The First First Lady’s Fever Dream

The Most Spectacularly Lamentable Trial of Miz Martha Washington – Steppenwolf Theatre

When the audience walks into Steppenwolf’s main stage theatre, they see a gorgeous Southern mansion, a plantation surrounded by fields of cotton plants. As the lights change, the manor house disappears and we find ourselves in the bedroom of Martha Washington, the first First Lady of America. She’s lying in her bed writhing and moaning in pain. She’s also being tormented by surrealistic fever dreams. In the next 90 minutes, we will share Miz Martha’s suffering as she is confronted by her slaves who are reminding her of a truth that she refuses to admit. The country’s first President, her late husband, George Washington, left explicit orders in his will that, upon the death of his wife, all of his slaves would be freed. However, even on her deathbed, Miz Martha Washington refuses to bow to her husband’s wishes. 

As all the slaves wait for their mistress to die, laughing and mimicking what her death rattle will sound like, they anticipate celebrating their hour of freedom. Martha Washington slowly begins to slip away but, before death can finally take her from this world of white privilege, she must face her demons. It’s a little bit curious, like Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, and features a lot of soul searching, like Scrooge in A Christmas Carol. In both, the central character must confront the inhumanity inflicted upon their fellow man. Martha’s everyday life, like her father before her, forced hardship and servitude upon her African-American servants for years. 

Six talented actors of color brilliantly portray a variety of Washington’s subservient human property. They force Martha, who cries that she’s their mother—in fact, the Mother of the whole Country—to face her hypocrisy. Anne Dandridge, majestically and empathetically played by Nikki Crawford, is Martha  Washington’s personal house slave. But actually she’s not only a slave but, in fact, Martha’s half sister and a mother herself. We meet her young son William, played with pathos by Victor Musoni, and Anne’s sorrow and bitterness touch our hearts and become understandable. The entire cast cleverly portrays all kinds of different characters, sometimes humorous, sometimes sad, sometimes frightening. 

Among many different personages, the always magnificent Sydney Charles plays Priscilla and the gifted Celeste M. Cooper portrays Doll. They both appear in one of Martha’s dreams as Betsy Ross and Abigail Adams, where they dish and chat with the First Lady. Carl Clemons-Hopkins is excellent as Davy and a gifted young actor named Donovan Session plays Sucky Boy with humor. The cast portray an African-American Thomas Jefferson, a black King George and Queen Charlotte, and the entire ensemble act out a comical trial in an episode of  “The People’s Court.” But one scene that especially hits home is a reverse auction, held by all six African-American actors, during which they bid on Martha Washington. 

Cindy Gold, one of Chicago’s finest and most versatile character actors, plays Miz Martha with empathy and honesty. She not only conveys the physical pain the First Lady is experiencing on her deathbed, but the confusion and ignorance of her obscene participation as a slave owner. Her Martha Washington refuses to acknowledge the debt that she owes America’s black population, and keeps reminding her servants that “she did right by them.” Martha also insists that it would be impossible for her to change now from a lifestyle that she’s known all her life.

Clint Ramos has created a beautiful and functional scenic design, illuminated by Amith Chandrashaker’s fine lighting design. Izumi Inaba once again has created a wardrobe of astonishing authentic and wildly waggish costumes for this production; and Silver Fox Wigs provides the final finished look for each character, as well.  

This is the Chicago premiere of Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright, James Ijames’ remarkably gritty and humorous play. It’s a bitter history lesson that unfolds like a surreal painting come to life. As the country’s first First Lady lies dying in her bed at Mount Vernon, a fever dream plays out that’s sometimes funny and ultimately very poignant. Directed with style, humor and tough vitality by Whitney White, an Obie Award-winning theatre artist, this darkly comic drama will haunt audiences for a long time, because of its combination of rightness and whimsy.       

Highly Recommended

Reviewed by Colin Douglas

Presented September 11-October 9 by Steppenwolf Theatre Co., 1650 N. Halsted St., Chicago.

Tickets are available in person at the box office, by calling audience services at 312-335-1650 or by going to www.steppenwolf.org.

Additional information about this and other area productions can be found by going to www.theatreinchicago.com.