NPX Weekly Round-Up: Start Then Next by Libby Heily

A special edition-- I not only read this play, but saw it in person this past weekend in NYC! Plus, three other scripts I think you should read.

Hello there! This week’s play has a few content warnings, namely: discussions of miscarriage, suicidal ideation, sexual harassment, and dysfunctional family dynamics. Reader discretion is advised.

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As many of you may or may not know, I currently live in North Carolina due to some…life changing events that started in January of this year. But, I will be moving back to my beloved New York City soon (stay tuned)! I got to visit this past weekend to attend some very exciting events such as a close friend’s wedding celebration and another close friend’s birthday, and while I was there, I just knew I had to see some theater.

Luckily, an email landed in my inbox at just the right time— it was a friend and colleague, Libby Heily, sending an invite to come to the production of her show Start Then Next with New Circle Theater Company. The show conveniently fell over my visit, so I bought a ticket! I had read the first draft or two of the play, and was excited to see how it had changed since.

Before we get too much farther into it, here’s a summary of the show from New Circle Theater Company’s promotional materials:

A teenage girl's strange act of rebellion - suddenly refusing to speak or move - turns her family's kitchen into a living nightmare as they each try to make their own dreams come true.

Sounds simple, yeah?

It is anything but.

When I first walked into the theater, I was perplexed. I even asked the woman who let me in, “Is this the theater?” She said yes, and I realized a couple of things very quickly: one, this theater company had created a veeeery small performance space in a literal apartment; and two, this was probably the most New York thing I had ever seen. I loved it.

The space itself was extremely intimate, created in what had most likely once been a living room. There was a full lighting plot and everything, somehow, and the wonders only continued. The space had to be used so intentionally due to its size and dimensions, which made the set design feel molded completely to the script’s necessitations. While the chairs were uncomfortable and the audience was packed in like sardines, I barely noticed as the lights went down and the play began.

The first time I heard this script, I wondered how it would ever be produced. Not because it required anything too insane— I am of the belief that nothing is truly unstageable— but because of the requirements the script called for for a specific character. As it says in the summary, a teenage girl simply refuses to speak or move from the beginning of the play, and remains in this completely still and silent state…for pretty much the entire play. I was unsure if there was an actor around who would be willing to do such a thing, that had the willpower and discipline to do so. Apparently there was! This actor was able to stay completely still, statuesque, for approximately 90 minutes. Honestly there are no words other than “insane”.

The other characters aren’t exactly “easy” either, each having their own personal revelations throughout the play, none of them pretty. This play is fundamentally a comedy, however it tackles a LOT of hard topics up to and including: toxic masculinity, loneliness, as well as the different roles thrust upon women and how those roles affect them psychologically. These characters have seemingly no inhibitions, rarely lying to each other or putting on false pretenses. They are wildly open and frank about their wants, needs, and dreams, sometimes to the point where the audience may feel a sense of disgust. I audibly said “ew” at one point during the show, which an actor later said was his “favorite reaction ever” to that moment, if that tells you anything!

Honestly, Start Then Next is a hard play to talk about simply because it, well, contains multitudes! It is hilarious, sad, unbelievably true and honest, and somehow completely baffling while still making sense. Heily creates a strange universe into which the audience is immediately thrust, and this universe has much different rules than our own. In this universe, stay at home mothers can learn the math and science necessary to create wormholes in a short time; a young girl can stay unmoving and silent for months and still survive; a man can drink poison and remain alive. And while all of these things objectively are impossible, they fit into this world seamlessly.

This play is definitely what I would call ‘experimental’ for a few reasons.

1. The genre is honestly a little unknowable. I would venture to call this, perhaps, a science fiction comedy, but even that doesn’t completely fit. The show has elements of drama as well as fantasy, even elements I think would perhaps fit in inside a horror script. There are many moments of laughter, but as I said, there are also many moments of disgust, sadness, confusion, and more.

2. The way the characters speak and relate to each other. As previously stated, they seem to be radically open and honest, speaking their every thought. They do not communicate as people do in the “real world” or in plays based in realism. The syntax they use is deliberate and also strangely violent at times.

3. The way time works in this play is indescribable in that it doesn’t seem to play by any rules— even the characters are often confused by how time seems to work, sometimes accepting how fast things move and sometimes commenting on how it doesn’t make any sense.

The way that the script uses all of these elements is very intentional. I think it has to be for said elements to work at all. Honestly, this play in particular reminds me a lot of some of the great Absurdist playwrights, such as Ionesco, or perhaps Beckett. However, Heily’s version of Absurdism is created from a modern perspective as well as a distinctly female perspective, and for that I think it is all the better. I have historically had a harder timer connecting with older Absurdist works (if I have to read Waiting For Godot one more time I swear to God—) so the fresh take that Heily’s work often provides is very welcome.

As a playwright, I feel I have taken a lot from seeing (and reading) this play. Mostly, I see how important it is to know the rules of the world of the play, even if those rules are “there are no rules”. Why are there no rules? How does that effect the rest of the systems in place in the world of the play? If you’re going to work in a genre or style outside of naturalism/realism, this is paramount. I am always getting new ideas for plays, and now when I outline them, I think I may include a section for the “laws of the land”— what are the structures of this world I am writing within?

With that folks, here is my official recommendation of Start Then Next on NPX:

This play is a master class in modern experimentalism. Heily creates such a specific and fantastical world, grounded in the very real issues explored-- the various roles of women and how those expectations effect them; loneliness; toxic masculinity; and more. I saw this when it went up with New Circle Theater Company and I loved the complexity of it, how the themes were woven together with jokes and over the top physicality. Absolutely fantastic.

Have you read this play? Or did you see it in NYC too? Let me know your thought in the comments below!

Here are three more plays I think you should add to your library this week:

• LUMIN by Emma Gibson

• You Are Cordially Invited to the End of the World! by Keiko Green

• The Hispanic/Latino/Latina/Latinx/Latine Vote by Bernardo Cubria

Have some play suggestions for me? Let me know in the comments, by replying to this SubStack email, or messaging me on the app!

Happy playwriting (and reading)!

~Brynn