The consequences are catastrophic when a respected Ivy League professor invites an infamous white nationalist to speak at Harvard in Paul Grellong’s Power Of Sail, a powerhouse Geffen Playhouse West Coast Premiere sure to have audiences talking long after the lights go out, and not just because of Bryan Cranston’s riveting lead performance and Amy Brenneman’s fiery featured turn.

 History professor Charles Nichols (Cranston) has been hosting heretofore uneventful guest speaker symposiums for the past nineteen years, and perhaps, had he been able to announce (and explain) this year’s speaker list himself, a crowd of angry students wouldn’t now be protesting loudly and vociferously outside his plushily appointed office.

Unfortunately for Charlie, an unknown someone has leaked the list, a celebrated civil rights attorney has published an op-ed calling the professor “at best an apologist for and at worst a sympathizer with white nationalism,” and Dean Amy Katz (Brenneman) is none too pleased with “free speech absolutist” Charlie’s refusal to issue an apology. And forget any notion of disinviting Carver. Charlie would rather cancel the event than cancel free speech.

Dean Amy isn’t the only one to pay Charlie an office visit this morning.

Charlie’s former student Baxter Forrest (Brandon Scott), now a department chair at a prestigious Chicago university, expresses outrage that a “piece of shit” has been invited to give a lecture at his alma mater.

TA Maggie Rosen (Tedra Millan) tries to get Charlie to see that having Carver speak on campus has “triggered” her students and might end up causing “lasting wounds.”

Charlie’s research assistant Lucas Poole (Seth Numrich) wonders about Carver’s motives in inviting Charlie to dinner at his Maine headquarters, but unlike Maggie, he agrees to accompany his mentor as backup.

Several hours later, the unthinkable has happened, and Charlie, Amy, Maggie, Lucas, and Harvard University itself must deal with the consequences, not the least of which is a visit from FBI agent Quinn Harris (Donna Simone Johnson).

If ever there were a play inspired to provoke audience debate, Power Of Sail is that play. Do universities have the right to deny a public forum to speakers of hate? Is Charlie correct in his assertion that the right to free speech is absolute? And what responsibility does he bear for the horrific outcome of his and Lucas’s visit to Carver’s armed compound?

Still, for this reviewer at least, what makes Grellong’s play a particular must-see are a pair of eleventh-hour flashbacks that will have audiences reevaluating all five of Power Of Sail’s principal players (and perhaps making plans for a repeat visit if only to see them with entirely different eyes).

Under Weyni Mengesha’s incisive direction, film/TV/Broadway star Cranston delivers a devastating tour-de-force performance as a man who finds everything he holds dear suddenly called into question as his previously well-ordered life begins to disintegrate before his eyes.

And though Power Of Sail is most definitely a Bryan Cranston showcase, it also gives Brenneman, Millan, Numrich, and Scott the meatiest of supporting roles, performances made even richer once masks begin to fall and shocking secrets get revealed.

Johnson is steely perfection as an all-business FBI agent, and Hugo Armstrong (who understudies Cranston) has a terrifically entertaining cameo in the play’s final scene.

Scenic designer Rachel Myers takes full advantage of a Geffen Playhouse budget to create the most wondrous of multi-locale sets, stunningly lit by Lap Chi Chu, with Samantha C. Jones’s costumes and Jonathan Snipes’ original music and sound design equally world-class.

Power Of Sail is produced by Daryl Roth. Mike Sablone is dramaturg. J. Jason Daunter is production stage manager and Lizzie Thompson is assistant stage manager.

Casting is by Phyllis Schuringa, CSA. Armstrong, Safia Fredericks, Zach Kenney, Sharon Sharth, Sarah Traisma, and Hari Williams are understudies.

Audiences would likely flock to the Geffen simply for the chance to see the stars of Breaking Bad/Malcolm In The Middle and NYPD Blue/Judging Amy live on stage. That the play they’re starring in is as good as contemporary theater can get ought to make it Power Of Sail the hottest ticket in town.

Geffen Playhouse, 10886 Le Conte Ave., Westwood.
www.geffenplayhouse.com

–Steven Stanley
February 18, 2022
Photos: Jeff Lorch

Tags: Amy Brenneman, Bryan Cranston, Geffen Playhouse, Los Angeles Theater Review, Paul Grellong