Occupant (play)
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Occupant is a play by Edward Albee, published in 2001.[1]
The play was originally set to premiere in 2002 at Signature Theatre Company in New York City in a production starring Anne Bancroft. Bancroft fell ill with pneumonia, causing the production to be cancelled. The play premiered at the Peter Norton Space of Signature Theatre Company in 2008 in a production starring Mercedes Ruehl, Larry Bryggman and directed by Pam MacKinnon.[2]
Cesear's Forum, Cleveland's minimalist theatre company, presented the play in the intimate Kennedy's Theatre at Playhouse Square in the fall of 2014. The production featured Julia Kolibab and George Roth.[3]
Synopsis
The entire play consists of a hypothetical interview of 20th century sculptor Louise Nevelson that takes place years after her death in 1988. The interviewer is an unnamed man that may possibly be a stand-in for the playwright or Maria Nevelson, Founder of the Louise Nevelson Foundation. The first half of the play deals with Nevelson's childhood in a family of Russian Jewish immigrants in Rockland, Maine as well as her failed marriage to Charles Nevelson. The second half chronicles her life as an artist, rise to fame, and her eventual death. Throughout the play, the interviewer takes on an active role, often questioning Nevelson's version of reality and prying into details of her personal life. The play ends with Nevelson "occupying" her place as a preeminent American sculptor.[4]