Dominick LaRuffa (left) plays a law firm associate, Guy Stone, and Jeorge Bennett Watson is the board chairman, Norris Peebles, in Manhattan Repertory Theatre’s production of David Harms’s Powerhouse.
Feminists will undoubtedly rejoice at David Harms’s new play, Powerhouse, and its central character, a passionate and fearless lawyer in her prime who unapologetically speaks truth to power. Briskly directed by Ken Wolf, Powerhouse takes the complex subject of fraternization among coworkers out of the shadows and brings it into the daylight.
Its plot is relatively straightforward: a prominent female lawyer in her 40s, Regan Van Riper (played by Laura Shoop with aggressive aplomb), is being ousted from her law firm because of a forbidden sexual relationship she is having with a younger associate, Guy Stone (Dominick LaRuffa, Jr.). Despite the truth of the accusations, she is incensed that the firm would violate her privacy and try to regulate her private life. She expresses her outrage to her law partner and board chairman, Norris Peebles, in his office, earnestly hoping that he will see her side of the argument: “Is it right for the firm to regulate the private lives of consenting adults?”
Dominick LaRuffa Jr. plays Guy Stone, and Laura Shoop is his lover and business associate Regan Van Riper, in David Harms’s Powerhouse. Photographs by Cameryn Kaman.
The play is cleverly bookended by a prologue and epilogue, both with Regan facing the audience and supposedly speaking to a group of young female law students at a recruiting event called “Women in Big Law.” This dramatic device not only provides a sense of cohesion to the play but allows the audience to time-travel into the protagonist’s future, three years hence, and briefly glimpse her life.
While Harms’s play is well-written and has several well-delineated characters, its Achilles’ heel is its characterization of Guy. Compared to the sophisticated Regan, Guy comes across as an attorney who’s still wet behind the ears. His naïveté, in fact, becomes glaringly apparent from the get-go. In the opening scene in Regan’s living room, after Guy tells Regan that he’s been asked to meet with the Human Resources department the following morning on a matter of “utmost importance,” the savvy Regan immediately—and rightly—suspects that their secret romance has been exposed by a spying colleague.
Guy, who has no inkling what “fraternization” means, quickly learns on the spot from Regan, who berates him: “Read the Office Manual! It’s called ‘fraternization,’ and it’s grounds for discipline, at least for partners. … It’s no joke. Sex with an associate’s the third rail.” Although it’s understandable that the playwright purposefully created Guy not to overshadow the dynamo Regan, Harms might have endowed the character with more psychological depth. It’s left to LaRuffa to bring some nuance to his underwritten character, and he makes a valiant attempt.
The double standard for men and women when it comes to fraternizing is further underlined in a contentious scene between Regan and Peebles, when she points out that a male holding a high-level position in the firm has a shady history of fraternization: “By the way, we all know one of our board members slept with several female associates before he joined the board and he’s still there.”
Powerhouse not only focuses on a complex ethical game being played out but demonstrates how insidiously jealousy roots itself in the minds of colleagues. Midway through the drama, the assistant to the head of human resources, Meena Cizinski, accuses Regan of trying to destroy Guy’s career by deliberately involving herself in a compromising sexual relationship with him just before his review for a partnership. When Regan defends her relationship with Guy as anything but malicious, Meena snarls back at her: “The great Regan Van Riper—I’ll take you down if I have to.”
Jennifer Pierro (left) plays the deputy of the company’s human resources department, Meena Cizinski, and Kate Levy is the executive director, Janet Shaney.
It is not just a protagonist with moxie that imparts strength to the play. There is inspired lighting (by Yang Yu) that seamlessly illuminates, in turn, Jack C. Golden’s double sets. On one half of the stage is a chic office space with a stunning view of New York’s skyline; the other half shows Regan’s luxurious living room. Beyond the handsome set and lights, costume designer Alex Wolf outfits the company in appropriate threads, from skimpy negligée to tailored three-piece suit.
All the actors do creditable work: Understudy Kate Levy, with only a week of rehearsals, turns in an admirable performance as the hard-nosed executive director of HR, Janet Shaney; Jennifer Pierro is convincing as the short-fused Meena; and, as Peebles, Jeorge Bennett Watson personifies privilege.
Wolf’s direction keeps everything moving along, and his blocking allows for seamless transitions between the office space and Regan’s living room.
Powerhouse raises more questions than it answers about fraternization. But theatergoers who see this 90-minute play are very likely to exit wiser on the steamy subject of office romance.
The Manhattan Repertory Theatre production of Powerhouse plays through Oct. 30 at A.R.T./New York Theatres (502 West 53rd St.). Evening performances are at 7 p.m. on Thursday and Sunday; 8 p.m. on Friday and Saturday; matinees are at 3 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday. For tickets and information, visit www.powerhouseplay.com.
