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Is This A Room: A Surprisingly Intense Drama From A Real Life Text

I have never attended a play where any of the dialogue was….REDACTED. Welcome to the 21st Century.

Left to Right: Rasell Holt, Jonathan Wainwright and Isabelle Muthiah. Photo by Michael Brosilow and courtesy of the Milwaukee Chamber Theatre.

Is This A Room is an original concept put together by Tina Satter and the Milwaukee Chamber Theatre is fortunate to be able to bring this to Milwaukee. Satter has built this play on the actual transcript of the interrogation of whistleblower Reality Winner by the FBI on June 3, 2017. Winner was arrested for leaking an intelligence report related to Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. elections. She was later convicted and sentenced to over five years in prison. The fact that the transcript alone makes intense dramatic dialogue is amazing.

First, let’s consider the set, or in this case, lack of set for Is This A Room. Instead we have an industrial strength gray carpet mid-theater with the Chamber Theatre’s seating split with a portion on either side of our stage. Not quite theater in the round but not Chamber’s usual layout either. As we move into the action, we understand why this is important. The transcript/dialogue clearly indicates our location and describes how the action moves from one site to another. AND, as the cast thrusts and parries through their conversations, they intensify those moods and feelings with agitated pacing around the space/room. And there are times where director Brent Hazelton has the cast move about in obvious stalking or moves to make advantage in their physical relationship to the other characters. When many observers or critics talk about directors choreographing the action on stage, it tends to be more metaphor than fact, but in Is This A Room, Hazelton has choreographed an actual dance here. And Hazelton’s facility in crafting this text into an engaging play on stage is equally satisfying.

Left to right: Isabelle Muthiah, Jonathan Wainwright, and Rasell Holt. Photo by Michael Brosilow and courtesy of the Milwaukee Chamber Theatre.

Isabelle Muthiah is Reality Leigh Winner. Muthiah is ingenious as Winner. Initially playing a naivety card, she is cool and coy and intentionally slow to understand what is going on until the FBI plays their cards. And even as events start going against her, Muthiah never loses her cool or her control and sometimes leads the agents down a tangential path. Jonathan Wainwright plays Special Agent Justin C. Garrick, the bad cop in our pair of special agents? Well, not the bad cop in a forceful threatening way, but the bad cop in asking most of the questions and always the most direct questions, and the holder of the facts at hand. Wainwright tries to project something of a wise fatherly figure, trying to put Winner at ease. And Special Agent R. Wallace Taylor is played by Rasell Holt. Holt’s Taylor shows more empathy for Winner and I guess, he would be considered the good cop. He asks questions, but not the direct type we get from Garrick, but follow up questions or clarification questions which do show his empathy.

Left to right: Jonathan Wainwright, Isabelle Muthiah, and Rasell Holt. Photo by Michael Brosilow and courtesy of the Milwaukee Chamber Theatre.

And then there is the Unknown Male! Well, well not exactly unknown. While Garrick and Taylor are both plainclothes special agents, the Unknown Male is in full FBI regalia and armed to the teeth. And Unknown Male is played by one of my favorite actors, Mark Corkins. It was great to see him on a local stage again outside of his annual appearances in the Christmas Carol. Well, Corkins gives us an officer who is something of a doofus. Wandering around seemingly aimlessly, often unaware of his surroundings, generally unaware of those around him, constantly distracted, but absolutely sinister! And he gets to deliver the line that gives the play its name, Is This A Room?

Mark Corkins and Isabelle Muthiah. Photo by Michael Brosilow and courtesy of the Milwaukee Chamber Theatre.

When working with a minimal set, other technical items become far more important. Like lighting: Jason Fassl is the Scenic & Lighting Designer here and the mood and direction on stage is clearly emphasized by Fassl’s lighting. And Stephanie K. Brownell’s costumes set us in the right place and atmosphere as well. The special agents and Winner are dressed in casual clothes which supports the initial casual conversations in the text. But as I said, Corkins is absolutely sinister in his role as an FBI agent and that is enhanced by Brownell’s custom FBI costume.

Foreground kneeling: Mark Corkins, behind him left to right, Rasell Holt. Isabelle Muthiah, and Jonathan Wainwright. Photo by Michael Brosilow and courtesy of the Milwaukee Chamber Theatre.

Is This A Room continues through April 5, 2026 at the Broadway Theatre Center’s Studio Theatre. Run time: approximately 75 minutes with no intermissions.

Additional information and ticket info can be found here. When ordering tickets, please note the changes in seating for this play.

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From Another Place And Time, Neil Simon’s Barefoot In The Park Still Delights

Having grown up in the 1950s and 60s, I was ‘aware’ of Neil Simon. I knew that he wrote comedies and that they were very successful on Broadway. I remember people talking about him and his plays on late night talk shows and interviews with the stars of the shows. I don’t remember any of the specifics but I do remember being impressed with the whole phenomenon at the time. Needless to say I have never seen his work on Broadway and I didn’t see the Robert Redford/Jane Fonda movie at the time. By then I was deep into the counter-culture of the time so…

Jenny Wanasek, Neil Brookshire, Bob Balderson, Director Suzan Fete, Emily Vitrano, Mohammed N. ElBsat & Reese Madigan in Renaissance Theaterworks’ production of “Barefoot in the Park” by Neil Simon.  Photo by Ross Zentner.
 

