~Mercy Warren and Abigail Adams~

Few Americans know anything more about Benedict Arnold than his name, which has become synonymous with the word “Traitor”. Fewer still know anything at all about the women of the American revolution besides, possibly, Betsy Ross, who had something to do with a flag.

Mercy Warren was a playwright, poet and, eventually, historian who originally wrote under a male name until taken under the protection of John Adams. She was the first American female playwright, and had the ear of many of the American founding fathers and their wives.

Abigail Adams was the wife of John Adams. The two spent most of their lives apart, but kept bonded by correspondence which has become famous for it’s insight into the creation of the Declaration of Independence and running of the Revolutionary War, the intellectual conversation between husband and wife and the expressions of passionate love between them.

Mrs. Warren eventually wrote the definitive history of the Revolution, a three volume work titled “History of the Rise, Progress, and Termination of the American Revolution” which Thomas Jefferson praised as truthful and insightful.

Mercy Warren’s Tea, which just ended a run as a visiting guest production at the Odyssey Theatre in preparation for a run in New York and, possibly, a movie, is a play about an afternoon tea that Mrs. Warren held for her good friend Abigail Adams in which she also invited Peggy Arnold, Benedict’s wife, who was visiting in the United States briefly from her new home in London. Mrs. Warren wants to get the inside skinny for her proposed history. Mrs. Arnold wants to “set the record straight.”

Mrs. Adams is understandably upset at being tricked into spending the afternoon with the traitor’s wife, who, herself, is complicit in her husband’s treachery. The afternoon is further complicated by the arrival of Jacataqua, an Indian woman who fought beside Arnold in the Revolution (before he changed sides) and carried the child of Aaron Burr, whom she wants to kill. She has entered the house thinking Mrs. Benedict is actually Mrs. Burr. She is followed in hot pursuit by soldier Willie McIntyre, who thinks she has stolen his purse.

As the afternoon goes on, the women talk, argue about politics and point guns at one another. Spoiler alert: Willie is really a woman! Which is no surprise to anyone watching this production, as “he” is played by a woman so obviously not a man that, until the moment where she starts hinting at a secret that the others should know, we wonder why the director cast a woman in the role. The moment where she bares her breasts to prove her womanhood (with her back to the audience, we don’t get an M. Butterfly moment) has been so telegraphed by staging, action and dialogue, one wonders why it becomes necessary at all. All the other women react with startled awe, of course.

When Mercy Warren’s Tea was first produced, as a radio play for American Public Radio in 1977, it won a “Best Drama” award. It was obviously not this production. Although the script itself seems interesting, the direction, by John Stark, is clumsy. There is much movement for the sake of movement rather than intention, and sloppy staging such as a moment when two of the women “move aside” from the others to have a whispered conversation. I say “move aside” in quotes because the move consisted of walking one step away from the next nearest pair of ears.

Mr. Stark is playwright Jovanka Bach’s widower, and produced and directed a previous play of hers, Checkov & Maria, which also ran as a guest production at the Odyssey and played in New York, London and became a movie.

Mona Lee Wylde is quite good as Abigail Adams, bringing a dignity and authentic outrage to the role. The rest of the cast, which includes Venessa Frazier, Donna Luisa Guinan, Tanya Starcevich, Johanna Watts and Susan Ziegler, do not live up to her standards.

The costumes, which don’t seem to be credited in the program, were quite good, effectively showing the difference in status, locale and temperament of the various women, from the elegant Paris gown warn by Mrs. Arnold to the society feel of Mrs. Adam’s attire and the practical dress of Mrs. Warren.