Evrenov, a Russian critic in the '20s, proposed that the monodrama, a piece conceived and performed by a single person was the purest and most sincere form of theatre. Marta Rainer's "Unaccustomed to My Name" comes very close to validating his theory. Her title is taken from a poem by dissident Russian poet, Anna Akhmatova, but the piece's subtitle might be "Confessions of a Russian Lit Major." Rainer, a Wellesley grad--in Russian and Theatre--is a member of the NY Neo-Futurists, writing and performing plays Off-Broadway, and has studied with luminaries such as Mike Nichols and Paul Sills. This piece has been performed since 2001, and has no doubt developed over time.
Briefly, Rainer plays various characters in the life of her heroine, Sofie Petrowski, who just graduated in Russian Lit from a university in Chicago. This summer she's living back at home in Warsaw, NY with her mother, an Polish emigre with a doctorate in literature currently working 9 to 5 to make ends meet. Sofie's best friend Lily, a rather manic type is getting married at the end of the summer. Sofie has become increasing introspective, inspired in part by her studies in Russian fiction and poetry, and despares of developing any real relationships. After a disastrous encounter with former highschool classmate, she hits upon a solution. She adopts an alter ego, Sonya Petrovna, with a distinct Russian accent, new to upstate New York, from Siberia by way of Chicago. There follows several scenes in Buffalo where her brusque new persona takes revenge on several males on the make, until she encounters Bill, a T.A. at a local college who's taken by her exotic style. Their relationship blossoms, always under the impending doom of her being found out. When Bill "surprises" her by taking her to a local Russian bistro, she bolts the scene and run home , where the piece ends with her being soothed by her patient mother.
Rainer, who teaches improv as well, manages to pull this rather personal tall tale off with a great deal of self-deprecating humor and sharp observation. There are no props except a couple of glasses, and the set consists of two tall stools, and a few boxes arranged in a rectangle, suggesting the bathtub where she supposedly sits reading, fully clothed. "Unaccustomed..." doesn't contain any earthshattering revelations, but rather a well-defined appreciation of the human condition, at least that of a female twenty-something with a fine education and no practical goals in sight, trapped in small-town America. Her friend Lily, for example, wants her to come join her at the local cheese store, and later offers her a temporary job telling spooky stories for the annual Halloween hayride.
Solo shows have been a staple of the American theatre for quite a while, and this one has legs. Hopefully her short run during Wellesley's semester break won't be Rainer's last appearance in town. During this time period, she's joined on the local scene by Diana Edgecomb, whose "Restraints" just had a short and well-noticed run at the Charlestown Working Theatre, and "Tom Crean -Antartic Explorer", a docu-drama created by Aidan Dooley, which will be Sugan's next offering, running at the BCA through Feb. 11. The latter is a New England premiere, and Edgecomb, a professional storyteller will probably offer another version of her series of short sketches at some future date.