JACK WAS KIND
Irish Repertory Theatre
“How could you just sit there?” For 10 years, that’s what they’ve asked Jack’s wife. Well, now she’s talking.​.. In this intimate, 70-minute monologue, a privileged woman defends and explores her role in her husband’s illicit behavior. Jack Was Kind gives an imagined, painfully human backstory to an actual American event that will affect the country for generations to come.
preshow video loop: soft bokeh leafy collage with subtle motion — freezes when Mary presses [RECORD] on her phone at top of show
window morphs continuously through show: subliminally slow 8-10 minute cues (compressed here) becoming darker and more abstract
window morphs continuously through the play: subliminally slow 8-10 minute cues (compressed here) becoming darker and more abstract
leafy bokeh returns as Mary finishes recording her video; then we see her image, reciting the New Yorker koan with which she began it
JACK WAS KIND by Tracy Thorne
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Irish Repertory Theatre
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director Nicholas A. Cotz
scenic & video design David Esler
costume design Haydee Zelideth
lighting design Kate McGee
sound design Dante Green
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cast: Tracy Thorne (2023 Drama Desk Award nominee, Outstanding Solo Performance)
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photos & video by Carol Rosegg, David Esler
We see Mary seated at a respectable wooden table in a windowed room (set design by David Esler) adjusting her cellphone on a tripod as she gets ready to record herself. We realize at once that what we are about to see her deliver is a kind of apologia, one that she will probably stream into the world (perhaps via that modern-day confession box TikTok).
–Pete Hempstead, Theatermania
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Married with two children, Mary is speaking into an iPhone, delivering a kind of public confession, or at least an explanation, of why she did what she did involving her husband Jack, a famous, or perhaps infamous, public figure. On the table is a pile of photo albums, a reminder of their family life. Behind the table is a long, horizontal window that marks the passage of time as leaves blow gently in the wind. (The spare but effective set is by David Esler.)
–Mark Rifkin, This Week In New York
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David Esler’s minimal set is pitch perfect for the piece as is Haydee Zelideth's costume.
–Alix Cohen, Woman Around Town