First produced by Lincoln Center Theater in 2014, The City of Conversation is particularly relevant in this election year, dealing as it does with Washington DC politics. The L.A. production, now on tap at the Annenberg Center, stars Christine Lahti as Hester Ferris, an elegant DC power-broker who fights for liberal causes from the drawing-room of her DC townhouse (elegant set by Jeff Cowie). The action of Anthony Giardina’s engrossing play takes place between 1979 and 2009, a time of significant change in the political landscape. Traditionally, the forces of left and right would battle each other in the halls of Congress, only to meet socially afterwards in a spirit of gentility, compromise and conviviality. Out of these friendly private conversations came the bi-partisan deals that kept the wheels of government spinning smoothly. But, as we all know, this changed radically in recent years. The advent of the Tea Party brought right-wing elements into the political equation, zealots who despised government, establishment values, and practices. Compromise became a dirty word, conviviality as well. The intransigence of the Right was then matched by truculence on the Left, resulting in a stand-off which becomes more acrimonious every day. Giardina dramatizes the split by pitting the New Deal democrat Hester against her own son, Colin (Jason Ritter) and his wife, Anna (Georgia King). Despite having been educated at the leftish London School of Economics, both Colin and Anna have become conservatives who despise everything Hester stands for. The specifics of their ideological battle change from decade to decade, beginning with the Ted Kennedy vs Jimmy Carter contretemps in the late 70s, then proceeding to the Robert Bork Supreme Court confirmation hearings in the 80s, and finishing in 2009 on the eve of President Obama’s inauguration Other key figures in the play include Jean Swift (Deborah Offner), Hester’s widowed sister and helper; Chandler Harris (Steven Culp), a married senator from Virginia who is also Hester’s lover; George Mallonee (David Selby), a good ole boy Kentucky senator and his sharp-tongued wife Carolyn (Michael Learned). Nicholas Oteri appears briefly as Hester’s grandson, likewise Johnny Ramey as Donald Logan, a young black man. Hester is the driving force in the play, a principled but conflicted woman trying to stand up for her values without destroying her ties to her son. The latter is less of an ideologue than his estranged wife Anna, who stridently espouses the values and world-view of the populist Right. The City of Conversation is ironically titled; as the play shows so convincingly and effectively, Washington’s power-brokers now talk to themselves, not each other.
