Here is how Centerstage explains the play, The Hatmaker’s Wife: “Hetchman the retired hatmaker loves his hat – and his wife. When both go missing, he vows to find them. But first he needs to muster the strength to leave the comforts of his beloved armchair. The Hatmaker’s Wife is a surreal time-bending fable set in a home where walls talk, words magically appear, and a sweet unexplainable love triangle develops between a man, his wife, and his hat.”
Like most of the people at Centerstage for the opening of The Hatmaker’s Wife, we had no idea what to really expect, but we expected to laugh. As we got into the production, I felt like we were watching a different version of Waiting for Godot. I had first learned about Godot in drama class in 1963. Waiting for Godot is a play by Samuel Beckett in which two characters engage in a variety of discussions and encounters as they wait for their friend Godot, who never shows up. Waiting for Godot is a “tragic-comedy”. Unlike Godot, however, the couple reunites and she gives him back his hat. I think The Hatmaker’s Wife is similar. Thinking is what The Hatmaker’s Wife seems to be about and the result is a combination of laughter and wondering. I would watch this production again.
The whole stage area is part of the set; however, it seems a little too large. The action consists of small moments of enlightenment, education and hilarity. It contains papers that drop from the ceiling explaining to frightened and confused new relationship and a hesitation on the girlfriend’s part to commit completely. Her boyfriend is deeply in love, but her lack of commitment pains him. As the missives drop from the ceiling, the girlfriend is caught up in the previous owners’ old life.
A self-centered hatmaker even forgets his wife’s name over the years. She’s had enough and leaves him, taking the center of his life, his beloved hat. Their longtime friend Meckel drops in on the couple several times a day since his wife died. After the wife dies, he comes over the prod the hatmaker to get out of his chair and embrace life and go find his missing wife. While they talk, Meckel tries to get him to realize what the love he’s missing.
A Golum appears and the hilarity takes off.
The conundrum: Will the hatmaker remember his wife’s name and that he loves her; and will the hatmaker’s wife return, and will she bring his hat.
Andreya Pro (She/They)
Girlfriend, Voice Andreya is a queer, Latine, multi-disciplinary artist in the Seattle & South Sound areas and is a core member of Washington Ensemble Theatre. They are very excited to make their mainstage debut in this poignant story about being loved all the way to the ground. Andreya held our attention and gave a great performance.
Van Lang Pham – Gabe/Golum*
Van Lang Pham is an alumnus of the University of Puget Sound, which is where Peg and I met. Van has sung with various a cappella groups, and has played Saxophone for the Seattle Wind Symphony and toured Europe with the Tacoma Concert Band. There were so many connections in this production. I played Saxophone from the fifth grade through my senior year at Clover Park High School in Lakewood. Van did a great job of playing the two characters, and his performance as Golum was exceptional.
Peter Cook – Hetchman
Peter was last seen at Centerstage in Ghost Train playing the annoying Brit, Teddie. We thoroughly enjoyed his performance in Ghost Train, and as the lead in The Hatmaker’s Wife. Peter has acted throughout the Pacific Northwest for decades.
Brynne Garman – Hetchman’s Wife
Brynne is honored to return to Centerstage after previously performing here in Under Milkwood, Dinner with Friends, and Death of a Salesman. She is a familiar face as a veteran of more than 100 Puget Sound area productions.
Scott W. Pinkston – Meckel
Scott is thrilled to be making his Centerstage debut in The Hatmaker’s Wife. He’s an honors English and Theatre & Film graduate of the University of Kansas. Scott played Christopher Sly and the Pedant in Tol & Smol’s presentation of The Taming of the Shrew (Dukesbay Theatre). We love the intimacy of Dukesbay. He also performed as John in Calendar Girls and Richard Greatham in Hay Fever (both at Tacoma Little Theatre). He also played Roy M. Cohn in Angels in America, Alf in Peter & The Starcatcher, Charles Dickens and Bob Cratchit in A Christmas Carol (all at Lakewood Playhouse). Scott and his character, really kick-started the production with his comradery and the by-play between Meckel and Hetchman. He provided the comic and emotional warmth with the Golum.
Brittany Lael – The Wall
Brittany recently delved into the Seattle Theatre scene after earning her Bachelor’s in Theatre from Eastern Washington University. She was especially excited to share the wonderful moments, hilarious jokes, and tender touches within The Hatmaker’s Wife.
The production team along with the administrative staff and director Angela Bayler did an excellent job of conveying feeling and thoughts and letting us know that walls do have thoughts and sometimes bits of understanding and possibilities rain down on us.
Here is a revealing comment about Laurnen Yee: Berkeley – Theater, Dance, and Performance Studies
Lauren Yee is a playwright born and raised in San Francisco; now she lives in New York City. She received her bachelor’s degree from Yale University and her MFA in playwriting from UCSD. Lauren’s work includes King of the Yees, The Great Leap, Cambodian Rock Band, Ching Chong Chinaman, The Hatmaker’s Wife, and others. She has been a Dramatists Guild Fellow, a MacDowell Fellow, and a MAP Fund grantee. She is the winner of the Kesselring Prize and the Francesca Primus Prize. She has been a finalist for the Edward M. Kennedy Prize, the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize, the ATCA/Steinberg Award, and others. The Hatmaker’s Wife was an Outer Critics Circle nominee for the John Gassner Award for best play by a new American playwright.
A 2014 review of The Hatmaker’s Wife:
In Lauren Yee’s whimsical and poignant new play, The Hatmaker’s Wife, a young woman moves in with her boyfriend expecting domestic bliss, but instead has trouble getting comfortable. Her strange new home seems determined to help out – and soon the walls are talking. They reveal the magical tale of an old hat-maker and his long-suffering wife, who runs away with his favorite hat. This sweet and surreal story bends time and space to redefine the idea of family, home, and true love itself.
According to Moment magazine, “the golem is a highly mutable metaphor with seemingly limitless symbolism. It can be a victim or villain, man or woman—or sometimes both. Over the centuries, it has been used to connote war, community, isolation, hope, and despair.” – Wikipedia
