REVIEW OF “THE SHOT”:

By Howard Tucker

THE SHOT IS Robin Gerber’s first play, and was developed at the Ojai, CA Playwright’s Conference in 2017. Robin, an attorney and feminist activist, worked on Capitol Hill for Nancy Pelosi of the House of Representatives. She is the author of several books, “Katharine Graham: The Leadership Journey of an American Icon,”
“Leadership the Eleanor Roosevelt Way,” “Barbie and Ruth” (about the founder of Mattel), and the novel “Eleanor vs. Ike,” which imagines Eleanor Roosevelt running for President in 1952. Gerber’s play ‘THE SHOT”, was inspired, of course, by her biography of Katharine Graham.
Michelle Joyner resides in The Berkshires in MA, where she has directed several plays there with Shakespeare & Co, the Berkshire Playwrights Lab, and the Great Barrington Public Theater. She has also directed on the West Coast and internationally. She is also an accomplished stage and screen actress and has authored ten screenplays (www.michellejoyner.com).
Sharon Lawrence is a 5-time Emmy nominee mostly known for her TV work (NYPD Blue, Criminal Minds, Shameless the Ranch, The Lost Husband, Grey’s Anatomy, Of Mind and Music, and many more.) She is also an accomplished stage actress, -performing in The Mystery of Love and Sex, Orson’s Shadow, A Song of Twilight, Love, Loss and What I Wore”, Tongue of a Bird, Poor Behavior, and on Broadway as Velma Kelly in Chicago The Musical.
“THE SHOT”, a brilliant play, initially focuses upon Ms. Graham’s early life with a distant mother and a domineering father. Ms. Graham, raised in luxury with her father as the owner of the Washington Post, dreams of becoming a journalist, with early jobs as a newspaper reporter in Chicago and San Francisco.
But Ms. Lawrence takes us through without sensationalizing, her meeting and falling in love with the charismatic Phil Graham. The audience gasped as she takes us through the rape by the man she adored and would soon marry. (Phil himself never appears; Ms. Lawrence is the only one on stage). They married in 1940, and no longer pursuing her own career, she put her husband first and raised four children. Katharine’s father turned the paper over to his son-in-law to own and publish.
Although Phil was an abuser, an alcoholic, and bipolar (even institutionalized at one point), Katharine, with a dangerous and isolated home life, stayed with her husband. She does talk about some more pleasant moments with her children and in hoping to regain her husband’s love. And although she had the resources to walk away, she stayed in the shadows and in the marriage, while Phil was in the spotlight.
Often speaking as Phil (as she brilliantly did with Katharine’s mother as well), Ms. Lawrence re-enacted (without sensationalizing) her husband’s silence and his shooting and killing himself within days of returning home from the institution (thus the title “THE SHOT.”)
She based her whole life upon “telling the truth” as she took over as publisher of the Washington Post three days after Phil’s suicide.
Of course, she rose above her tragedy to become the first woman to head a Fortune 500 Company and won a Pulitzer Prize for her decision to publish the Pentagon Papers and, with reporters Bob Woodward & Carl Bernstein, bring down a Presidency.
Ms. Lawrence actually acts out the story in the various characters of Katharine, Phil, and Katherine’s mother. In addition to her voice, she often transforms her body without sensationalism. Her dress is simple but elegant and her hairstyle is of the 1960’s (pls see photo). Ms. Lawrence is never off the stage for the 75 minutes (with no intermission). Credit goes to Ms. Joyner for the set and staging, and for keeping the play moving swiftly.
After the show, Ms. Lawrence and Ms. Joyner took questions from the audience. Although the program noted that the play is “fictionalized” since, at times, often the only individuals in the room were Katharine and Phil Graham, the play (as well as Ms. Gerber’s book upon which inspired it) was based upon much research and numerous interviews with surviving parties who know Phil and Katharine.
As an aside, it was explained to the audience that, although a shot was heard and a rifle seen, it was a nonfunctioning prop with no moving parts.

“The Shot” – A Stunning Theatrical Experience

By Karen Nowosad

The New Jersey Repertory Company produces many new plays some of which enjoy a world premiere and then go on to other theaters. Although this show is not a world premiere, it appears they have again struck gold with their current offering, The Shot. This show should be one that is seen in other theaters and by many people. It is that good.

