Review: World Premiere of Kirsten Greenidge's HOW SOFT THE LINING

How Soft the Lining

A World Premiere Written by Kirsten Greenidge, Directed by M. Bevin O'Gara; Stage Manager, Meg O'Brien; Assistant Stage Manager, Christine Truong; Dialect Coach, Steven E. Emanuelson; Dramaturg, Phaedra Scott; Costume Designer, Kathryn Schondek; Fight Choreographer, Margaret Clark; Properties Designer, Sam Filson Parkinson; Lighting Designer, PJ Strachman; Sound Designer, Andrew Duncan Will; Scenic Designer, Rebecca Lehrhoff-Joy; Technical Director, Ben Lieberson

CAST (in alphabetical order): Elle Borders, Margaret Clark, Bridgette Hayes, Gabriel Graetz, Jade Guerra, Lizzie Milanovich, Kaya Simmons

Performances through November 20 by Bad Habit Productions at Deane Hall, Calderwood Pavilion, Boston Center for the Arts, 527 Tremont Street, Boston, MA; Box Office 617-933-8600 or www.badhabitproductions.org

Bad Habit Productions inaugurates their 10th anniversary season with the world premiere of How Soft the Lining by Obie Award-winning Boston area playwright Kirsten Greenidge. In this historically-based play, she uses her quill pen to explore the unusual relationship between First Lady Mary Todd Lincoln and her seamstress Elizabeth Keckley, a freed slave. Under the direction of M. Bevin O'Gara, a diverse cast displays flexibility in playing multiple roles and seamlessly traveling through flashback moments in the history of each woman and of our nation. Covering the years before and during the Civil War, and the immediate aftermath of President Abraham Lincoln's assassination, the play's focus on race and the division in America feels like déjà vu all over again.

If race is the primary theme, gender and class play a close second and third as we learn the ways in which Mary Todd's lack of the Y chromosome and her background affected her status when Lincoln was in the White House. An intelligent, educated woman who had been an intimate confidante to her husband, Mary was elbowed into the background (baking cookies?) when he became President. By establishing a close working connection with her dressmaker, respected in the upper echelons of Washington society, both women used fashion to gain status and power. It cemented a bond between the duo that was sustained for many years, even after Lincoln's death, until Keckley's tell-all book about her years as a slave and life in the White House drove a wedge between them.

Greenidge tells the story in a theatrical style, presenting formative moments in both Elizabeth's and Mary's girlhoods like snapshots in a video album. We see four-year old "Lizzy" placed in charge of a baby's care and getting whipped for failing to prevent it from crying. Mary battles with her difficult stepmother and receives maternal affection from a house slave. In her 30s, Elizabeth saves enough money ($1200) from her sewing to buy her freedom and that of her son George. She marries, builds a business, and eventually leaves her husband to set up shop in Washington. Abe Lincoln overcomes his lack of deftness on the dance floor and uses his oratorical aplomb to woo and win Mary. Scenes in the White House include Elizabeth and Mary conspiring to make the latter presentable for the Inaugural Ball, while her two sons Tad and Willie roughhouse in the background. The contrast in their story arcs is fascinating, as Elizabeth grows into her own and learns how to use her voice, while outspoken Mary learns to cope with being silenced and finds other ways to express herself.

How Soft the Lining is an opportunity for two strong performances from two lead actors, and Bridgette Hayes (Mary Todd Lincoln) and Elle Borders (Elizabeth Keckley) rise to the occasion. Hayes is overly dramatic in a good way; sometimes breathless, sometimes joyful and giddy, sometimes weepy, all in service of the personality traits of her character. She exhibits the lilting accent and flirtatiousness of a southern belle, as well as the steely command of a woman with a mind of her own. In her scenes with Borders, they share a genuine chemistry that makes the relationship between the two women believable.

As for Borders, she is masterful in playing the nuances of a character who must walk a fine line between deference and dignity. When she transitions between the different segments of Lizzy's life, it is like watching stop-action on film; from wide-eyed four-year old, to the slave wanting to earn her freedom, to the savvy business woman, she alters her facial expressions and her bearing in almost unnoticeable ways to achieve the desired effect. She is terrific throughout the play, but saves the best for last in a fiery, memorable speech about friendship that Greenidge gives her as the culmination of Elizabeth's emancipation.

Gabriel Graetz doesn't have Lincoln's stature, but he has a great beard and plays the man's personality and heart, especially when relating to his wife and children. Graetz shows his versatility when he stands in as Mary's strident stepmother and Elizabeth's kindly master. Jade Guerra is impressive in several roles, changing characters by adding or subtracting an apron or a head wrap. She is Lizzy's instructive mother, Mary's warm house slave, and an excitable apprentice in Elizabeth's shop, and makes each of them seem like someone you'd want to know. Rounding out the ensemble are Margaret Clark, Lizzie Milanovich, and Kaya Simmons (as the ill-fated sons of both Mary and Elizabeth).

How Soft the Lining places its attention on the complicated relationship between the two women at the center of the play and zeroes in on the similarities that drew them together. Fast forward to 2016 and our interest is heightened by recent events in the political arena, from racial incidents to the presidential election. If Elizabeth Keckley were alive today, she might very well be a leader in the Black Lives Matter movement. Mary Todd Lincoln would have some stories to swap with Hillary Rodham Clinton, and she'd probably be surprised and disappointed to learn of the ways in which HRC had to compromise her talents as First Lady in both Arkansas and Washington. Perhaps HRC saw Mary's life and Elizabeth's exposé as a cautionary tale that contributed to her own tendency to eschew a higher degree of transparency. We'll never know, but Greenidge gives us a lot of food for thought.

Photo credit: Paul Cantillon, Lidecphoto.com (Elle Borders, Bridgette Hayes)

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