Before we get into the actual play and performances at the Renaissance Theaterworks, let me applaud the pre-performance and intermission overhead music. I don’t know who selected it, Martilla Marechal or Josh Schmidt?, both listed as Sound Designers in the program, but it suited the atmosphere of the play perfectly. Many of us were tapping our feet and a couple of people were dancing in their seats and I had to be very careful not to sing out loud too loudly as the house filled. If there had been similar after show music the staff would have had to throw me out!

Jenny Wanasek, Emily Vitrano & Neil Brookshire in Renaissance Theaterworks’ production of “Barefoot in the Park” by Neil Simon.  Photo by Ross Zentner.

We are in apartment 5A, the top floor of a Greenwich Village brownstone. Newlyweds Corie and Paul Bratter are moving in after spending their six day honeymoon at The Plaza Hotel. Corie is absolutely excited about having an apartment of their own but Paul hasn’t seen it yet, well, until he comes home from work at his law office. It is a mess, with missing plaster, dysfunctional heating, a hole in the skylight, and a leak from the attic apartment above them. It makes some of my east side student quarters seem absolutely posh by comparison. And, the furniture hasn’t arrived yet!

Corie is a full of life excitable girl. And Emily Vitrano uses every excitable bone in her body to portray Corie as such. Vitrano’s Corie just can’t sit still, can’t stop thinking, and sometimes just can’t stop talking. She has plans for the apartment, well as soon as the furniture arrives and is totally excited to meet their upstairs neighbor Victor Velasco. Through all of this Vitrano is just a spark plug of movement and excitement and how she maintains that level of energy through the ups and downs of the action here is beyond my imagination.

Emily Vitrano & Neil Brookshire in Renaissance Theaterworks’ production of “Barefoot in the Park” by Neil Simon.  Photo by Ross Zentner.

Neil Brookshire is her new husband, Paul, a button down personally conservative lawyer husband. Brookshire isn’t always sure what to make of Corie’s boundless enthusiasm and her very clear and demonstrative love for him, although Brookshire’s Paul is seemingly just as much in love with Corie. He just isn’t at the same level. This dichotomy of personality will come between them in a bit.

Our other main characters are the aforementioned Victor Velasco and Corie’s mother. Let’s start with Mother. Jenny Wanasek’s Mother is a sweet and endearing older woman who clearly loves doting on her daughter. And she seems happy with herself and her life. But Corie wants her mother to be more into life and more like herself, despite her mother’s protests. Wanasek keeps her motherly cool throughout even in the face of Corie accusing her of not liking the apartment despite her mother’s denials. But Wanasek knows how to party when the time comes, trust me! I don’t quite understand Corie’s resistance to her mother’s personality here…it seems to go beyond just youthful rebellion…there must be some backstory that I am missing.

Reese Madigan & Jenny Wanasek in Renaissance Theaterworks’ production of “Barefoot in the Park” by Neil Simon.  Photo by Ross Zentner.

And I didn’t recognize Reese Madigan as Victor Velasco. Madigan plays the ultimate outsider, beatnik, cultural snob…very actively…very forward and out front…and absolutely delightful with just a bit of smarm thrown in. Velasco’s bohemian appeals to both women and Madigan knows how to be over the top eccentric here!

And then comes the conflict. After only four days in their new apartment, after a dinner party to set up Mother with Velasco, Paul and Corie get involved in a loud bitter mean fight with demands of divorce and get outs voiced. There was a lot of alcohol involved…something that may seem strange now…but given the period…there was a lot of alcohol involved from scotch to mis-mixed martinis to ouzo. I believe the martinis were shaken and not stirred. But yes, there is a happy ending or this wouldn’t be a mid-century Neil Simon Rom Com.

Neil Brookshire & Emily Vitrano in Renaissance Theaterworks’ production of “Barefoot in the Park” by Neil Simon.  Photo by Ross Zentner.

Barefoot In The Park is directed by RTW co-founder Suzan Fete and after 33+ years with the company, she is stepping down as Artistic Director. Fete feels the language and the humor and the period (1963) for Barefoot. And she pulls all of that humor out of her cast in marvelous ways. And although some of Simon’s language and humor is a bit dated, Fete recognizes that and puts tin perspective. And for audience members of a certain age, these dated artifacts are all the funnier.

There is a sideshow here and during the intermission you may want to stay in the theater or return quickly after securing a beverage or cookie. During the intermission, the furniture arrives and the show is the quick and complete setting up the furniture and lamp shades and art work and hanging plants throughout the apartment. The nimble stage crew got their own round of applause for their efforts. And Corie’s canister set is to die for.

Barefoot In The Park runs from now until April 12, 2026 at the theater RTW shares with Next Act at 255 S Water St, Milwaukee, WI.

Additional information here and tickets here.

Extra credit reading: Playbill and Audience Guide