The play, written by Robin Gerber is directed by Michelle Joyner. It tells the story of the early life of Washington Post Publisher Katherine Graham. It is a one person play with the role of Graham brilliantly portrayed by popular award winning actress Sharon Lawrence. The Shot is a look back at the woman who achieves great heights with the Post but who suffers abuse at the hands of her husband culminating in his suicide.

But what makes the play that good? Look for how the story is told, the staging, and Sharon Lawrence’s performance as the storyteller.

Background: The Shot received its first public reading in Los Angeles in March of 2020. But then COVID hit, shutting down the performance. Over a period of months, the creative team continued working on the script and produced a video reading of The Shot which also stared Sharon Lawrence. This reading raised over $25K for participating domestic violence non-profits.

In October 2021 it received a developmental workshop at Santa Barbara’s Center Stage Theater. This past June, The Shot premiered at Great Barrington Public Theatre receiving critical praise.

How the Story is Told: The story in this play is about the early life of Katherine Graham. As we hear about how she grew up, we start to see the beginnings of a very traditional background for women of that era. However, her interest in journalism and her studies in college start to dispel that traditional mindset. She has an interest in covering stories that make an impact such as covering a strike. But her father who now is the owner of the Washington Post does not see it the same way. He is more pleased to see his daughter do less important roles on a newspaper.

A significant event occurs when she meets the man who becomes her husband, Philip Graham.The fine writing of this script comes into play as Katherine describes the moment she met Philip and how impressive he was. Many glowing adjectives explain the wonderful feelings she experienced. However, those wonderful feelings are not present when she and Philip have their first sexual encounter. Her description of that painful event shows the early signs of a man who is self centered. But being a woman of that time, she accepts it and thinks that’s the way it is.

After she and Philip marry, her father hands over the role of publisher of the Washington Post to his new son-in-law. Not a mention is made of Katherine taking it on even though she has a journalism background compared to Philip’s background as a lawyer. Would that fly today? Probably not. But in that post World War II time period, it was the custom of the day. Thus begins her life as a housewife soon to become a mother to four children. She also has the task and a very large one of taking care of her husband whose alcoholism and lack of confidence make her life difficult. This gives way to some very tragic parts of The Shot eventually leading to Philip’s suicide.

The Staging: The Shot was not on the official season listing for The NJ Rep. They were planning to be in production for their next show Our Shrinking, Shrinking World. However, when the opportunity became available for them to produce The Shot, they took it. In order to accommodate both shows, the lobby is now a studio theater. This smaller, more intimate seating and stage area add a special intimacy to the play.

The set is a basic desk and chair which allows the scene to change quickly and without scenery changes. A warning is in the playbill and announced before the show begins that there is a gun representation in the show. The gun is not real. Instead it is a stage prop specifically made to look like a rifle. Wisely, it is behind a wall on one side of the stage until it is used in the play.

Sharon Lawrence as Katherine Graham: One person plays are not easy to perform. All the action and dialog rests on the one performer. Sharon Lawrence is that one performer as she becomes the storyteller. Her transformation into Katherine Graham is very well done. She wears a wig to represent hairstyles of the time and one dress serves as the costume throughout the play.

Outstanding is the actual verbal delivery and the pacing needed to emphasize emotions of the scenes. Her explanations of how she tried to take care of her husband and bolster his confidence are heartbreaking at time. The reflections of the abuse, both mental and physical, are difficult moments in the show.

The experience of handling guns and hearing the fatal shot that kills Philip climaxes the show to a tragic level. Ms. Lawrence does a superb performance of a woman who must accept what has happened and try to move on from there.

 “THE SHOT” A Review

By Victoria L. Dammer

The Shot, a new play by Robin Gerber, presents a pivotal moment that changed the course of American history and gave power to a woman who spent years under the control of an abusive husband.

Sharon Lawrence stars in the solo performance as Katharine Graham, daughter of the Washington Post owner. Her wealthy father overlooked her to become publisher of the Post and handed the company’s reins to her husband, Philip. Graham then suffered years of physical and mental abuse at the hands of her husband, and she also endured his philandering until he took his own life with a shotgun.

“Power has no sex,” Graham said, but back in the 60s, it did. It was a misogynist world where men held all the power. Lawrence transformed herself into the persona of Graham so well it was hard to discern she was acting; her hair, dress, mannerisms, and especially life’s pain were all Graham.

