Review: “This is not a time of peace” Written by Deb Margolin, Mounts a Multi-layered Memory Play

Charlotte Cohn as Alina, Roger Hendricks SImon as Hillel. Photo by Steven Pisano.

The title of Deb Margolin‘s new play, This is not a time of peace, is spoken twice in the course of the performance, each time in reference to a different era. This doubling not only draws attention to historical correspondences but also evokes the play’s emphasis on memory and experience–every part of which, we are told, “is still happening” “somewhere in time”–as fluid and malleable and exceeding boundaries, a conception echoed in the form of the play itself. Based in part on autobiographical connections to Margolin’s actual father during the Cold War and making its world premiere at Midtown’s Theatre Row, This is not a time of peace sketches parallels between the personal and the political in its compelling rendition of a story at once intimate and with far-reaching resonances.

Steven Rattazzi as Joseph McCarthy. Photo by Steven Pisano.

A pair of monologues delivered by professional writer Alina (a spectacular Charlotte Cohn) provide a frame for the play and, taking place in 2020, represent its most contemporaneous portions. The rest of the show looks back, back to when Alina was still married to her gadget-loving husband Moses (Simon Feil) in the early 2000s, and further back to her father Hillel’s (Roger Hendricks Simon) encounter with McCarthyism half a century prior. The boundaries among these tangled threads of memory prove less than resilient as the narrative progresses, but one certainty from the outset is that Hillel’s past experiences have resulted in passing on what Alina refers to as a kind of “epigenetic” trauma. Hillel, a Jewish scientist with roots in Russia who worked for the U.S. government, lost his security clearance during the national persecution of Communists in the 1950s. But what were the specific circumstances? Was her father in fact a Communist? And did he really cross paths not only with the reprehensible Senator Joseph McCarthy (Steven Rattazzi) but also with storied McCarthy opponent Adolf Berle (Frank Licato)? Where does a Muscovite named Daniil (Richard Hollis) fit in? While Alina can still talk to her elderly father about his past, she commits to unraveling its mysteries and ambiguities.

Charlotte Cohn as Alina, Simon Feil as Moses. Photo by Steven Pisano.

As she attempts to pin down answers concerning Hillel, whose age-related lapses are an affecting part of Hendricks Simon’s multi-dimensional performance, Alina’s own domestic life is threatening to come undone. While she loves Moses, or maintains that she does, she has found herself having an affair with poet and novelist Martin (Ken King), about whom she has similarly conflicted feelings, and whose possessive passion and alpha masculinity present a sharp contrast to amiable IT worker Moses. The assertive physicality in scenes between King and Cohn fruitfully complements the sense skillfully created in scenes between Cohn and Feil of a sort of polite marital machine chugging along atop an expanding void of distance between its partners. Throughout, the sound and lighting design is put to subtle, even sparing, but quite effective use to generate unease, suggest confusion, and more, while the set design hints at a mesh of neural pathways as much as it does a network of roots.

Ken King as Martin, Charlotte Cohn as Alina. Photo by Steven Pisano.

This is not a time of peace makes clear the consonance between McCarthy’s language of internal enemies and the political rhetoric of today (“Communist” has retained its place among those enemy ranks by morphing into the more nebulous “socialist”). Alongside but inextricable from such linkages are its insightful explorations of guilt, betrayal, and fractured senses of belonging, as well as of the strength to do what we can for others/the Othered. Alina says that things only seem to end, and This is not a time of peace can be one of those things for anyone who sees it.

This is not a time of peace

Written by Deb Margolin
Directed by Jerry Heymann
Presented by New Light Theater Project at Theatre Row
410 W 42nd Street, Manhattan, NYC
February 20-March 16, 2024

THE FLATLANDERS World Premiere at 1812 Productions in Philadelphia, PA

Running January 25 – February 18th, get your tickets HERE.

Susan Gurman and Bruce Graham at The Flatlanders at 1812 Productions in Philadelphia, PA

“Childs and Greer’s comic skills have only grown with time, and they give ample evidence here of their status as Philadelphia living treasures”

-Philadelphia Magazine

The Flatlanders
Written by Bruce Graham
Starring Jennifer Childs and Scott Greer

Directed by Matt Pfeiffer

A Poconos blizzard puts a chill on a couple’s relationship in this brisk comedic romp. Stuck in a cabin belonging to total strangers, “flatlanders” Ronnie and Michael uncover truths, secrets, and new ways to heat things up between them. But will their relationship weather the storm?

Learn more here.

Kansas City’s Coterie Theatre Announces Khalia Davis as New Producing Artistic Director

KANSAS CITY, Mo. —

The Coterie Theatre in Kansas City officially has new artistic leadership.

On Wednesday, the acclaimed children’s theater announced that Khalia Davis will be stepping into the role of Producing Artistic Director.

Khalia Davis

Davis inherits the role from interim artistic director Heidi Van, who has led artistic programming since February of 2023 following the resignation and sudden death of Jeff Church in December of 2022.

Davis will work alongside Managing Director Jonathan Thomas, who joined The Coterie in April 2022 as director of development and served as interim managing director since November 2022 before being permanently appointed to the role following the passing of longtime Coterie executive director Joette Pelster.

The theater called Davis a multidisciplinary artist and arts leader in a press release announcing her appointment. She most recently served as the Assistant Director for the Broadway-bound world premiere of The Hippest Trip: The Soul Train Musical.

“From our first introduction to Khalia to the everyday interactions, her energy and passion for theatre for young audiences is palpable,” President of The Coterie’s Board of Director Theresa Stoker said. “We know she will continue to do exciting and innovative work in the field of theatre for young audiences and we are thrilled to have her co-leading The Coterie.

She also comes to Kansas City as the former Artistic Director of the Bay Area Children’s Theatre in Oakland, California. She led the world premieres of a kids play about Racism, which brought together over 40 theater producing partners, including The Coterie, and was viewed on Broadway on Demand nearly 80,000 times during its limited run.

“While I am not from Kansas City originally, witnessing the way the arts community here supports and uplifts one another is reminiscent of living and working professionally in the San Francisco Bay Area theater community,” Davis said in the theater’s press release. “I look forward to working with new colleagues across the arts industry here and working alongside managing director, Jonathan Thomas, to bring more exciting, engaging, and educational arts programming to the families and young people of Kansas City and beyond!”

Davis will look to begin a new era for the beloved children’s theater, which touts being named “One of the Five Best Theaters for Young Audiences” in the U.S. by TIME magazine.

The Coterie offers acting and theatre classes year-round for PreK-12th grades at multiple locations around Kansas City. The not-for-profit theater company also serves an average audience of 75,000 annually across 350 performances.

Assault and abuse allegations were made public against former longtime Artistic Director Jeff Church in a story by the Kansas City Pitch. Additional unconfirmed claims and accounts of abuse began circulating on social media following the story’s publication.

Read the full article from KMBC by Connor Hills here.