Pre-Existing Condition

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Before 2017 and the Affordable Care Act, insurance companies were allowed to discriminate against domestic violence survivors (including rape) as having a pre-existing condition. First time playwright Marin Ireland takes Pre-Existing Condition as the title for her stark and powerful play about the aftermath of domestic abuse, reputedly based on her own personal experiences documented elsewhere. The play which appeared at the Connelly Theatre during the summer of 2024 is now playing at the Greenwich House Theatre with a rotating cast of stars in the leading role and the other characters again played by Dael Orlandersmith, Sarah Steele and Greg Keller.

First up is Lupita Nyong’o who will be followed by Phillipa Soo, Susannah Flood, Hari Nef, Edie Falco (for the second time) and Whitney White in three- week intervals. The cast of four is labeled as A (Nyong’o), B (Orlandersmith, C (Steele) and D (Keller) with C and D (Steele and Keller) playing multiple roles. As smoothly directed by actress Maria Dizzia, the scenes appear immediately one after the other on the all-white bare stage except for a few red upholstered metal stacking chairs (set design by Cate McCrea) with the cast in the same bland costumes by Enver Chakartash in all their roles.

A has been suffering from the trauma of having been hit by her boyfriend and landing on the floor seven months previously and has not been able to move forward. We hear her on the phone with an upbeat divorce counselor, a disinterested lawyer, her self-absorbed mother, her unsympathetic girlfriend, as well as her visits to her therapist and group therapy, and dates with two different men. In the course of these encounters, she is asked what she wants: revenge, money, justice, closure? She is warned that as she did not go to the police or an emergency room at the time it happened, it will be difficult to prove in a court of law. One girlfriend points out that as the ex-boyfriend has offered to apologize, maybe she should accept it and move on. Another points out that she is not alone in this situation and for many the abuse has been much worse.

We also hear how the trauma has affected her, not wanting to leave the house, not wanting to date again, believing that women who get hit are “trash” or did something to provoke the men in their lives. We get a certain number of statistics: The group leader tells us that one in three women find themselves in this situation. We are also told that the number one reason most abused women don’t leave is because of the children; and the number one reason that most abused women do leave is because of their children. One lawyer reminds A that as she is no longer in the city in which the assault happened, she can’t file a lawsuit here, and that civil suits are entirely about money.

Nyong’o is a revelation as A making her vulnerable at all times as well as jittery and tense. Her body language speaks volumes as she continually clutches her oversized sweater around her as a form of armor against the world. She is also on stage throughout the performance and has to discuss her character’s problem in every scene. She is also an excellent listener, though A is less good at articulating her needs, only what life has become for her. Orlandersmith who only plays the group leader as well as her therapist is a compassionate, understanding maternal figure.

Steele and Keller each play a series of contrasting characters both on the phone and in person. Steele is the divorce counselor, the assistant group leader, a sympathetic friend and an unsympathetic friend who thinks she should forgive and forget. With a change of voice and demeanor she makes them all different. Keller plays a wider range: an unsympathetic lawyer, a male friend who wants to beat up her abuser, two different dates and ironically both A’s mother on the phone and her father in person. While Keller is excellent at making these characters different, Ireland is rather coy about the parents, not revealing who each are until late in the conversations which is rather disconcerting and bewildering before the confusion is cleared up.

Pre-Existing Condition has an agenda but is so well staged that it is more than the sum of its parts. Under the spare direction of Maria Dizzia, the actors give fine performances in all of their roles. If you have only seen Academy Award winner Lupita Nyong’o in the movies, you will be very impressed with how she conducts herself on stage making A not only very real but carrying us with her on her journey to get past the trauma which has frozen her life. While the play may be triggering for some, it is mostly about getting help long after the event in order to move on in life. It is not only provocative but should engender much conversation after the end of the play.

Pre-Existing Condition (extended through January 8, 2027)

Greenwich House, 27 Barrow Street, off of Seventh Avenue South, in Manhattan

For tickets, visit http://www.preexistingconditionplay.com

Running time: one hour and 20 minutes without an intermission