FringeNYC 2013: FIRST HAND WOMAN

Review by Richard Hinojosa · August 17, 2013

Used up like a pair of jeans from the Salvation Army, second hand women feel they’re stuck playing second fiddle to everything.  However, the women of this production embody its title. They are first hand women and this is a first rate show.

At curtain, the stage is empty except for five stools and two musicians sitting far stage left and right.  In front of them is an assortment of percussion instruments including chimes, drums, plastic buckets and a suitcase.  The one on stage right, Saidah Baba Talibah, lifts up her beautiful, strong voice and sings us in. One by one, we are introduced to the characters and then they come together and move as a single body.  They are one person after all…one heart, one soul.  They’re telling us the same story just from different perspectives. They are five stages of grief, Denial, Bargaining, Anger, Depression and Acceptance.  The story is about a bad relationship that has just ended.  Sure, it needed to end but it still hurts.  Through mutual support, talking and listening, screaming and singing, they finally reach a plateau and level off.  The show tracks they’re incredible journey there.

Inspired by Elisabeth Kübler Ross’s 1969 book, On Death and Dying, which describes the five stages of grief, FIRST HAND WOMAN is a fable about loss and acceptance. Playwright Sarah Michelle Brown and the rest of the cast create distinct, living breathing characters out of these five stages. They are so in contrast with each other and yet they manage to complement one another.  Brown’s script is filled with emotional peaks and valleys.  Just when things are getting a little too serious or sad she turns it around and makes us laugh despite ourselves. She never gets mired in sentimentality either.  The dialogue is sharp and funny.  The monologues are powerful.  I especially enjoyed the monologue about the howling homeless lady.  Director Nicole Stamp presents a passionate vision for the physical expression of these characters.  The movement and postures tell their own story.  The music is subtle at times and evocative at others.  Performed by Alejandra Nuñez and Talibah, the score really strikes a powerful chord and brings it all together.

The cast, Brown, Patrice Goodman, Allana Harkin, Nicole Maroon and Victoria Murdoch, are as cohesive as can be.  They work so well together. Murdoch’s Denial is very funny and unforgettable.  I think I felt for her the most. Goodman plays Anger with a clenched jaw smile and so many contradictions. All the characters have their contradictions.  Brown’s Depression is a little hopeful and Maroon’s Bargaining is aware of her double-dealing. Last but not least, Harkin plays a wonderfully centered Acceptance.

FIRST HAND WOMAN was first developed as a one-woman show.  You can sense the remnants of that in this production.  The characters relate to each other in way that makes them seem as one.  In that same vein, the production comes together with the music, movement and text to create a jubilant celebration of the journey the spirit takes out of darkness.  It’s a journey worth taking.  It’s show worth catching.