A young Air Force vet named Reality Winner sits in jail today, serving a sentence under the Espionage Act for leaking a document that showed proof of Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. That’s pretty much a verbatim copy of a flier that theatergoers can pick up outside the theater after seeing “Is This a Room,” which opened Monday at Off Broadway’s Vineyard Theatre.
“Is This a Room” is conceived and directed by Tina Satter and written by no one because, as the flier says, it’s “the word-for-word transcript of the F.B.I.’s visit to Reality Winner’s house on June 3, 2017.” We don’t learn anything about the leaked classified material. Whenever any specific information is about to be spoken by one of the four actors, those words have been redacted. It’s here that Satter’s direction, Thomas Dunn’s lighting, and Lee Kinney and Sanae Yamada’s sound design join together to create theatrical ellipses. The lights change or go out completely, and an ominous booming noise rocks the theater.
If you saw “Is This a Room” not knowing anything about Reality Winner, you’d have no idea she had anything to do with the Russian interference crisis. If this is the case, the staged transcript — let’s not call it a play — offers a vivid portrait of group male intimidation of a woman. The FBI team features a good cop (Pete Simpson), a bad cop (TL Thompson) and a clown cop (Becca Blackwell, who even sports orange hair). As Reality Winner, Emily Davis suffers a slow meltdown into near-hysteria as the men, search warrant in hand, literally invade her personal space. The title refers to a room in her house where the interrogation takes place.
Satter often brings the men so close to Davis that the actors inhale each other’s breath. It’s a harrowing situation, and the four actors handle the circuitous, often-repetitious dialogue as if it were a new, good play by David Mamet. But the agents’ physical proximity to Winner contradicts the text, which shows the men’s extreme attention to strict protocol. They’re careful to the point of being persnickety in the handling of their duties, regardless of what you think of those duties.
At 70 minutes, “Is This a Room” begs for context, and that post-theater flier isn’t enough. Satter needs a first or second act to run with this staged transcript. What she needs is a playwright.
And, do people really pay above-Netflix prices for evenings like this in the theater?
Broadway's 12 Top-Grossing Non-Musical Plays of All Time, From 'War Horse' to 'Harry Potter' (Photos)
Broadway isn't just for musicals. Here are the all-time top-grossing straight plays on the Great White Way, according to grosses compiled by the Broadway League up to Dec. 30, 2019. (These figures aren't adjusted for inflation, so recent hits at current sky-high ticket prices have a definite advantage.)
12. "700 Sundays" (2004-05; 2013-14)
Total gross: $32,029,177
Billy Crystal's autobiographical one-man show found favor in two separate runs on Broadway nearly a decade apart.
11. "Betrayal" (2019)
Total gross: $32,621,468
Tom Hiddleston, Charlie Cox and Zawe Ashton packed 'em in for the fourth Broadway production of Harold Pinter's time-bending drama.
10. "August: Osage County" (2007-09)
Total gross: $32,835,606
Tracy Letts' Pulitzer-winning drama became a huge hit on stage without any big stars -- and then a 2013 movie starring with Meryl Streep and Julia Roberts.
9. "Proof" (2000-03)
Total gross: $32,896,994
David Auburn's drama about a woman with a troubled legacy of both mental illness and genius-level math skills earned multiple Tony Awards, including for star Mary-Louise Parker.
8. "The Play That Goes Wrong" (2017-19)
Total gross: $34,341,708
This farce about an amateur theater company's mishap-prone production of a mystery play is another London import that found popularity on this side of the Atlantic.
7. "God of Carnage" (2009-10)
Total gross: $37,345,584
Yasmina Reza's barnstorming dramedy about two dueling couples earned the Tony for Best Drama -- as well as nominations for James Gandolfini, Jeff Daniels, Marcia Gay Harden and Hope Davis.
6. "It's Only a Play" (2014-15)
Total gross: $37,500,966
Terrence McNally's backstage comedy was a huge hit thanks to the Broadway reteaming of Matthew Broderick and Nathan Lane, stars of the Tony-winning musical "The Producers" a decade before.
5. "Angels in America" (2018 revival)
Total gross: $40,937,028
The 2018 revival of Tony Kushner's two-part epic won three Tony Awards, including for co-stars Andrew Garfield and Nathan Lane.
4. "The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time" (2014-16)
Total gross: $68,321,435
Another London import, Simon Stephens' adaptation of Mark Haddon's YA novel follows an autistic boy on a quest for the killer of his neighbor's dog.
3. "War Horse" (2011-13)
Total gross: $74,975,253
Michael Morpurgo's YA novel about a British boy's search for his horse in World War I inspired both this epic play, complete with life-size puppets, and Steven Spielberg's 2011 film.
2. "To Kill a Mockingbird" (2018 - )
Total gross: $105,773,236* (as of Dec. 30, 2019)
Aaron Sorkin's adaptation of the beloved Harper Lee novel may have been snubbed by Tony nominators for Best Play, but it has been drawing crowds since opening in December 2018.
1. "Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, Parts One and Two" (2018 - )
Total gross: $$163,017,626* (as of Dec. 30, 2019)
The stage sequel to J.K. Rowling's saga about the now-grown boy wizard has extra advantages -- since it's a two-night (and two-ticket) epic that plays in a musical-sized auditorium to diehard Potterheads.
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You don’t need an orchestra — or songs — to draw audiences
Broadway isn't just for musicals. Here are the all-time top-grossing straight plays on the Great White Way, according to grosses compiled by the Broadway League up to Dec. 30, 2019. (These figures aren't adjusted for inflation, so recent hits at current sky-high ticket prices have a definite advantage.)
Robert Hofler, TheWrap's lead theater critic, has worked as an editor at Life, Us Weekly and Variety. His books include "The Man Who Invented Rock Hudson," "Party Animals," and "Sexplosion: From Andy Warhol to A Clockwork Orange, How a Generation of Pop Rebels Broke All the Taboos." His latest book, "Money, Murder, and Dominick Dunne," is now in paperback.
