The salad-scorching scene is just one of the sharply funny moments in “Nancy,” Liana Yazzie's overstuffed but tingly story about social justice activism and the 1980s White House. “Nancy,” a world premiere produced by Mosaic Theater Company in partnership with New Native Theater, gleefully skewers Mrs. Reagan in such infamous episodes as her conversation with the astrologer. But Yazzie, an award-winning playwright and Navajo Nation citizen, explores more than satire: empowerment, cultural appropriation, community responsibility, and the possibility of classifying bagels as edible medicine wheels. Satire is woven into a wide range of musings on the subject.
Bringing these themes to the forefront is the main character, Esmeralda (Anaseini Catoa), a single Navajo mother. She was fighting to clean up the harmful aftermath of uranium mining on her reservation in the 1980s. Esmeralda rolls her eyes at a news report that traces Nancy Reagan's family tree back to Pocahontas. Rumors about her family tree also trouble Nancy (Lynn Hawley), but the first lady has limited attention to the issue. She is busy trying to plan her husband's national security policy around Saturn being retrograde, for example.
(The first lady's relationship with the astrologer, in which Nancy reportedly coached staff on the president's schedule to follow, was revealed by former White House Chief of Staff Donald T. Reagan.Her relationship with Pocahontas (This theory is based on unsourced speculation. Found online by Yazzie.)
The story of Esmeralda and Nancy as they head into conflict wanders through a thicket of dramatic events, humorous tales, and an exploration that steals the focus from supporting characters, some of whom are historical figures. The First Lady meets with Princess Pale Moon (Jen Olivares, a real-life public figure who sang the national anthem at the Republican National Convention) and begins a feud with Regan (Derek Garza). “I could smell your blend of Brylcreem and Drucker Her Noir coming up from the butler's elevator,” Nancy snorted at the latter.
Meanwhile, Esmeralda gets into an argument with her daughter, Jacqueline (Tenley Stitzer), who fears nuclear war and is obsessed with rocker David Lee Roth. Conversations in both storylines include Live Aid, Baby Jessica (rescued from a well), Secretary of Health and Human Services Margaret M. Heckler, the 1986 U.S. airstrike on Libya, the 1985 Ronald Reagan colon surgery, and more. , 1980s references swirl.
Allusions and minor character developments may survive trimming. Even Nancy's recurring conversations with astrologer Joan (Regina Aquino) ultimately feel vague, despite Hawley's great comic timing and Aquino's tingly New Age dynamism.
In other great performances, Garza deftly switches from the chief of staff's tirades to the gentleness of Ojibwe businessman Whaley. And Michael Kevin Darnall, who conveys the cadence of the 40th president, plays Whaley's co-worker Ed with great vulgarity.
Katoa and Stitzer's performances have an occasional stiffness to them, but the actresses find pathos in their characters' insecurities — a vulnerability that Yazzie carries boldly through the play's satire. Noda.
Coach Ken-Matt Martin may tighten the pace here and there. But the designers he oversees do justice to the story and the era. Misha Kachman's portrait of the Reagans looking out onto the set enhances the atmosphere of a political fever dream, while a representation of a Navajo sand painting suspended above the stage adds perspective. Haley LaRoe's lively footage (rock star footage, flurry of astrology images, etc.) is perfect for her decade, when MTV was born, and costume designer Moenda Kremeka created the first lady's glamorous costumes. You're doing a great job.
Although Esmeralda and Nancy have different personalities, they are both courageous hard workers who face a hostile world. You can't control the future, Esmeralda tells her daughter. “But you can control who you are.”
nancy, through April 21 at the Atlas Performing Arts Center, 1333 H Street, Northeast Washington. Approximately 2 hours and 30 minutes including a break. mosaictheater.org.