Graham recollects about her life before becoming the publisher of the Washington Post with all the infamy, power, and respect she garnered upon exposing the Pentagon Papers. When she became the “new” woman instead of the “traditional” one, she was applauded as the first female Fortune 500 CEO. She successfully ran one of the most influential news publications in the country.

Graham’s traditional life before fame was not an easy one. She was from a wealthy family, abandoned mainly by her socially active and verbally abusive parents; she married Harvard graduate Philip Graham. Although she stated succinctly, “I finally did something right,” with the marriage, her rewards were few other than her children. The play provided glimpses of several physical waves of abuse, although not documented in Graham’s autobiography, but well-known to those in her and her husband’s intimate circle in Washington, D.C. The abuse ended when Philip took his own life.

Graham proposes the question often spoken by abuse victims: “Why didn’t I leave?” Lawrence presents the anguish Graham lived through with her astounding talent during the 75 minutes she was on stage. The audience can relate to this situation that plagues so many women, even to this day. The #metoo movement has brought this continuing harassment to the forefront of the news, and playwright Robin Gerber stated she dreams The Shot “will play a role in holding the focus on abuse.”

Lawrence held the audience breathless during the performance. After the show, an audience member questioned Lawrence if the sadness and abuse disturbed her. She said although she was never involved in this type of relationship, she couldn’t help but feel pity for Graham.

“Such power and privilege, but so trapped,” Lawrence said. Let’s not glorify suicide for the change it made in Graham’s life, for it is a severe subject not to be laughed at. The suicide is just a part of Graham’s story.

REVIEW: “The Shot” At Great Barrington Public Theater

By Jeannie Marlin Woods

Robin Gerber’s play, “The Shot”, is a shocking and visceral new work. Its limited run June 16-19 at the Great Barrington Public Theater is sure to stand out as a highlight of the 2022 Berkshire theatre season. A collaboration between GBPT and Spark Theatrical and playwright Gerber, director/dramaturg Michelle Joyner, and actor Sharon Lawrence, “The Shot” is an incredible achievement and unforgettable theatre.

Gerber’s new play and is based on her 2005 book, Katharine Graham: The Leadership Journey of an American Icon.Graham was a renowned publisher who took the helm at The Washington Post in the wake of the suicide of her husband (and former publisher of The Post), Phil Graham. Over the next twenty years, she built The Post into a major newspaper, publishing the Pentagon Papers, which ultimately led to the resignation of President Richard Nixon.

The play, however, focuses on Graham’s personal suffering at the hand of her husband, who abused her physically and psychological through the 23 years of their marriage. Playwright Gerber is a social activist and her play confronts domestic violence with unflinching resolve. As the play unfolds, we search for a reason—how could such a wealthy, intelligent and educated woman subject herself to a such a cruel and dangerous man? We learn about Katharine’s early jobs as a newspaper reporter in Chicago and San Francisco. She takes us through the meeting and falling in love with the charismatic Phil Graham. She relives the horrible scene of losing her virginity in a brutal rape by the man she adored and would soon after marry.

Even allowing for the fact that they married in 1940 and Katharine was raised under the cultural norm to subject herself to her husband’s will, she was not without resources to walk away. But that was (and is) the tragedy of domestic abuse and sadly that has not changed much with the times. Statistically, an abused spouse leaves her abuser seven times before being able to break the cycle—if she survives it at all. Katharine raises four children, leads a glittering public life with the top political and social icons of the day, cheerfully backgrounds herself when her husband is in the spotlight, even as her home life is isolated and perilous. She stays in the marriage.

Rather than offering justification for Graham’s choices, Gerber’s play reveals the insecurities and social norms that lock this woman into her situation. Katharine accepts her place is in the home and she relates the softer moments—joy with her children, the solace of forgiveness in the wake of violence, and love. “What is love?” she asks. Her answer is that it is a longing for something lost that you hope you can find again.

What emerges is the character of a woman of incredible strength when faced with her husband’s suicide. Step by painful step she recalls his mental breakdown, institutionalization, and abject silence when he returns home, where he soon shot and killed himself. Devastated, Katharine relives “the shot” that ended that era of her life and leads—within a matter of days—to her taking her “shot” when she becomes publisher of The Washington Post and devotes her life to telling the truth. At a time when women were expected to be seen and not heard, Graham rises above the ashes of her personal tragedy to build an institution with that vision, to win awards and tremendous esteem (including a Pulitzer Prize for her memoir), and to help change the course of history.

