INTERVIEW: ‘The Commons’ and what it’s like to ‘live with strangers’
Photo: Ben Katz, Ben Newman and Julia Greer star in The Commons, by Lily Akerman, at 59E59 Theaters. Photo courtesy of Carol Rosegg / Provided by Karen Greco PR with permission.
The description for the new play The Commons, running through Feb. 23 at Midtown Manhattan’s 59E59 Theaters, is intriguingly vague, with a promise of something deeper and unknown: “Missing almonds, empty apologies and a pizza box in the recycling bin that clearly belongs in the trash. When space is at a premium, there’s no room for weak links. The Commons is a play about living with strangers and the things that seem small, until they aren’t.”
The show, written by Lily Akerman and directed by Emma Miller, comes to New York City courtesy of The Hearth theater company. Fans of 59E59 might remember The Hearth’s last show at the theater complex: 2018’s much-heralded Athena. They are a company that celebrates female and non-binary artists, including playwrights, directors, actors and designers. In their work, they explore the many complex facets of womanhood, according to their official website.
Julia Greer and Miller, artistic directors of The Hearth, commissioned The Commons for its run at 59E59. They are also intimately involved with the production, with Miller as director and Greer as one of the actors on stage.
Akerman said her work with Greer and Miller at The Hearth has been exciting, and she appreciates that they are a theater company making work that is both experimental and mission-driven.
“I feel like it’s so hard to be a small company that there just aren’t that many of them, so I think just the existence is really exciting,” Akerman said in a recent phone interview. “But their interests definitely align with mine in a lot of ways, so that’s nice. … It’s great because the actors are doing such amazing work. I feel the words are in good hands, which is nice.”
Akerman, whose work has appeared in the Dublin Fringe Festival, Cork Midsummer Festival and YES Noise Festival, has been involved in theater for quite some time. Growing up, she was an actor and writer (though not of plays, that would come later).
As a professional, in addition to her work on original plays, she has written several librettos, including Interface, Off Court and Front of House. “There are similarities and differences,” she said about the creative process of writing plays versus writing librettos. “One big difference is that I’m not working with a composer, so that changes the text, of course, and also the process. And the music of the play is in the language.”
The native New Yorker said it was nice to grow up in the Big Apple, mostly because of the many theatrical offerings on view. “I think anywhere you live could be probably good for your creativity, but it is nice to be able to go to see so many shows whenever there is so much at all times,” Akerman said. “And that is helpful, of course.”
This production of The Commons, which also stars Olivia Abiassi, Ben Katz, Olivia Khoshatefeh and Ben Newman, definitely marks a special time in Akerman’s professional life — though she’s been so busy with rehearsals that she hasn’t had the chance to think about the experience from afar.
“I do think it’s a special time, and I wouldn’t use the words living my dream because … I almost never feel like that because every day is so wildly full of different feelings and things,” the playwright said. “I’m so involved in the process right now that I’m not even reflecting on it that much, but it’s definitely a special time and exciting to have an audience.”
By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com
The Commons, written by Lily Akerman, runs through Feb. 23 at 59E59 Theaters in Midtown Manhattan. Click here for more information and tickets.
