New feminist play set in a Dunkin’ Donuts explores caretaking

Round House Theatre production scarily relatable

By PATRICK FOLLIARD

Definitely feminist. Scarily relatable. Wholly unfettered. Just a few phrases that come to mind when recommending playwright Morgan Gould’s searing dark comedy “Jennifer Who Is Leaving,” now making its world premiere at Round House Theatre as part of the National Capital New Play Festival 2023.

It’s late. Outside a winter storm is raging, and Nan, a senior (as in senior citizen) employee, is working the night shift at a Dunkin’ Donuts along a highway in Massachusetts.

Like most nights, Nan (Nancy Robinette) performs a nonstop round of tasks while taking calls about things like dinner and lost keys from her retired, domestically helpless husband. But on this particularly inclement evening, she’s joined by a pair of stranded travelers, middle-aged nurse’s aide Jennifer (Kimberly Gilbert) and her recalcitrant elderly charge Joey (Floyd King).

Seemingly happy for the company, Nan, whether from genuine interest or habit, engages Jennifer in conversation about family, marriage, etc. Jennifer, who’s clearly exhausted and preoccupied with something other than the storm and a delayed tow truck, replies with rote nods. And Joey, between greedy mouthfuls of donut, chimes in regularly. (Despite dementia, he’s able to land the well-aimed insult, expletive, or naughty rhyme directed mostly at Jennifer but Nan too.)

Out of the storm comes Lili (Annie Fang) a high school student and part-time employee. She’d rather be home preparing for her following morning SATs, but her father’s big on work. In true teen fashion, she blurts out, “I could be working HERE the rest of my life! What a NIGHTMARE!” Nan lets it slide.

Jennifer gradually opens up. She and Nan talk, mostly about navigating men’s fragile egos, working paycheck to paycheck, and the endless caretaking. Is it sustainable?

Over about 90 minutes of real time, the story unfolds in peaks and valleys of high anxiety and relative calm; but all along, the play’s energy edges toward a mood of borderline hysteria, which Gould has written and a stellar, deeply com- mitted ensemble cast plays to the hilt.

There are two, longish bursts of cathartic joy spurred by the store’s bouncy pop mix (“Dancing Queen,” “I Wanna Dance with Somebody”), but those are quickly tempered by messy spills or bad behavior – the underlying sense of foreboding is unshakable.

An enthusiastic LGBTQ ally and self-described fat woman, playwright Gould is interested in issues of codependency, fatphobia, and feminism (to name a few). In 2017, her semi-autobiographical play about a plus-sized straight woman and her gay guy best friend, “I Wanna Fucking Tear You Apart,” enjoyed a successful run at Studio Theatre. And now with “Jennifer Who Is Leaving,” Gould, partly inspired by the women who cared for her late gay grandfather in his final years, turns her eye toward the sisterhood and caretaking.

The production’s sense of place is real. Terrifically able scenic designer Paige Hathaway provides the familiar pink/ brown/orange color scheme, laminated wood counters, metal racks holding actual donuts, and a side station for trash, straws, and sugar packets. Thoughtful costume designer Iva- nia Stack honors the characters with detail: the collected pins on Nan’s uniform apron; Jennifer’s worn pink fleece jacket; and the old man’s functional Velcro shoes and sweat pants, and a cheery new ski cap, probably a recent gift. Lili’s unstoppable boots.

Toward the end of the play, Fang who plays Lili, addresses the audience with a long and detailed monologue about the day in the life of a young married woman. While she and her husband are both busy attorneys, she as the wife bears the brunt of running their lives outside of work, every aspect.

The young woman, who could be Lili in 10 years, lives worlds away from the Dunkin’ Donuts along the highway, yet the expectation is the same.

‘Jennifer Who Is Leaving’