‘The Ask’ Highlights Generational Differences in a Familiar Context at Downtown Theater

In recent years, audiences have watched the small development of a new trend in media: making it clear when the given story takes place in relation to the COVID-19 shut-down. Arguably one of the best examples of this right now is Matthew Freeman’s “The Ask,” playing its world premiere through Sept. 28 at The Wild Project in lower Manhattan.

“The Ask” is a two-person play starring Colleen Litchfield as the wealthy 70-something Greta and Betsy Aidem as the young nonbinary American Civil Liberties Union gift planning officer Tanner—both liberal democrats, but with key generational differences. The play centers around the two discussing the former’s potential financial contributions to the ACLU, and leads to a spirited debate highlighting the innate differences between these two individuals (and the broader generations they represent) who ultimately are fighting for the same causes. Freeman writes in the notes before the script that it takes place in “December 2022. I won’t say post-pandemic. Let’s say when we all agreed to pretend the pandemic was over.”

Early on, Tanner checks with Greta that it is OK to not wear masks, and the two have a conversation about Zoom. Pandemic-era layoffs drive a clear wedge between them—they are only meeting now because Greta’s usual ACLU representative was laid off herself. But, these pandemic challenges are not the only, or even necessarily central, conflict within the narrative.

Despite the play being almost entirely a dialogue between the two characters, much of it is unspoken. Freeman notes that in his first draft, there were many parentheticals. “Tanner’s lines were portrayed as laying atop elaborate unspoken backstory or veiled hostility. It was my way of trying to textually describe how far apart one’s inner life and one’s spoken truth can be in a meeting like this one.” After working with the actors, these parentheticals lessened significantly. “Still, I think it’s worth noting that this play does, at its core, exist in a situation where Tanner cannot be themselves.”

Reading the script itself reveals that even this taste of the original version goes far deeper than the audience may initially be able to discern. For instance, in the play, Tanner rejects an offer for wine, saying “It’s just not for me.” The parentheticals reveal that this is actually because they “had a serious alcohol problem.” While it may be clear to the audience that the spoken line is not the whole story, this additional piece was perhaps hidden a little too deeply, if it is something that the audience would be expected to know. However, perhaps Freeman meant it to be that even the audience has no clue what is really going on, just that everything is not as it seems.

There are a few moments where it is obvious that far more is happening beneath the surface, but the script does not give more information in the parentheticals. Take one sequence, wherein Greta steps out of the room, and Tanner abruptly bursts into tears. When Greta returns and sees this, Tanner brushes it off. Audiences may immediately recognize there is more going on, but wonder what exactly brought this on, and the script actually gives almost no additional information, with stage directions reading: “Tanner, much to their own surprise, bursts into tears. It’s been a hard day. It’s been hard in general. Tanner’s feelings have terrible timing.”

Ultimately, these unspoken pieces are truly up to audience interpretation, and that is perhaps part of what makes its storytelling so effective. Its unspoken nature gives it a level of individuality that other, more overtly scripted, plays simply cannot—something enhanced by its very clear setting in a post-shutdown, post-Dobbs, post-Trump America. Everyone in that audience has experienced the context this play is presented in, and most people there are either in one of the two represented generations, or are somewhere in between.

“The Ask” is running through Sept. 28 at The Wild Project, 195 E 3rd St, New York, NY 10009; Phone: 212.228.1195 Email: info@thewildproject.org.