The Ensemble (Photo by Julio Javier Vargas)
Reviewed by G. Bruce Smith
The Industry Loft
Through Nov. 3
RECOMMENDED
Henry LeBlanc and Kristen Montgomery (Photo by Julio Javier Vargas)
Almost from the minute you walk into The Industry Loft for a performance of Convention, you are immersed in the raucous 1944 Democratic Convention in Chicago. Initially, you are greeted by friendly actors, escorted to your seat, and assigned a role. You could be cast as a delegate from Iowa, or a vice presidential candidate, or even an opera singer performing the national anthem. Only a few audience members have any lines, which of course are printed out for them.
Once the action gets going, and you are seated among the actors with the podium serving as center stage, the pacing becomes almost frenetic as various political figures and influential delegates jockey for position in the all-important selection of the vice president. It’s political theater at its absolute best and the action is, for the most part, riveting.
Convention is a new play written and directed by Danny Rocco and features a cast of nearly 50 actors, who are on the move constantly around the “convention floor.”
The 1944 Democratic convention was particularly crucial because party leaders knew that Roosevelt, running for a fourth term, was ill and would likely die before he completed it, making the VP choice critical to the future of the country and, indeed, to the new global order. And they were right — FDR died less than a year later, in April 1945.
(It was not until after 1952 that presidential candidates picked their running mates, (rather than having the selection made by convention delegates.)
It becomes clear fairly quickly as the action unfolds that though there are many VP candidates, it’s going to come down to a battle between Henry A. Wallace (Henry LeBlanc) and Harry S. Truman (Jonah Wyland). Wallace – a progressive who champions equal rights for women and all races, as well as healthcare for all – is the incumbent vice president. Truman is a U.S. senator from Missouri.
Supporters of each of these two men sing the praises of their favored candidate while criticizing the other. For example, Helen Gahagan Douglas (Jill Karrenbrock), a socialist who would go on that year to be the first Democratic California woman to be elected to the House, gives an impassioned address declaring, “Wallace isthe New Deal.” Questions are raised about whether Truman would get rid of the New Deal. On the other hand, Truman supporters raise concerns about whether Wallace is too liberal for the voting public. There is even an accusation that he wants the U.S. to be friends with Stalin.
Of course, we know who eventually wins the nomination. And though the delegates themselves could not anticipate it, we are all too aware of Truman’s decision a year later to use the atomic bomb on Hiroshima and Nagaski — with horrifying consequences on the ground but one that also led to Japan’s surrender at the end of World War II. (Truman’s action is still the subject of debate today.)
It ultimately took three rounds of voting by each state and U.S. territory to get to the 589 needed to establish Truman as the victor. Initially, it seemed that the process might be tiresome to watch. But it turned out to be compelling to witness the dynamics of the shift from what seemed to be initially strong support for Wallace to an eventual Truman win.
While the staging of Convention is unquestionably dynamic – and the costumes by Alayna Ricardi add to the authenticity of the immersive experience – the script could use some judicious cuts. Nomination speeches (presumably re-created word for word) — as well as other dialogue that slows down the action – should either be eliminated or reduced, particularly when focusing on any of the candidates other than Wallace or Truman.
Ultimately, the play asks the question: Would the course of history be different if Wallace had been chosen as VP? We could clearly ask the same question if either Hillary Clinton or Kamala Harris had defeated Trump in 2016 and 2024, respectively.
The Industry Loft, 755 N. Highland Ave., Los Angeles. Fri., 8 pm, Sat.-Sun., 3 pm; The closing performance will be held on Election Day, Tuesday, Nov. 3 at 7 pm. https://www.conventionplay.com/ Runtime: Two hours and 30 minutes, including an intermission.
