When she leans in to kiss her straight roommate Marcie (Carolyn Baeumler), her hands clench with panicky hope, and when she rebuffs Beth’s renewed advances, a small flick of her head defines the hardening of her heart.ĭornfeld’s work is equally sophisticated. Ireland, her face a vivid map of internal confusion, lets us see every impulse behind Laura’s actions. There’s quite a bit of melodrama, but a couple of sterling perfs make it easy to stay engaged. Denied a campy tone, we’re asked to lose ourselves in Laura’s love affair with Beebo (Anna Foss Wilson), the butchest of butches, and Beth’s desperate flight from her husband (Bill Dawes) as she tries to rekindle her old Sapphic flame. The primary focus is on soap opera-style tribulations, which the production plays sincerely. We’re asked to consider two worlds and decide which is the better response to the culture of the day.Īs potent as they are, however, these points are softly made, like things to be considered later. Silverman places them on different levels, and lighting designer Nicole Pearce bathes them in separate light. One couple - which includes Laura’s “bachelor” friend Jack (David Greenspan) - mimics heterosexuality, while another is as gay as can be. However, she also reads Camus’ “The Stranger,” an addition made by the playwrights to underscore the gay loneliness of the time.ĭirector Leigh Silverman makes occasional statements of her own, such as in a concluding image depicting two outcomes for gay relationships. When naive college grad Laura (Marin Ireland) arrives in New York, trying to forget her old flame Beth (Autumn Dornfeld) and start her new lesbian life, she speaks and acts like a polite ’50s gal.

Chapman tell a period story with only a hint of contemporary commentary. Whittling three of Bannon’s six books to a brisk 90 minutes, playwrights Kate Moira Ryan and Linda S.

Beebo Brinker by Ann Bannon