Olivia Khoshatefeh (left) as Janira and Julia Greer as Dee in Lily Akerman’s The Commons.
Lily Akerman’s The Commons should come with a trigger warning for anyone who has ever had multiple roommates in a New York City apartment. She depicts four roommates (three millennials and one Gen Xer) as they navigate the harrowing questions and minutiae of shared space—the buildup of burnt tomato sauce on a stove top, the viability of leftover jars of food, the ethics of decluttering, the disappearance of chocolate almonds, the gendering of certain chores, and, God forbid, the presence of a mouse—with various shades of aggression and passive-aggression.
Dee and Janira examine the refrigerator contents in an effort to declutter. Photographs by Carol Rosegg.
The play is presented by the Hearth, whose mission is to develop new plays by women, and who in 2018 produced Gracie Gardner’s excellent Athena. The roommates in Akerman’s play (who wonder if they are also friends) are Robyn (Ben Newman), “a million years old,” a hapless sculptor who has been in the apartment the longest and seen many others come and go; Janira (Olivia Khoshatefeh), who loves animals, even mice, but hates clutter and antique lamps; Dee (Julia Greer), who is in the throes of a dissertation on 16th-century musicology that seems to be going nowhere; and Cliff (Ben Katz), who, despite chastising himself during group discussions, seems constitutionally incapable of completing basic tasks (such as cleaning his beard hair off the sink).
The 100-minute intermissionless play is comprised of a series of short scenes, with impeccable directing by Emma Miller (who also directed Athena), especially the seamless transitions between scenes, aided by Victoria Bain’s lighting design. The set is the apartment’s kitchen, with most of the action taking place around the kitchen table; two walls of cubbies form the background, containing various accoutrements of apartment life, such as cereal, cleaning spray, books, etc. (scenic design by Emmie Finckel). The performances are all strong, though Greer’s depiction of Dee, who manages to be vulnerable, tough, anxious, funny, insecure, and determined all at once., is particularly moving.
Much of the play, especially in the first half, has a tone that borders on absurdist—a specific kind of granular and neurotic attention to detail and foibles, reminiscent of a play by the Mad Ones. Many of the scenes depict meetings that the roommates have every few weeks to assess chores and air grievances, which are often overrun by heated disagreements or placated by disingenuous commitments to do better. There are also wonderful details in the writing, such as when Janira is lecturing the group about reciprocal acts of kindness, pointing out that someone ate all the bread she baked but left one tiny slice “to justify not washing the pan.”
Cliff (Ben Katz, left) with roommate Janira as she shows him pictures of a dog.
If the play never quite coalesces and reaches a denouement, it might be because the tone deviates at times from the absurdist one into more conventional situations and banter, and so each scene doesn’t necessarily feel as though it takes place in the same world. It’s also never clear whose play this is, exactly—a clear sense of a protagonist and their journey would perhaps help overcome a certain aimlessness in the latter parts of the play. The intricacies of the relationships and power dynamics are not delved into as deeply as it seems like they might be at the outset, and rather than reaching an organic conclusion, the play just seems to end.
The Commons is sharp, enjoyable, and well put together in every aspect, even if the play itself doesn’t quite deliver on its flashes of excellence.
The Commons plays at 59e59 Theaters (59 East 59th St.) through Feb. 23. Evening performances are at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday to Saturday; matinees are at 2:30 p.m. on Sunday. For tickets and information, visit www.59e59.org.
