There is something to be said for a workplace comedy in which the characters—typically drawn, by workplace situation comedy standards—are suddenly thrust into a real-life crisis drawn from tragic present-day circumstances. Skilled is the writer who can lull us into the milieu with laughs, develop the crisis with solemnity leavened by humor, and resolve the affair with proper gravity without compromising those likably sympathetic characters.
Nina Kissinger, in This Is Government at 59E59, manages the comedic needs but founders when current events intrude, in a manner that trivializes the threat to the characters—and, by extension, the threat to the Republic. For This Is Government takes place in the very heart of the U.S. government.
Kaz (Vann Dukes) runs the office of Congressman Jim Bochman, a middle-of-the-aisle politico who seems more interested in personal attention than ideology. Packed into the small and cluttered office in the Cannon House Office Building by their side are two young interns, the outspoken Tip (Charles Hsu) and the insecure Emi (Kleo Mitrokostas). Also playing into the action is Stevie (Susan Lynskey), a constituent who peppers the staff with a cascade of voicemails. Bochman, who remains safely away from the danger and is thus unseen, is keenly drawn as one of those representatives interested only in being the all-important swing vote on contentious bills—the Saving the Health of Americans Today Act, which Tip can’t help repeatedly referring to as the SHAT act. Bochman’s grandstanding directly results in the congressional lockdown that traps the characters.
The cast does fine in this co-production of New Light Theater Project and Pendragon Theatre (of Saranac Lake, in New York’s Adirondacks). Standing out is Hsu as the political intern who seems more interested in developing a career as a slam poet. Is his performance too much, as he slinks around like a cartoon character? Or just right? Given the black and flowery orange socks provided by costume designer Krista Grevas, one supposes that in this case, “too much” is precisely what’s called for. Mitrokostas provides ballast as the junior partner (and contributes a nice piece of repeated business demonstrating how time flies). Dukes, meanwhile, works to maintain a sense of seriousness.
Director Sarah Norris does fine with the comedic aspects, although one wonders whether she might have enhanced the power of the script by toning down the laughs. Daniel Allen fills the tiny space at 59E59s Theater B with a perfectly authentic rundown office, the back wall overflowing with mismatched filing cabinets randomly but artfully stacked to the ceiling.
Kissinger seems to know a thing or two about government, specifically from the aspect of congressional interns. (The playwright appears purposely to have cloaked mention, in bios and press releases, of any political skeleton in her closet, as it were.) She is also adept at turning out funny lines, and presumably shall be heard from in the future. This Is Government does garner laughter, yes, and quite a lot of it. Ultimately, though, this works against the seriocomic nature of the whole.
This Is Government opened Sept. 6, 2025, at 59E59 and runs through Sept. 28. Tickets and information: newlighttheaterproject.com