It is no easy thing to condense this larger-than-life story into 75 minutes, told by a solo performer. Gerber has written a brilliant script and, fortunately, the highly acclaimed stage and screen star Sharon Lawrence is more than equal to the task. From the moment she enters, we are drawn into the story and mesmerized by the character and the performance. Lawrence doesn’t merely narrate the story; she completely immerses herself and her audience into this complicated and fascinating character. She clearly distinguishes Katharine from Phil and from her mother when she imitates them at times—transforming voice and body to make us easily envision these people who molded her personality. Lawrence digs deeply into the rough and dirty reality of the violence and brutality, but soars in the moments where hope and love buoy her and get her through the day. She doesn’t rush a moment; we see it as she sees it and we find compassion for her and perhaps even for the man who abused her so. It is a phenomenal performance.

Certainly, much of the credit goes to Michelle Joyner—both director and dramaturg of “The Shot”. Joyner not only stages the play with great elegance and skill, but she creates a believable world for the play using the simplest of means—an iconic desk, a chaise, a chair. Her vision is completed by the design team—Brian Barnett’s lighting design is subtle and evocative. Jacob Morgan Fisch provides an excellent sound score that supports each crucial moment. Although no costumer is credited, Graham’s simple peach dress and flat shoes and classic hairstyle (coordinated by George Veale) make it all feel authentic, so we cannot look away.

“The Shot” is great theatre because it has tremendous potential for increasing our understanding of such an important social issue. In the end, at least for some, there is hope to transcend the violence and psychological pain and to go on to fulfill one’s true destiny. A big factor in making that happen is facing the stark reality of domestic abuse. The creative team did, in fact, film “The Shot” and donate the film to domestic violence organizations across the country, raising thousands of dollars for both the centers and small theatres who showed the film.

In only its second season, Great Barrington Public Theater is firmly establishing a high bar for excellence in theatre in the region. If only the run could have been extended so more local audiences could have seen this production. As it is, those audiences who came were richly rewarded.

THE SHOT – Great Barrington Public Theatre – Review

by Dan Dwyer

The summer Berkshire theater season has already seen a highpoint with the premiere of THE SHOT, an impressive playwriting debut for author Robin Gerber and stellar solo performance by actor Sharon Lawrence (best known for her TV work, like “Grey’s Anatomy”). Lawrence plays Katharine Graham (née Meyer), owner and publisher of the Washington Post, who has been the subject already of many biographies and films. Gerber’s parallax on Graham’s story is specific- the abuse she suffered from her husband, Phil.

Katharine’s plight was complicated already before the abuse: her authoritarian father, who owned the Post, turned the paper over to his son-in-law to own and run; her mother was distant and unloving (at best); and Phil, besides being a raging alcoholic, was bipolar. (He had a famous public breakdown in Phoenix at the podium of a newspaper convention in 1963 when he started railing about JFK’s sex iife and stripping off his clothes.) Katharine bore it all, carried on, and soldiered forward to take control of the paper three days after Phil’s suicide with rifle (hence the title).

Remarkably, Gerber sensationalizes none of this; she contextualizes it all. She knows the Washington of which she writes, having served on the staff of Nancy Pelosi, then being a union lobbyist and having written four books about public figures. Gerber’s writing is highly economical; Katharine’s monologue doesn’t flag for a minute in the play’s 80 minute run-time. Most creatively – and to sometimes shocking effect – Gerber crafts parts for Katharine to play Phil.

Lawrence’s performance, shaped closely with the Berkshire director Michelle Joyner, is perfectly formed, timed and nuanced, and, like the writing, never sensationalized. Her recreation of her brutal loss of virginity to Phil is a master-class in stage movement. And she perfectly nails the American vaguely patrician accent of old families.

THE SHOT is also an exemplar of non-profit theater at its most purposeful. Developed at the O[jai Writers’ Conference in 2017, the show is produced by SPARK Theatrical, the brainchild of producer Laurie Bernhard, which is dedicated to connecting plays about social justice and human rights with local non-profit organizations to provide audiences with the opportunity for education and action” . Beside THE SHOT being an outstanding one-woman drama, SPARK puts civics back in theater. Win/win.