"The Babylon Line" by Tony/Pulitzer Nominated Playwright Richard Greenberg

Richard Greenberg (b Amer 1958) is an enlightening & entertaining playwright known for his subversive humorist look at life & all its follies.  His characters' foibles range from the grotesque & cruel to the meek and manipulative.  His play "Take Me Out" earned a Tony and "Three Days of Rain" was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize.  His newest play "The Babylon Line" at Lincoln Ctr is a comedy/drama that is witty, philosophical & satirical.  The play is set in 1967 as told to us by our narrator, Aaron Port (a monotonous Josh Radnor.) Port informs us the year is 2015 and at age 86, he knows he's looking pretty good, pretty good.  Port is a pre-Larry David character; a Jewish nebbish wanna be writer.  He teaches "creative writing" to adults in Levittown.  He does a reverse commute on the Babylon Line from Greenwich Village.  "Do we know how stories end?" Port poses to the audience from the start.  My answer - end the play after a hilarious Act I.  Act II digresses into pretentious philosophical platitudes & chaotic cruelties.  Port "teaches without teaching."  His adult class consists of " 3 middle-class Jewish women (shut out of their 1st choices) along with an older Korean vet, a simple-minded young man and Joan; a saint she ain't.  Greenberg writes snappy dialogue for his characters. The most amusing comments come from the alpha female, Frieda Cohen.  Frieda self-proclaims herself as shameless & fearless.  Slowly but surely the class shares what they write.   Sharing doesn't necessitate caring or understanding.  The actors seamlessly slip in & out as characters in other's stories.  The authentic '67 classroom set & costumes get an A+ along with the clever staging.  Port doesn't assign topics but Greenberg touches on a cornucopia of subjects:  atheism, war, homosexuality, adultry, literature, cruelty, bigotry and the significance of one's place in the world.  Greenberg's characters all grapple with limitations & restraint.   Joan suffered for years from agoraphobia and has channeled into a fierce storyteller.  She's also the one in class who makes a pass at the teacher.  Joan harangues him about writer's block & holding back.  Greenberg should take a lesson from the teacher "Some silences are gatherings of a patient worker."  He should put faith in his wry wit and leave more mystery & less misery with his characters.  I'm grading "The Babylon Line" an A- for Act I and a C+ for Act II.