Theater Review: The Niceties

 Of race and privilege

What starts as a simple student-teacher conference turns into a fascinating if prickly argument about white privilege, race, power and (to quote “Hamilton”) who gets to tell your story in playwright Eleanor Burgess’ riveting two-hander “The Niceties,” playing through Oct. 24 in Zoom format from Moxie Theatre.

Zoe (Deja Fields), a black college sophomore at an elite East Coast university, visits U.S. history prof Janine (Mouchette van Heisdingen) to discuss Zoe’s paper on the American Revolution. 

Zoe is young, smart, and needs an “A” on this paper (she’s gunning for Phi Beta Kappa). More than a student, she’s also a political activist, and is checking in with Janine early to make sure she has time to make any changes the prof may request.

Janine is white and middle-aged, a play-by-the-rules professor of some renown whose latest book is about to be published.

Simple grammar goofs and source citation issues give way to Janine’s real problem with the paper: Zoe’s failure to adequately document her non-mainstream contention that slavery is the reason the U.S. revolution never turned into a violent struggle the way the major European revolutions did.

This makes for an increasingly blistering but utterly engaging back-and-forth about facts, scholarship and sources that may well have your head spinning and your opinions switching back and forth more than once.

Deja Fields is perfectly cast as the ambitious young activist who knows how to stand her ground, even if it does get under her prof’s skin.

Mouchette Van Heisdingen’s Janine has lived by the book and by “accepted scholarship” all her professional life – which has given her the clout she has – but she isn’t quite sure what to make of this young upstart with different notions and convictions.

The play was written before the 2016 elections but it’s still timely, even with this comment: “We’re about to elect our first female president!”

“The Niceties” is an auspicious beginning to Moxie’s 16th season, which they’ve adapted admirably to COVID necessities by filming the play in the theater for Zoom presentation. The play calls out for discussion, and Moxie allows for that at the end, and a short documentary about the filming process will be shown.

Bravo to director Delicia Turner Sonnenberg and the artistic team, whose jobs were made much more difficult by the COVID restrictions.

Moxie has been one of my favorite scrappy little companies since the beginning. “The Niceties” shows several of their strongest points: good play choices, fine casting and adaptability. 

The details

Moxie Theatre’s production of Eleanor Burgess’ “The Niceties” plays on Zoom through October 24, 2020. Showtimes: Thursday through Saturday at 7 p.m. ; matinees Sept. 21-24 and Sundays at 2 p.m.

Tickets: (858) 598-7620 or moxietheatre.com/playing-now/the-niceties