Anton Chekhov never set a play in a Hillsdale frat house, but Michigan native and New York playwright Roman D’Ambrosio did last month in Manhattan when he staged a reading of “Hillsdale,” based on Chekhov’s “Uncle Vanya.”
The play, which takes place in the fictional house of a disbanded fraternity chapter, follows two former fraternity brothers, Michael and Bruno. The friends anticipate the arrival of their former chapter president when their respective love interests from past years enter to stir up old feelings and new problems.
“It was never the concept of Hillsdale having a small campus,” D’Ambrosio said. “The point was more that Hillsdale is, by definition, outside of the metropolitan norm. This type of play can’t be done in a city. It can’t be. In a city, it’s much easier to run away, but in a small town like that, you’re gonna get followed.”
D’Ambrosio staged a reading of “Hillsdale” at a venue in Chinatown on July 25. He wrote his first draft of “Hillsdale” in October 2019, and set up the first workshop in March 2020 at Circle in the Square in New York City. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the project was paused for a year and half. He ended up rewriting it during the time between his first workshop and the staged reading.
“Some people asked me if I hated conservatives, and some people asked me if I was a conservative, and I kind of liked that,” D’Ambrosio said. “I liked that ambiguity. I think it just makes it such an interesting work of art. It’s not like an endorsement, but I am telling you that these characters are worthy of love and respect.”
While he is not a Hillsdale graduate or a conservative, he grew up in Midland, Michigan and attended Northwood University. While studying business, he often found himself traveling to places like Michigan State University, Saginaw Valley State University, and Hillsdale College for weekend fraternity parties.
“They’re not like these giant ragers, but I didn’t view that as like, ‘Oh, that’s like a disappointment’ or something,” D’Ambrosio said. “I viewed it more as basically a petri dish, but larger, where it’s an isolated place to observe these social things happening that affect the real world.”
This petri dish ended up being the source of inspiration for D’Ambrosio’s play.
According to D’Ambrosio, one of the central messages of the play is the wide range of people who call themselves conservative, particularly those stratified by class.
“The president comes in and says, ‘I’ve been thinking about the financial state of this house; it is falling apart, and we should sell this house and make some money on it,’” D’Ambrosio said. “This sets off Michael and destroys him because, much like Uncle Vanya, it’s basically saying for years and years we’ve kept up this property while you’ve lived a life of being a quote unquote, ‘intellectual’ who deals in the world of ideas. Well, I have to deal with the world, and I have to deal with a world of dirt.”
The argument ends with a sword fight between Michael and the fraternity president.
“It’s really funny and bad,” D’Ambrosio said. “They’re both horrible and drunk and uncoordinated. There’s a ‘don’t tread on me’ flag in the background.”
D’Ambrosio, having grown up in Michigan, said he has an explicit goal not of empathizing with or promoting conservative values, but rather presenting people with those values as people, not caricatures.
“I think people who would consider themselves conservative feel as though there’s no entry point into the mainstream theater world, especially, I think, when you live here in New York City,” D’Ambrosio said. “I always felt like there was this big lack of opinion, frankly. And I felt that when people would write plays in which characters were conservative, it was just very cliche stereotypes. And it’s like, but no, that’s not what an actual Jan. 6 person is like.”
Christopher Matsos, chairman of the Hillsdale College Department of Theatre and Dance, lived and worked in New York City for years without an issue.
“I appreciate his concern that there isn’t an entry point into the theater world if you are conservative, but I think that misunderstands what conservative means,” Matsos said. “I didn’t need an entry point. Being conservative is not a disability. We don’t need special access to be able to get into an industry. We simply go where we’re going to go and do what we’re going to do. And if he thinks that this is representing conservative voices, I think he maybe needs to revisit what conservative means.”
Five actors participated in the staged reading, which was directed by Rabiah Rowther of New York University and the Actors Studio Drama School. According to both D’Ambrosio and Rowther, both audiences and actors were receptive to, if not fans of, the play.
“It was interesting just to see how this pieced together with all the different backgrounds these actors had: some of them are television actors, and some of them are theater actors, and some hadn’t even done a lot of theater but loved theater and loved Chekhov specifically,” Rowther said. “One thing that I found was that everyone really resonated with this play regardless of background and experience and political views, but it was great, and we formed bonds very quickly.”
D’Ambrosio’s dreams for the play include getting it published and watching it sustain a run in New York City.
“We are building out the production team and looking for funding and producers to secure a regular long term run of the play in New York,” D’Ambrosio said.
He said he also hopes for a future in which the Hillsdale College Theatre and Dance Department does its own performance of the show, but Matsos said that is unlikely.
“Hillsdale will be unable to produce this play,” Matsos said. “It has some rated R content that is not in keeping with the types of material we tend to produce. But furthermore, I don’t think it has attained a literary quality that is commensurate with what we’re trying to teach our campus and community. I’ve only read perhaps three quarters of it, and I don’t want to pass judgment without having read the whole thing. But at this stage, I’m afraid that’s the best I’d be prepared to say about it. If we’re interested in looking at ‘Uncle Vanya,’ we would simply produce ‘Uncle Vanya.’”
Matsos said he wants to challenge D’Ambrosio to reconsider the play’s branding and characterization of Hillsdale itself.
“As someone who knows Hillsdale, my confusion is just, what does this have to do with Hillsdale?” Matsos said. “It seems that he picked the title and setting somewhat arbitrarily, because the script betrays an ignorance about the place, the geography, and the culture. I think ultimately, by not giving himself the freedom of his own invented institution, he’s probably doing himself a disservice.”
But the play’s reception lands differently with some people outside of Hillsdale.
“It’s easy to attribute certain characteristics to people based on their political ideologies and what they follow and — guilty as charged! — I know I do it, too,” Rowther said. “But the beauty of this play is that these people are human. They have real wants and needs and they strive to do what serves the interest of the larger community and world around them. What I loved about Roman’s writing is that it doesn’t play in favor of Hillsdale nor does it criticize it. It just is.”
Either way, all parties agree on the importance of new works, creative exercises, and asking good questions.
“I support the creation of new works of dramatic literature, and I’ve worked as a playwright myself,” Matsos said. “I’ve made efforts to nurture new playwrights and plays, so I’m not speaking as someone who is against his work. He has a right as an artist to voice whatever he thinks may be of interest to his audience.”