Andrew Valins and David Millstone (Dennis Turbeville)
The revitalized Dupont Underground has been one of the hottest art tickets in town ever since it reopened last year with the installation Raise/Raze. Tonight, the mid-century cavern that was once a stop on Washington’s trolley system starts a new chapter—as a theater venue. The Underground’s theater-in-residence program begins with the Alliance For New Music-Theatre production of Václav Havel’s Protest.
The Underground is a thrilling venue no matter what goes into it, its concrete vaults inspiring thoughts of a bohemian-chic batcave. It’s strange enough that there’s this massive underground area beneath Dupont Circle, but it’s even more startling that, after decades of neglect, it’s finally returned to a new life with murals, haunting acoustics, and arts events.
Turning a mile long network of tunnels into a hot art destination has been a challenge, but the Dupont Underground team has been hard at work, stretching its wings to produce a variety of events in April alone.
Kelly Paras, who spearheaded the Underground’s regularly sold out tour program, is involved in the complicated logistics of preparing the space for wildly different programs. With the team size in constant flux, there have been nights when Paras and DU Art Director Noel Kassewitz were still working in the space at 2 a.m. to convert it for the next day. “Two Saturdays ago we had a DJ dance party with crazy light projections and this late night rave feel,” Paras said. “The next morning we had a guided meditation with wind chimes.”
It’s a space that’s still in the development stage, a subterranean cocoon ready to transform at any moment. For director Susan Galbraith, that fluidity makes it the perfect backdrop for her take on Protest. And to make art in this hub of politics, why not put on work by an artist-politician?
Havel, who died in 2011, wrote Protest in 1978, well before his rise to power as the last president of Czechoslovakia and the first president of the Czech Republic. This work is one of three plays that focus on the character Ferdinand Vaněk, an everyman and stand-in for the author. The one-act play follows two friends discussing the political climate. Vaněk wants to make real change; his friend Stanek agrees in principle, but is shackled by the comforts of home.
Galbraith’s production was originally commissioned by the Embassy of the Czech Republic, a state sponsorship that is a far cry from Havel’s early struggles as an activist-author. Unable to work in traditional theater venues, Havel was forced to find alternative spaces. Galbraith explains, “They would perform in each others houses and apartments and word would get out.”
In today’s theater world, immersive programs like those of Baltimore’s Submersive Productions, which have been held in spaces as intimate as a bathroom, are increasingly in demand. But there was a time when such performance spaces were used out of necessity.
“That kind of excitement causes people to stampede to be one of the people to hear this play,” Galbraith clarified. “It makes it dangerous. It unites them socially and politically.” Galbraith wants the company’s productions to spur conversation.
The acoustics of the space pose a different challenge, and provide new dimensions and textures to toy with. On the actors’ first day of rehearsals, their giddiness at exploring the way their voices carry was palpable.
Andrew Valins (Vanek) and David Millstone (Stanek) developed a powerful rapport over the time they’ve spent with the text.
“We’ve been working on this hour-long play for a year,” says Valins. “We haven’t had that many performances but it’s been in our systems for that long. Since it comes from Havel, it’s deeper. It keeps giving.”
For Millstone, the play was always political, but it’s even more pointed here, and now. “We all expected Hilary was going to be president.” He didn’t expect to question the direction his country was going in, and that’s reflected in his character, who spends much of the play reluctant to sign a petition. “My character struggles to make a good life for himself and his family, but he makes compromises. Maybe too many compromises.”
Protest runs at the Dupont Underground through May 21. $35. Buy tickets here.
