The 2nd Stage production company presents a dystopia-light version of the not-so-distant future in Walden, a new play by Amy Berryman. Berryman gives us a bleak vision of a future all too possible to achieve in these climate change-denying times. It is a slap in the face, a glass of cold water poured over the head, a despairing wake-up cry. It is also a family drama about the choices made by twin sisters based on two different ideas over how mankind will best survive.
In an unspecified location in the American wilderness, Bryan and Stella live in a community dedicated to living off the land, avoiding “modern” conveniences in energy generation, communications, and the like. Bryan is a committed EA – an Earth Advocate – backing the proposition that the government should allocate more funds to clean up the planet and ensure the survival of mankind on Earth. Stella, raised by her astronaut father to work for NASA, has turned her back on her upbringing to live with Bryan, her fiance.
Into their cabin comes Cassie, Stella’s twin, who has just returned from a mission to NASA’s habitat on the moon. Stella has successfully been able to get some plant life to grow in the lunar soil — a breakthrough that would allow colonies to become possible on other planets. Stella and Cassie find themselves split by their differing beliefs in what would be the best course to follow for the human race’s survival: fixing Earth or colonizing the stars.
Yet Cassie’s visit has an ulterior motive. NASA wants Stella to come back to work for them. Her engineering genius was the basis for the successful lunar habitat, and now NASA is setting its sights on colonizing Mars. Stella, for her part, is torn between her love for and commitment to Bryan and her desire to once again prove her worth to NASA. While Stella envies Cassie her chance to lead the Mars mission, Cassie envies Stella’s choice to turn her back on the space program and try for a family with Bryan.
The cast, under Whitney White’s direction, is a tightly-balanced triangle. Motell Foster’s Bryan burns with his commitments to preserve the planet and break down the emotional walls Stella built for her own self-preservation. Zoë Winters’ Cassie is no less fervent in her commitment to duty and to NASA’s colonization project. And delivering a searing portrait of a woman in the midst of emotional, personal, and familial conflict, Emmy Rossum (best known for TV’s Shameless) makes a triumphant off-Broadway debut.
Matt Saunders grounds the play in his scenic design of a survivalist’s cabin, utilitarian but homey, set in a secluded, almost unnoticed part of America. Adam Honoré’s lighting design coupled with Lee Kinney’s sound design create the world around Bryan and Stella’s cabin. Creating a somewhat post-apocalyptic look for the characters are the costumes designed by Qween Jean.
Walden, along with being the name of Berryman’s play, has two other meanings. It is the title of Thoreau’s book about living simply in nature — one that Stella has read and is trying to get Bryan to read. It is also the code name for NASA’s Mars colonization project which Cassie will lead, symbolizing a pristine place for mankind to start over should the time come to leave Earth. The false dichotomy behind this play is between staying on Earth to reclaim and redeem it or leaving Earth to colonize new planets. Each has its points, but while they should be complementary projects, instead they are used to divide people over how best to use scarce resources. It’s not that we both can win; it’s that one must win over the other. It’s this conflict that is at the heart of Walden, and it’s this conflict that makes this play one that must be seen in these days of increasing political polarization.
Walden is presented by Second Stage at the Tony Kiser Theatre, 305 West 43rd Street in New York through Nov. 24, 2024. For more information or to purchase tickets, go to 2st.com.
