A Woman’s Place at a Pivotal Moment
‘When We Were Young and Unafraid,’ With Cherry Jones
Ben Brantley
June 19, 2014: The year is 1972, and a new age of feminism is dawning as women grope to find voices to match their evolving identities. Well, some of them are groping. The female characters in When We Were Young and Unafraid, Sarah Treem’s debate-driven new play at City Center Stage 1, appear to have little difficulty articulating their viewpoints or making sure that we know exactly where to place them on a shifting scale of political consciousness. Such meticulously laid-out clarity may be a boon to those who like the assistance of road signs in finding their way to a theme. But it subverts the potential narrative power of this earnest, thoughtful drama, which opened on Tuesday night in a Manhattan Theater Club production starring the formidable Cherry Jones and directed by Pam MacKinnon. Ms. Treem, who was a writer and producer on the acclaimed HBO series In Treatment, finds the feminist flux and foment in an era that has in recent years been more traditionally presented as comically quaint and awkward (à la That ’70s Show). And she has come up with a smart and exciting premise to bring characters of different backgrounds — and different notions of what it means to be a woman at a pivotal historical moment — into proximity and conflict.
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