"LUNACY," Stockyards Theatre Project at Athenaeum Theatre
BY LUCIA MAURO
Playwright Patricia Weaver-Francisco, like her potentially space-bound subjects, dares to go where few, if any, dramatists have dared to venture. She takes an exhaustive journey into women’s harnessing of the cosmos across the centuries. In "Lunacy," receiving its Chicago premiere by the female-centered Stockyards Theatre Project at the Athenaeum Theatre, audiences learn about an initiative the U.S. government allegedly tried to keep under wraps: the Mercury 13 program which, in 1960, conducted grueling tests on 13 women who could have become the first to orbit space.
There is still debate as to whether or not these tests were sanctioned by NASA. But it is known that, thanks in part to astronaut John Glenn, the program was abruptly canceled. A 1962 Congressional hearing put the official kabosh on an initiative that concluded how ideally suited women were to the gravity-less environs of space. One year later, the Soviet Union’s Valentina Tereshkova received the honor of being the first woman in space.
Details of Mercury 13 alone are worthy of a large-scale play, and this work has certainly encouraged me to learn more about this deliberately downplayed chapter of U.S. history. But Weaver-Francisco, in her efforts to enlighten us on the gamut of women astronomers and prospective astronauts, comes very close to a classroom Women’s History Month project in which we get snippets of influential females – from Caroline Lucretia Herschel to Maria Mitchell -- who have contributed to the scientific world.
Her play, therefore, spans the cosmic "herstory" map. Yet, because these women pass briefly through the work, it’s difficult to get a handle on their contributions – especially the waving, curvaceous Valentina Tereshkova (no doubt a satiric commentary on the media frenzy for women in space to be sexy). Had Weaver-Francisco streamlined her story to Jean Cross – a composite of the Mercury 13 candidates – a more balanced and detailed account of the injustices surrounding the cancellation of this program could have emerged.
Instead, the playwright – in quite an unwieldy screwball-comedy fashion – introduces us to Cross, now a "New Age" hermit living in the New Mexico desert, who is being interviewed by a bungling reporter cornily named Corona Smith (who can’t even operate a tape recorder). But the play’s real leading character is physicist Martha Howland, the first woman to orbit the earth. Her lack of knowledge of the women space pioneers who have paved the way, and her reluctance to serve as a feminist role model, leads to a rather contrived fantasy conceit.
While in orbit, Howland is visited – via vague hallucinations – by such heavenly figures as the goddess Artemis and the Pleiades star formations. She listens in on Jean Cross’ Congressional hearings and glimpses Herschel locating comets and astronomer Mitchell writing about her discoveries in her journal.
Howland is then persuaded by the scatter-brained Corona Smith to visit Cross and arrange a space flight for the two of them.
Because scientific topics can be rather confusing for the uninitiated to discern, the playwright potentially leaves audiences clogged with fragments of obscure facts. A linear drama, with flashback elements, could more effectively convey the idea that women have been exploring the heavens since the beginning of time itself. Through a concrete story of the Mercury 13 women, we could better understand the fact that they risked sterility from exposure to radiation and how the Information Age distressingly added the need for glamour and candidates’ photogenic ability.
Plus the Jean Cross character is far more fascinating and impassioned than Howland. And, although Howland metaphorically represents a collective lack of knowledge of ether-conquering women scientists, she appears more a device than a real person.
Director Katie Carey Govier has assembled a cast obviously committed to shouting these women’s contributions across the planets. But she, too, is hampered by the playwright’s undefined style and tone. Mary W. Johnson is particularly engaging as Jean Cross, but she’s reduced to a wacky loner rather than a woman who has sought life-affirming comfort in the heavens following a humiliating disappointment. Norah Helling’s Martha Howland undergoes a heartfelt change, but the playwright can endow this character with more believable dimensions.
The rest of the ensemble tackles multiple roles with intermittent aplomb and tentativeness. But their belief in the subject matter shines through. Brandi Benkart’s astronomical sets, complimented by Shelley Dotson’s comet-like lighting, transport us to galaxies unknown.
We can thank Weaver-Francisco for illuminating those darker recesses of NASA policy. But it’s through paring down her topic to its essence that will allow these women’s voices to be heard with greater force and clarity.•
Stockyards Theatre Project’s staging of "Lunacy" runs through December 21 at the Athenaeum Theatre (downstairs studio), 2936 N. Southport. Tickets: $15-$18. Call 312-902-1500 or 773-935-6860.
