The world premiere play, which opens Feb. 2, is the story of a relationship under pressure after an Edward Snowden-like information leak.
Playwright Christina Gorman remembers being intrigued watching how Edward Snowden’s life was forever changed by the National Security Agency contractor’s decision to share classified information revealing the extent of the nation’s global surveillance system.
Since the 2013 leaks, Snowden, alternatively branded a traitor and a hero, has lived in Moscow, where he has political asylum. He faces multiple criminal charges if captured by U.S. authorities.
“I was fascinated not by the political ramifications (of Snowden’s actions) but the idea of being 29 years old and blowing up your life. Because he seemed to know nothing would be the same, “Gorman said. “I don’t know if I’ve ever felt so strongly about anything in my life that I’d walk away from everyone and every thing for it.
“Imagine walking away from your entire life over an ideal. Is that selfish or selfless? To me, it’s both.”
The result is “Roan @ the Gates,” which has its world premiere at Luna Stage Feb. 2. The two-character show stars Aaliyah Habib as Roan, a quiet NSA analyst, and Mel House as her wife, Nat, an outspoken Civil Rights attorney.
“I would describe it as a dramatic thriller about a relationship,” director Michelle Tattenbaum said. “What underlies the story is the couple’s love for each other. Will they be able to survive the adversity they’re facing?”
Besides having a female cast, writer and director, the play’s light, costume and sound designers are also women.
“There’s a lot of talk about women being underrepresented in theater, and it’s not just on the stage. It’s behind the stage,” Gorman said.
Luna and Ari Laura Kreith, in her first year as Artistic Director, “walk the walk as well as talk the talk,” the writer said. Kreith has said one of her goals is to bring new patrons into the theater and make Luna “a place where communities come together, and where we have deep and powerful conversations about the issues facing us locally and globally.”
Gorman started writing the play during the Obama administration, when the original Snowden leak occurred. She thought some would find her early drafts unbelievable. Now, she said, the future she imagined is the past.
One bit of dialogue goes like this: “If the government can access your information, they can … get to you; they can get to me; they can get to a CEO; they can get to a Presidential candidate.”
“I swear, I wrote that before the election,” Gorman said. “And that’s what happened: The Russians used information about Facebook users to target messages to particular people.
Another prescient quote from the show: “What’s being collected and stored is not inofmration. It’s leverage.”
Snowden is never mentioned in the play. Nor is Cambridge Analytica or “fake news.”
But the story is still chilling, still contemporary.
“I cannot tell you how many settings I’ve changed on my cell phone as a result of this play,” Tattenbaum said. “We’re now aware of the information we’re pinging out into the world all the time. … I hope the audience thinks about that.”
ROAN @ THE GATES
Luna Stage
555 Valley Road, West Orange
Tickets: $ 24-39, available online at lunastage.com. Jan. 31 – Feb. 24.
Natalie Pompilio is a freelance writer based in Philadelphia. She can be reached at nataliepompilio@yahoo.com. Find her on Twitter @nataliepompilio. Find NJ.com/Entertainment on Facebook.