Hick: A Love Story. The Romance of Lorena Hickok and Eleanor Roosevelt. Written by Terry Baum and Pat Bond, Directed by Carolyn Myers. The Crackpot Crones & Theatre Rhinoceros, Eureka Theatre, 215 Jackson St. (at Battery St.), SF 94111. ALL PERFORMANCES ARE FREE! Tickets can be reserved via e mail at http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/602947. July 10-27, 2014
A disconcerting Hick: A Love Story at Eureka Theatre [rating:2] (2 of 5 Stars)
For a monologist to capture an audience requires great acting skills with the ability to convey emotion(s) and characterization through voice tonality and body language. On opening night Terry Baum did not consistently display those qualities. This performance was further hampered by lack of continuity between poorly timed exits and entrances needed for presentation of multiple scenes interspersed with blackouts.
Before the monolog begins the House manager steps onto the stage to inform the audience that the selections from Eleanor Roosevelt’s love letters to Lorena Hickok are “verbatim quotations.” What’s the point? The audience had to wait until the second act to hear those words but they could view some of them written on the walls of the attractive three area set (Vola Ruben). The love letters from Eleanor Roosevelt, an internationally admired wife of a United States President, to her lesbian paramour might have been shocking and interesting in the 1930s and 40s. But in 2014 they are staler than day old news.
The question that arises “For what purpose?” The answer to that question is made clear in the final scene when Terry Baum as Lorena Hickok (Hick) tells us that her motivation was to tell the world that great women could be lesbians. Really? So, that is why she did not burn those intimate letters that were released to the FDR Library 10 years after Hick’s death. Some letters are better read than said. Paula Barish wisely makes no attempt to mimic the distinctive aristocratic voice of Eleanor Roosevelt in her off-stage voice over reading bits of those letters.
Lorena Hickok’s (Hick) life is the stuff of a Horatio Alger novel. Born in poverty in 1893 Wisconsin she became a top-notch reporter for the Associated Press and the only woman in what was then an all-male press corps travelling with FDR and Eleanor on their pre-election stumping. Hick was the nation’s best-known woman journalist in 1932 when the story begins. Her renowned and feisty personality is fairly well defined in the opening scenes with telephone conversations with her New York bosses and the quirk that landed her an interview with Eleanor. It was love at first sight and the description of their “honeymoon” in Nova Scotia was charming.
After the election Hick was invited to stay at the White House and had a small sleeping room next to Eleanor’s bedroom and, with a sly wink, she did not always stay in her room. When they were apart there were frequent telephone calls and love letters from Eleanor. True love never runs smooth. Hick’s volatile personality caused a rift with Eleanor chastising and banishing Hick from public appearances with her. Late in the show in a telephone they profess love for each other. It is the most moving scene in the play.
Terry Baum as Hick
The first act is tightly written and takes place between 1932 and 1933. The second act takes a huge jump in time to 1968 when Eleanor has died and Hicks is vacillating about what to do with the 2300 plus letters from Eleanor she has kept. The motivation for releasing them described above will divide the audience but is consistent with the philosophy of The Crackpot Crones who produced the show.
As noted, ALL PERFORMANCES ARE FREE. But beware: You get what you pay for. Running time less than 2 hours with an intermission.
Cast: Terry Baum as Lorena Hickcock (Hick) and Paul Barish as the voice of Eleanor Roosevelt
Production: Director Carolyn Myers; Set Design/Props Vola Ruben; Lighting Design Stephanie Anne Johnson; Sound Design Audrey Howard; Costumer Val Von; Stage Manager Pam Higley; Videographer Meja Tyehimba.
Kedar K. Adour, MD
Courtesy of www.theatreworldinternetmagazine.com
