Preview of Little Wars, New Haven Theater Company
Next week, Thursday, March 5th, New Haven Theater Company opens its three weekend run (Thursdays through Saturdays) of Steven Carl McCasland's Little Wars, directed by company member John Strano, an ensemble piece about seven women, mostly writers, who have come together for a social evening on June 22, 1940. "It's a work of speculative fiction," Strano stresses, and it involves some big names at a dinner party on a fateful date. In a house in the French Alps, the women—Gertrude Stein (1874-1946), Alice B. Toklas (1877-1967), Lillian Helman (1905-84), Dorothy Parker (1893-1967), Agatha Christie (1890-1976), "Mary" (an alias), and Bernadette (the only character completely fictional)—hear a radio broadcast which declares that Marshal Philippe Pétain, as prime minister of France, has signed an armistice with the Axis powers.
Last week I spoke to director Strano, company member Deena Nicol-Blifford (who plays Stein), company president and the play's producer, J. Kevin Smith, and visiting artist Ash Lago (who plays Toklas) about the intricacies of the play.
Strano pointed out that the first third of the play is a comedy that "smacks of Noël Coward," as we see these women "try to outwit and outtalk each other." Though their reputations precede them, the seven are mostly meeting in person for the first time. And that's where the "speculative" comes in: there's no record of such a meeting having taken place, yet, Strano said, McCasland's script is based on much background knowledge of these formidable women. Stein and Toklas, of course, were a lifelong couple, immortalized in Stein's memoir The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas (1933), while Parker and Hellman were friends since 1935, with the latter the executor of Parker's will. Agatha Christie would seem to be the odd-woman-out, but Strano explained her presence: according to McCasland, an early read drew the comment that "there's a mystery" in the play, which occasioned the introduction of the world's most famous mystery writer. Then there's the "mystery woman," known as Mary, and the fictional Bernadette.
For Strano, the play is "arguably timely" and "provides an extraordinary showcase for the talented women" of the company, whose distinct voices he feels fortunate to bring together as the play's director. After the initial comedy of the women meeting up, the play pivots on the kinds of unique stories they might tell one another. "It's not group therapy," says Strano, but we are privy to "what all these talented intellects had to deal with as women in a man's world." As interlocutors at an "alcohol-fueled, fantasy dinner party," the women show a willingness to share what Strano calls "the shame and guilt" of their pasts. Finally, the dramatic challenge from the outside world makes them confront how people can be "complicit by being complacent," so that silence about injustice contributes to injustice. The women then shift from what Ash Lago called "the little wars that wear people down," waged by the women as they make their way in the world, to the larger war against fascism and its murderous plan. Strano sees the play as a parable or allegory, in which situations of our present day find a relevant echo.
To earn a production by the New Haven Theater Company, a play must be proposed by a member, then be read by all, and then agreed upon by all. Strano's commitment to the play stretched over three seasons after he attended a Zoom read of the play in 2020 or 2021. Nicol-Blifford spoke of Strano's "passionate persistence" in advocating the play, and said that one consideration was that a seven-person cast makes Little Wars a "big play" for the company, particularly when all the actors must be women. The Company has traditionally consisted of more men than women, but, now, with five female company members taking part, joined by two visiting artists, the play is having its moment. Sandra Rodriguez, who played Elizabeth Bishop in NHTC's production of Dear Elizabeth, directed by Smith in fall 2024, plays Hellman, and Jodi Williams, last seen in Cry It Out two years ago, with Nicol-Blifford, plays Dorothy Parker. Longtime member Margaret Mann, last seen in The Christians in 2025, and a co-director on several recent shows, in addition to starring in Marjorie Prime in 2019, plays Christie; as Bernadette, visiting artist Lynnette Victoria makes her NHTC debut, and Lago has been in one NHTC show previously.
Rehearsal for Little Wars, with Ash Lago, Margaret Mann, Abby Klein
For Lago and Nicol-Blifford, Stein and Toklas present "solidly a unit" that grounds the play. Nicol-Blifford commented that their performances are not meant as "imitations" of the two famous women, but that McCasland has deliberately borrowed a few lines from the various authors that will be recognizable to viewers familiar with the women's writings. Lago noted that Toklas' number of lines significantly decreases once all the guests are assembled, which seems to be in-keeping with the self-effacing manner of Toklas, as fictionalized by Stein in the Autobiography. Lago sees Toklas as at times "more empathetic" than Stein and "anchoring" the couple during hard things that come up in the play. For Nicol-Blifford, getting into the part meant seeing that, as an actor, it's important to learn from a character, whether we "like them or not as people." Playing people who actually lived means "there's so much gray area" about what they thought or did; they aren't simply bounded by the text of the play. For Nicol-Blifford that means giving Stein due centrality; "she's very, very smart and several steps ahead of everyone else."
A noted innovator in literary writing, as well as an art collector and mentor to many artists, such as Picasso, and authors such as Hemingway, Stein's reputation continues to increase. It will be interesting to see her presented in a setting both real and fictional, dealing with other female writers of notable accomplishment. Hellman was a major playwright of her time, and most of her plays dealt with significant social issues; Parker was a poet and writer known for her scathing wit. Though both were anti-fascist leftists, Hellman was for a time associated with the communist party in its Stalinist period. The women's politics will no doubt be of some significance in how they respond to the challenges of the time the play depicts.
While we talked about the play, I recalled the staged reading of Arthur Miller's Incident at Vichy which NHTC presented in 2016. Turns out that McCasland's play dates from about 2015, so that the timely fear of a fascist, racially-profiling regime unites the two plays. I expect McCasland's play will be a bit more upbeat in its close, though that remains to be seen.
New Haven Theater Company presents
Little Wars by Steven Carl McCasland
Directed by John Strano
Thursday through Saturday at 7:30 pm
March 5, 6, 7; March 12, 13, 14; March 19, 20, 21
839 Chapel Street, New Haven, CT