South Coast Rep’s ‘Madwoman’: A female journey of self-discovery
When Sandra Tsing Loh went through menopause, she felt her world begin to crumble around her.
Visiting the Burning Man festival in Nevada at the age of 46 brought on a series of revelations. She was no longer in love with her husband. Instead, she was fond of her male best friend. After an affair with the man and finding herself ultimately alone, she began to question what role monogamy played in modern society.
Loh, now 53 and living in Los Angeles, recounts this tale and her struggle to find herself again in “The Madwoman in the Volvo,” premiering at South Coast Repertory in Costa Mesa on Sunday.
“It really takes the audience on quite a journey and shows what happens when someone is going through a mid-life crisis and blows up their life,” said playwright Loh, who also performs in the play with two other women, who each play various roles, from the men in Loh’s life to family members to Loh herself.
She said she went down this path of self-discovery as her body, spirit and life were changing. Loh had been married for 20 years and had two children, but she was still yearning for something.
She decided to travel to Nevada with a group of mothers to attend Burning Man, an annual gathering in the desert that explores self-expression through art.
“It’s a very sort of primitive, tribal experience,” Loh recalled of the festival, which featured not only art but also nudity and drugs. “Our group was almost too conservative to go, but we wanted to have an adventure. When I was there, I had this sort of spiritual awakening.
“I realized I was 46, in the middle of my suburban life and in love with my best male friend, who was also married with a family. It was like this real crisis point where I had affair with this man, got kicked out of my house, and he returned to his house. I really upended my life in a really intense way.”
Loh, a science communications professor at UC Irvine who is also the author of several books as well as a radio commentator, said the play, which is based on a memoir she wrote for the Atlantic Monthly called “The Madness of Menopause,” could be viewed as controversial because of the ideas it brings up about modern romance and marriage.
Since people are living longer than ever and women can opt for a career instead of keeping the home fires burning, she argued that marriage and monogamy might not be such valid concepts anymore.
“It provokes an interesting discussion about 1950s housewives and working women today, and how we handle all the stress and roles that we carry,” she said. “What does it mean to be in monogamous relationships now when we’re living so much longer than we used to?”
Director Lisa Peterson said Loh evolves and develops new ideas of romance through her journey. But Peterson declined to give away any more than that for fear of spoiling the viewers’ experience.
Loh, who has often performed in solo plays, said she felt a bit vulnerable writing “The Madwoman in the Volvo” and sharing it with an audience.
She said the production includes a lot of details she hadn’t shared with anyone else before but felt compelled to put in the play to be honest with her audience.
Peterson, who helped Loh develop the script from the original article, said she met Loh about 15 years ago at the Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles, and they began working on “Madwoman” together about two years ago, at the recommendation of the Sundance Institute, a nonprofit organization founded by actor Robert Redford that advances the work of independent storytellers in film and theater.
She said the two women did not have much trouble plumbing the depths of Loh’s life.
“I don’t worry about protecting her or anything like that,” said Peterson, who added Loh would often laugh at the details being retold in the script at rehearsals. “I feel like my job is to create a context in which she can be completely honest without fear, if I can. Sandra is amazing because she can do that with humor, and that’s her gift. She’s just such a special performer. She really knows how to connect with an audience.”
Loh added that she felt comfortable sharing the story with the audiences at South Coast Repertory because of the theater’s guidance and suggestions about her script. She also said that despite the more than 300 seats, the theater feels like an intimate setting.
“I think for me, this is the most personal story that I’ve ever told on stage,” she said. “I’m really glad to be premiering it at South Coast Repertory theater, because it has an outstanding reputation of being out here on the West Coast, and they develop new plays that go on nationally.”
Info: scr.org
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IF YOU GO:
What: “The Madwoman in the Volvo”
Where: Julianne Argyros Stage at South Coast Repertory, 655 Town Center Drive in Costa Mesa
When: Jan. 3 to 24; varying show times Tuesdays through Sundays
Cost: $22 to $77