We solved empathy! (Untitled Louisville Theatre Company)

Feb 8

3 min read

Do You Feel Anger? By Mara Nelson-Greenberg Directed by Tory Parker A review by Kate Barry

These days it seems like the workplace can be anything but a place for doing your job. What should be a place to earn money and progress in skills has turned into a place of intimidation and fear. Workplace harassment is nothing new. Untitled Louisville Theater Company’s sophomore production of Do You Feel Anger? is right at home in today’s tense news cycle. The dark comedy explores topics so relevant that the tragic elements hold a strong resonance.

The story focuses on an empathy coach (Ali Gautier) who is hired to work with a staff of debt collectors after violent acts towards women are made and an employee goes missing. Notably, the ensemble takes full advantage of the NoCo Arts Center space. Harsh overhead lighting remains on, the yellow walls are drab and the in-the-round seating makes it impossible for you to look away. In this business where emotions do not matter, perspective is askew while these characters attempt to learn and who knows, even change for the better.

As the empathy coach Sophia, Gautier is on a mission. Optimistic that she can help, Gautier brings vulnerability in her character’s struggle to make a break through with her attendees. Her performance is strong as Sophia attempts to remain safe with appearance changes and adopts strategies, like making up a boyfriend, at which she once scoffed. At the play’s pivotal climax as Sophia’s safety is compromise and literally cornered, Gautier’s provides a strong emotional depth. Her fear resonates with anyone who may have found themselves in workplace situations. It is an honest portrayal of a harsh reality.

The employees who Sophia is assigned to work with are not the easiest or the friendliest. Solitary and distinct, Sophia interacts with Jon, the boss of the company played with flair for the dramatic by Ryan Lash. Completely self-unaware, Lash brings physical humor and narcissistic undertones to the man in power. Sophia finds her biggest challenge when she meets Jordan and Howie played by Crystian Wiltshire and Griffin Cobb. Wiltshire’s Jordan believes himself to be a hopeless romantic despite the repercussions that come with hitting on someone in the work place. Cobb’s Howie is an angry bully who is mean and intimidating. When Cobb channels Howie’s rage and acts upon it, the tension in the audience is felt and well deserved. As a duo, Wiltshire and Cobb bring immaturity and broad performances whether they are passing gross pictures back and forth, throwing candy or putting as much effort as they can into learning about compassion.

As Sophia progresses, one employee attempts to learn with the utmost effort. Bailey Preston’s Eva is tense and robotic at first glance. Over the course of the production, Preston reveals a character who is struck by fear due to trauma occurring at the work place. Preston’s Eva is small and unwaveringly apologetic with a reliance on a boyfriend that may or may not be made up. In a crucial moment of Sophia’s training, Preston’s Eva is able to break out of her fear and begin to heal from the trauma she has experienced.

Do You Feel Anger? made its premiere at the Humana Festival of New American Plays at Actors Theater of Louisville in 2018; right at the peak of #MeToo movement and the 45th President’s term in office. Director Tory Parker states in her Directors Notes, “you feel the urgency of that moment in the play, the sense that a wall was coming down but not without a fight.” And this production proves that the fight for empathy and compassion continues.

Do You Feel Anger?

Untitled Louisville Theatre Company

February 6, 7, 9, 13 and 15

NoCo Arts Center

628 Michigan Ave

Jeffersonville, IN 47130