Interludes

VIEWPOINTS – This summer, investigating Leslye Headland’s world via a modestly-scaled BACHELORETTE and a sleek LAYOVER

• By drediman
• September 17, 2016
• No Comments

This weekend in New York, two productions of plays by Leslye Headland will shutter, which has gotten me thinking about the merits of this provocative young playwright. In little more than five years, Ms. Headland has established herself as one of the more recognizable playwriting “names” of her generation. More than most of her contemporaries, Ms. Headland is especially attuned to what makes the modern world tick – particularly in terms of how we view ourselves and others through the lens of our ego- and capitalist-driven world.

Erika Santosuosso and Kelsey Moore in “Bachelorette” at the Walkerspace

Back in the summer of 2010, her vicious little play Bachelorette burst onto the scene in a production that was part of Second Stage’s Uptown Series. The firecracker play about a night-before-the-wedding party gone wrong caught many by surprise, including myself, with its deliciously dark humor and its unapologetically cynical view of human nature. It also didn’t hurt that Trip Cullman’s production featured a fearless cast, led by the fabulous Tracee Chimo and Celia Keenan-Bolger. Bachelorette is back this summer in a modestly budgeted but game production (RECOMMENDED) down at the Walkerspace in Soho. Although I missed the polish of that original production (which has since been turned in to a feature film), I found myself deeply amused and shocked by Ms. Headland’s play all over again. That revival closes today.

Annie Parisse and Adam Rothenberg in “The Layover” at Second Stage

Since then, Ms. Headland has written a number of plays contributing to her Seven Deadly Sins cycle, of which Bachelorette is a part of (representing gluttony). This past summer, she unveiled her latest play, The Layover (HIGHLY RECOMMENDED), which notably marks a departure from the sharply-etched humor of her previous works. The Layover, which chronicles the consequences of a one-night fling during an extended (you got it) layover, is a somber, slow-burning psycho-thriller that has more than a hint of noir floating in its veins. Again directed by Mr. Cullman, the current Second Stage mainstage production – which closes tomorrow – is slick and moody, just right for Ms. Headland’s play. It also features two magnetic yet eerily enigmatic performances by Annie Parisse and Adam Rothenberg.

THE LAYOVER
Off-Broadway, Play
Second Stage
1 hour, 40 minutes (without an intermission)
Through September 18

BACHELORETTE
Off-Broadway, Play
Carly Bauer Productions and Mark Brystowski in association with United Theatre Collective (at the Walkerspace)
1 hour, 30 minutes (without an intermission)
Through September 17