The Dinosaurs

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Like Beth Wohl’s Liberation, Jacob Perkins’ The Dinosaurs follows a group of women who meet weekly to discuss a problem that interests them, in this case alcoholic addiction. Covering many years, the play gives six women with different stories a chance to talk candidly about their lives and travails. Beautifully written, the play, however, feels thin and repetitious and doesn’t seem to get anywhere. Directed by Les Waters, the six actresses led by Off Broadway stalwarts Kathleen Chalfant and Elizabeth Marvel create very different portraits, though at a brief 70 minutes we don’t learn that much about each one.

Like Thornton Wilder’s The Long Christmas Dinner, time passes but the characters don’t age when one leaves, we assume she passes away. The play begins with Jane (April Matthis), the first to arrive, setting up the chairs and table for snacks. She is interrupted by Rayna (nicknamed “Buddy” played by Keilly McQuail) who thinks she has come to the wrong place and periodically appears, suggesting the passage of time. Then Joan (Marvel) arrives with the coffee. She is followed by Jolly, (Chalfant), the eldest at 80 who brings the donuts. Jolly has been attending for 47 years, but keeps apologizing for losing her memory. She has also been the sponsor coordinator for the others and is a wealth of pithy slogans such as “it always takes the time, it needs to take,” “we stay when we’re ready to listen.” Last of the regulars to arrive are Joane (Maria Elena Ramirez) and Janet (Mallory Portnoy).

All but Jane gets to tell a personal story though we witness Jane having several encounters with Rayna over the years and appears to become good friends with her. Jolly talks of a homeless woman panhandling across the street from where she lives. She notices that she has suddenly been missing for several weeks and then just as suddenly returns. Joane comes with news gathered from her teenage son Jimmy overheard in his school’s locker room: a woman they know (who may have been a member once) has been having an affair with a student in Jimmy’s class. While some of the women think this should be condemned, Jane points out that since Charlie is 17, this isn’t a criminal act.

Janet tells a story that sounds like a dream or a memory of being in a car with a duffel bag and having the unseen driver tell her to throw out her winter clothes one by one though the window as she won’t need them where she is going. On her 13^th anniversary of being sober, Joan reveals how as a child she was afraid of natural disasters which would make her so overcome with anxiety that she would get sick in car rides. This she believes is what made her drink. Sometime after her first story, Joane tells of finding her son, who previously used to tell her everything, in a compromising position that so embarrassed her that she could never talk to him about it. This led to her drinking and needing the support of the other women.

We also witness the regular weekly routine of the Saturday Survivors, beginning with the reciting of the Preamble which describes their mission. Then they continue with a three-minute meditation, then the opening speaker  shares on a topic of her choosing for three to five minutes, and then they open the meeting up for shares on the topic of “Coming Back” going around the room. Janet is asked to be the spiritual timekeeper as she happens to have her cell phone in her lap, Joane being the regular secretary. The last order of business is the announcement of the 52nd Annual Anniversary Party the following Saturday at the regular meeting at 7 Pm.

While the actresses all do a fine job with what they have been given, the play doesn’t tell us much about each woman. It also doesn’t reveal what led to all of them being in AA. Some tell us what they think led to their drinking, others do not. Some fall off the wagon while others don’t admit to any such problem. Except for the outsider Rayna/Buddy, all of the characters’ names begin with J (Jolly, Joan, Jane, Janet, Joane) which makes it a little difficult to keep them apart and seems rather fanciful. Although much unspecified time seems to go past, when the play is over, we want more, a breakthrough, a revelation, some sort of climax which we have not been given – unless the message it that this is a very slow process over time.

The actresses in general create very different people and stand out from each other. Matthis is the efficient one, also ready to question societal norms. Chalfant playing the oldest participant is aware of her ebbing powers and is very apologetic when she gets jelly from her donut on her dress. Marvel is decidedly conservative and narrowminded in her thinking. Ramirez who initially thinks she is very close with her son eventually realizes that she never really knew him. McQuail who periodically interrupts appears to not be ready to attend this AA meeting though by the end she seems to be able to do it for herself.

The meeting room set by the collective dots is extremely bland designed entirely in black, white and gray. So too the costumes by Oana Botez in solid colors don’t so much as define the characters as differentiate them. Yuki Link’s lighting design does not seem to change, suggesting that the meeting goes on continually though time passes. The sound design by Palmer Hefferan enhances the idea of the conversational tone which invites us into the group and makes us listen intently.

Jacob Perkins’ The Dinosaurs (which seems to refer to the old timers who return week after week to the same place) is beautifully done but seems to have little dramatic impact. Nothing very remarkable happens or gets said. And while a great deal of time passes, we do not feel a sense of growth or progress. Maybe that is all we can ask of such a meeting, those of us who have not attended one before. Les Waters’ production gets the maximum out of this low-key play as written but does not offer a great deal of subtext to flesh out the little that is there.

The Dinosaurs (extended through March 8, 2026)

Playwrights Horizons

Judith O. Rubin Theater, 416 W. 42^nd Street, in Manhattan

For tickets, visit http://www.playwrightshorizons.org

Running time: 75 minutes without an intermission