Carving Out a Slice of Theatre Life at ‘Measure STILL for Measure’ (The NoPro Review)
Artistic Director Jessica Kubzansky of Boston Court Pasadena conjures a powerful piece of site-specific theatre from “the original #metoo story.”
What would be more immersive than life itself, right? What I mean is, my experience with Measure STILL for Measure, a new work by writer/director Jessica Kubzansky at Pasadena’s Boston Court, ended up lasting a full day despite the show’s approximate 2.5-hour runtime. I’ll explain.
Shakespeare’s Measure for Measure is about a tyrannical creep who falls in lust with Isabella, a nun, and demands her virginity in exchange for her brother’s life. The brother in question is set to be executed for having consensual sex out of wedlock with the now-pregnant woman he fully intends to marry. The 1600s… what a time to be alive.
Through a little subterfuge, the creep’s plot is unraveled, no one is executed, and Isabella’s chastity remains in tact. For how long is unclear. Another character proposes to her at the end of the play and she does not respond, leaving whether she marries God or a mortal man up to interpretation.
In Measure STILL for Measure, Bruce (Robert Beitzel), a sought-after, well-respected director, is staging Measure for Measure. We meet the cast and crew during a rehearsal, each of them frantically running about, absorbed in their own dramas, large and small.
The audience is invited to stay in one spot or follow actors around for the first 20–30 minutes. Note: There are no interactions, so you can’t ask them questions or talk to them like in other shows. You are strictly an observer.
Eventually, the audience is split into two groups, each watching various interpersonal histories unfold. Things are sometimes tense, hectic — the way they often are among artists embroiled in creating.
Adding to the tension, one of the actors has dropped out due to her mother’s death. Her close friend, Dionna (Bukola Ogunmola) — a young Black woman playing Isabella, a role typically given to white actors — is taking her friend’s sudden absence hard. At the same time, Bruce — an older, white man — seems to have taken a particular shine to the vulnerable Dionna, paying her more attention than the others.
As the rehearsal progresses and Dionna repeatedly expresses concerns about how the play is choosing to depict Isabella, a dream role for her, viewers are left to question how she’s being treated. Is there something going on there? What are her fellow castmates noticing? What are they not noticing? Who is stepping up for her? Who isn’t?
If you’ve ever been in Dionna’s position — I have—you know how murky this kind of thing can feel. Do you need to draw the line and if so, where? What’s reasonable to endure for the sake of your career, passions, or art? Is this in your head? Does anyone else see what’s happening?
These are questions we’re still (Measure STILL for Measure?) grappling with in a post-#metoo world, watching ’90s/aughts TV stars defend — and then apologize for defending — their friend who’s just been convicted to 30 years in prison for sexual assault.
The morning I went to see Measure Still for Measure, I noticed a man hovering near me on the Metro platform. I pointedly ignored him, looking at my phone, pretending to listen to music. He eventually came closer and started waving his hand between my phone and my face.
I asked what he wanted. I knew it wasn’t help or directions as there were several uniformed Metro ambassadors on the platform answering questions. He just shrugged and said, “Nothing,” still standing close.
So, I told him to fuck off then. He replied, “Drop dead, bitch.”
He paced around yelling about what a horrible person I was until the train arrived. That might be true, if you’re someone who believes everyone is required to be polite at all times. But I am just so tired of not being able to mind my own business, these seemingly “innocent” intrusions, week after week, when I’ve lived long enough to know it is only men who do this to me and only when I’m alone.
Hours later, I’m watching Dionna and Bruce, and the casual ways in which he uses the play, its text, and the other actors to get “innocently” closer to her despite her visible discomfort. There I sit, asking myself if he’s being inappropriate, second-guessing Dionna the way I’ve been second-guessing myself about the train interaction all morning, despite what I know what to be true.
After the play, audience members are invited to write down their impressions of the cast and crew’s behavior. So many of the notes — written quickly in pen on colored rectangles of paper — had been where Dionna had been.
The self-gaslighting, the putting-up-with-it, the inherent power imbalances, the weight of having to be the one to do something if anything is ever going to be done.
When I leave the show, it’s back to the train where a man repeatedly comments on my appearance until the train arrives. He tells me I look tired. I am, in fact, so tired.
Some notes: I wouldn’t say the OG story is important to reread before going into Measure STILL for Measure, but I’d definitely brush up on the plot beforehand.
While the first part of the show allows roaming around and splits the audience, the second half is in a traditional theater and not immersive or interactive.
I know No Proscenium’s audience is primarily interested immersive work, but I still really enjoyed — if that’s the right word — this show for its narrative content and nuanced point of view.
I think you could definitely spend an evening dissecting the finer points and I’ve left a lot to be discovered, especially involving the other characters.
There’s J. Todd (Alexander Matos), who brings a highly physical performance and exuberance as a young actor portraying Claudio and through his friendship with Griffin (Randolph Thompson), a queer actor portraying the bawdy Lucio. There’s also a lot to find in the interactions of Mary (Dinah Lenney), a seasoned, gossipy theater pro; Sam (Leo Marks), who gives an incredible play-within-a-play performance as Shakespeare’s Angelo; Frankie (Jenapher Zheng), an enthusiastic, aspiring young director; Brooke (Mara Klein), the newcomer who seems to embody the type of adulation Bruce feels entitled to; and Alexis (Desiree Mee Jung), the no-nonsense stage manager. Even with the limited amount of theater I’ve done as cast or crew, their personalities felt so familiar.
Also: Some great LA jokes, especially if you hang around Pasadena or are in the industry in any way.
Measure STILL For Measure plays through October 15th at Boston Court Pasadena, 70 N Mentor Ave, Pasadena. Tickets are $22-$47.
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