The Keegan Theatre in 2013 (Photo by Elvert Barnes).
By DCist contributor Seth Rose
On a nondescript side street near Dupont Circle, there’s a brick building that houses the newly renovated Keegan Theatre. At first glance, it can be hard to tell it’s a theater at all. Inside, the brick walls and cozy-but-not-cramped lobbies evoke a feeling of intimacy without the shoestring feeling of more itinerant companies. With their recent remount of Theresa Rebeck’s What We’re Up Against, the theater continues to strike the delicate balance that is their strength.
Since acquiring and renaming the Church Street Theatre in 2013, Keegan has occupied an awkward spot in the D.C. theater community: one of the few companies to own and operate their own space, but without the budgets and reach of local titans like Woolly and Arena Stage.
To make up for this disparity, they try to maintain and cultivate a more local audience base compared to those farther reaching theaters. Previously an itinerant company themselves, they chose to stay put in Dupont after a last-minute venue change for their production of Playboy of the Western World, based on the strength of the reception they received.
“The audiences are the reason we moved, the reason we stayed, and the reason we thrive,” says Keegan Associate Artistic Director and director of What We’re Up Against, Susan Rhea. “We have a relationship with everyone on the block.” It’s an approach that has served them well in the past: the anonymous donor that funded their 2015 renovation shared that they were a regular patron who wanted to see the company expand.
On an artistic level, this type of engagement manifests as a focus on plays and actors that “work without ego”, as Rhea describes. Aside from a commitment to perform at least one play by an Irish playwright every season (Susan’s husband, Artistic Director Mark A. Rhea, has Irish roots), Keegan mainly performs a mix of American standbys, musicals, and works less likely to show up in repertoire. No matter what the text, Keegan always pays attention to the artists, with a goal to develop strong performances rather than strain for complex spectacles or wild experimentation.
What We’re Up Against is an example of that pedigree. The show focuses on the trials of Eliza (Brianna LeTourneau), a new hire at a prestigious architecture firm who clashes with her bosses when they seem determined not to give her any work.
It’s not a subtle script. Eliza’s coworkers are cartoonish, sexist boors who swear constantly and drink a lot of whiskey, and her crusade of vengeance leaves a trail of righteous destruction in it’s wake. What the play lacks in nuance, it makes up for in clarity. Rebeck’s voice is intense and focused; she isn’t afraid to stake her claim, and she will defend it without apology.
Carolyn Kashner & Brianna Letourneau (Cameron Whitman Photography)
Before rehearsals started, Rhea was worried that the show landed outside of her wheelhouse (she usually doesn’t do scripts with such a bitingly satirical edge). That fear didn’t appear to influence the product; her direction funnels Keegan’s talent right where it needs to go. The unconstrained fury of LeTourneau’s Eliza proves deeply cathartic against the comically disturbing piggishness of Stu (Peter Finnegan) and Weber (Stephen Russell Murray), but Rhea knows when to dial it back.
The difficult comedic timing ensures that the rage doesn’t burn too deep: it isn’t easy to get laughs out of somebody pouring their coffee too loud, but Rhea has the right touch to make it happen. She recognizes that the script strikes a careful balance between comedy and boldfaced social commentary, and she knows exactly when to emphasize one over the other and when to combine them.
With its whiskey-chugging and vaguely second-wave “one woman against the corporate world” tropes, there is a temptation to call the show dated, but Rhea’s thoughtful direction helps to underscore Eliza’s mournful counter: “They said it wasn’t like this anymore. Why is it still like this?”
What We’re Up Against is the kind of zoomed-in, focused work that Keegan has always thrived on. It’s a show that proves that a theater does not have to lose its heart as it expands. The renovations have given them access to more space and resources without losing it’s audience-focused intimacy.
“Our work and our confidence has grown exponentially since we’ve been here,” said Rhea. If it continues that trend after the renovation, Studio Theatre might have some real competition for the Dupont market.
What We’re Up Against is at the Keegan through October 15. Buy tickets here.
