It’s about time

Out actress Marisa Diatolevi enters her matriarch phase in the time-traveling comedy ‘On the Verge,’ which says a lot about being a woman in any era

ARNOLD WAYNE JONES | Executive Editor
jones@dallasvoice.com

What could a play written by a man in 1885 about women from the 1880s time-traveling to the year 1955 have to say about feminism in 2018?

As it turns out, a whole helluva lot.

At least, that’s what Susan Sargeant, founder and artistic director of WingSpan Theatre Co. — which concentrates on plays focusing on women (though often written by gay men) — figured out when programming her fall production. She chose On the Verge; or, The Geography of Yearning, which opens this week at the Bath House Cultural Center. Despite being about seemingly prim Victorian women, it’s actually a relevant and timely exploration of feminism as seen through the prism of the ages.

“It’s about these three women explorers from the year 1888, and as they are exploring through their mysterious terrain, you realize, and they do, that they are traveling not just through space, but through time,” says Marisa Diotalevi, one of the three actors who make up this triumvirate of adventurers.

The characters face obstacles because of the era they live in that doesn’t value “the weaker sex,” and so two of them decide to settle in the mid-20th century. But one does not.

“My character is more of the matriarchal type — the staunch explorer who continues on,” Diotalevi says. And it’s a journey she would embrace for herself.

“[Despite everything going on in politics today], I think I would rather live now [than any time in the past,” she says. “I was just recently talking to a friend about the Pride parade. I never go anymore, but I used to go all the time. It used to be that one day when you could go out and be proud [to be gay], but now [I don’t feel I] need that one specific day to hold hands with my girlfriend. And in 1888… the corsets? Nuh-uh!”

Women still face challenges — especially in entertainment, where maturity is not always valued. Diatolevi has enjoyed a long career as one of North Texas’ most celebrated and talented comedic actresses (“Gosh, I have no idea how many shows I’ve done — I wouldn’t know if it was 30 or a hundred!”), but the roles “have thinned out a bit — this is the last show I’ve done in about 18 months, and that one was in Fort Worth.”

But her reputation precedes her — Diotalevi got this role without having to audition.

“You know, it’s funny: Susan called me for this role and said she wanted me to do it,” she says. “I think she did that with everyone in the cast. I trust directors that I work with, so when she said, ‘I thought of you for this role,’ I trust her that I’m going to be what she wants. And I can usually read a script and [know what part I’m suited for.]”

She was especially drawn to On the Verge because of how the playwright, Eric Overmyer, luxuriates in the magic of language.

“The show is very wordy — beautiful words. I like big words and fun words and interesting-sounding words. It’s just wonderfully written,” she says. And the themes are as important.

“Susan said that she picked it as appropriate for the MeToo moment we are having right now. Susan is Miss Dramaturg — she comes in to every rehearsal with a book six inches thick and you can find any information you need. These women are invented characters, but based on real explorers. Mary Kingsley, who my character is based on, wrote these travelogues of West Africa and wrote books [about exploring], but nobody cared because she was a woman. An avuncular figure took her aside and told her, ‘Take measurements, young lady,’ because that was what women were expected to do — gather the data, while the men took all the credit.”

A tragedy is not just that women are overlooked by history, but that their approaches to the task itself are so different than men.

“That’s what I find kind of interesting about men explorers versus [their female counterparts],” she says. “These women are just having a great time and their attitudes are not of superiority. They are not power-driven, or ego-driven or out to conquer a new land. They are being giddy about [their adventures] and enjoying themselves, not for the purpose of colonizing. There is no power struggle.”

Though she’s now playing more mature roles, that position is well-earned: She’s mother to a 16-year-old daughter which, she jokes, exacts a toll.

“This is what comes of hard livin’!” she says. “I recently began to feel like I am looking older… especially when the pictures came out for this show. I told everyone, ‘Didn’t I do my age makeup well!?’” she laughs.

“I keep forgetting how old I am!” (For the record, she’s 48.)

Still, she relished her longest-running role — that of mom — though she concedes it’s one of the most challenging she has ever tackled.

“The teenage years!” Diotalevi exclaims. “No one prepares you for them! They turn on you when they are teenagers. I heard a comedian say the other day the reason God made teenagers the way they are was so it would be easier to let them go when [they graduate high school]. So she’s off to college in two years … and it’s frightening.”