Above the Fold_Tale of Two Marginalized Women

The female characters in ABOVE THE FOLD, a new play written by former New York Times journalist Bernard Weinraub, represent the limited choices available to marginalized women. The audience is asked to empathize with female characters who are defined, in part, by narrow societal expectations for black women. As the characters' stories unfold, we see how perception plays a key role in determining fate. 

"Jane" (Academy Award nominee Taraji P. Henson) is a newspaper reporter from a Northern national newspaper who travels to The South to cover a routine story about a political race. Whilst there, she learns from the prosecuting attorney, "Lorne" (Mark Hildreth), (who is running for office), that white, college fraternity members at a predominantly white campus raped an African-American stripper who was solicited to dance at their house party. "Monique," the stripper, and alleged victim, appears severely bruised. She defends herself against insinuations that she is a drug-using prostitute who has abandoned her children and made up the allegations of rape. Media pressure to get out a story that appears on the front of the newspaper, above the fold, highly visible, mounts. Jane faces a difficult choice as Monique's story appears to unravel. 

Yet, also under scrutiny is the media, as an institution; it is the disintegration of this institution that also has tremendous influence on the quality of these women's lives. At one point, an overseas trip is dangled in front of Jane as a reward for her loyalty to the paper. Yet, the trip, and the hint of a Pulitzer Prize seem to call attention to the corporate formula: one that is reliant upon dangling carrots, and so reckless. 

By the conclusion, the final confrontation presents a morality tale about how to get ahead in life when media is your life. As the two female characters battle against the threat of irrelevancy, the audience is provoked into wanting to hear them speak.

The character who seems least affected as the chaos emerges, "Marvin" (Arye Gross) is Jane's hovering news desk editor, an office-husband type, who nurtures his star reporter, and  yet offers little wisdom when it is most needed. Marvin's character is representative of today's institutions: present, yet kind of absent. 

That all, or nearly all, of the characters in Bernard Weinraub's play, the reporter, the editor, the prosecutor, and the alleged assailants, seem to have credibility issues makes this a compelling drama. I love a tale that challenges traditional notions of heroism. As a former newspaper reporter, I have known quite a few heroic journalists. However, many good people have been lost due to the loss of readership. Entertainment rules. Vacuity reigns. 

I watched this play with a group of my students. It was the second-to-last night of the show's run at the Pasadena Playhouse and the house was nearly sold out. The curtain call found some audience members rising to their feet with barely audible cheers, while the others clapped in their seats, and some murmured. 

Since I do not want to give anything away, I am being deliberately vague about what transpired to cause such an uneven and tense audience response.. Weinraub may have intended for the audience to carry the debate from the stage to the cafe.

This was a play about two women meeting by chance, seeking a way out. If we must ponder the lack of options at their disposal, then ponder, we can. Or, maybe it is too limiting to think in terms of options. This play has me thinking about alternatives.

   (Taraji P. Henson in Above the Fold, photo, 

   The Pasadena Playhouse.)