subtly pepper the play with hints that give nuance to the culture in which the story is set. Whether it be an off-the-cuff comment by a female character that after working a double shift she still works a third shift when she gets home, or notes left in the women’s un-locked lockers with messages like, “Broads belong on their backs,” or the bathroom signage that changes from MEN to WOMEN to POWDER ROOM, How to Supervise Women is a portrait of a period in American history that spurred changes in gender roles, workplace dynamics, the way women viewed their value, and so much more.
In her Playwright’s Note, Lou Clyde writes, “My mom was one of the six million women who worked in a factory while my dad served in World War II. … This play is meant to honor these trail-blazing women who proved they could not only do the jobs of men but do them well.” Not only does How to Supervise Women accomplish Clyde’s mission, but it does so with an abundance of humor and theatre artists who bring their meticulously designed characters to life with sensitivity and finesse.
Go see How to Supervise Women at Chapin Theatre Company
February 7,12,13,19, and 20 at 7:30 pm
and February 8, 14, 15, 21, and 22 at 3 pm.
Visit Chapin Theatre Company for tickets.