James Wilson takes a look at By the Way, Meet Vera Stark:
How much do biographers really know about the individuals they research? In bringing hidden figures out of the shadows of history, how does an academic or scholar resist applying a contemporary sensibility to experiences from generations before? How much of history is grounded in truth, and how much is the creation of the writer? These are some of the tantalizing questions prompted by Lynn Nottage's By the Way, Meet Vera Stark, currently receiving a visually stunning revival at New York's Signature Theatre. . . . |