Shades of Purple in Next Act’s ‘Swing State’

Swing State is set in a small Wisconsin town in 2021, a time permeated by Covid anxiety and anger, and handles its topic with humor and empathy.

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Theater

Swing State isn’t about Election Day in Wisconsin. The play’s concerns are deeper, specifically the meta-politics of difference that can cause division, delivered with a light touch in the hope that cooperation and connection can occur across the divides.

Next Act Theatre is producing Swing State, the latest Wisconsin play by Rebecca Gilman, a former theater instructor at Northwestern University who has lived in the Badger State for several years. “It seemed a no-brainer. Next Act needs to be the first theater in Wisconsin to produce the play!” says the company’s artistic director, Cody Estle.

Swing State is set in a small, Driftless Region town in 2021, a time permeated by Covid anxiety and anger. Peg Smith (Tami Workentin) “lives on 40 acres of prairie surrounded by hundreds of acres of farm land owned by Sheriff Kris Callahan Wisnefski (Kelli Strickland),” says Estle. “They have different beliefs in how the land should be taken care of. For Peg, this land has been prairie for 10,000 years and should remain prairie. The sheriff says the land should be put to use as farmland—to feed people and make money.”

The natural environment is a socio-political flashpoint in a play whose central concern is recovery and connection. Everyone in Swing State is trying to recover from the fear and isolation of the pandemic while wrestling with more personal losses in their own lives.  Peg lost her husband from a sudden heart attack just before Covid struck. Kris’ son died from Fentanyl. Her niece and deputy, Dani Wisnefski (Elyse Edelman), is recovering from a divorce. Pegi’s friend Ryan Severson (Jack Lancaster) had been in prison and is a recovering alcoholic. “Everyone is desperate for connection at a time when connection wasn’t allowed,” Estle says.

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The potential darkness of the subject matter is brightened by comedy. “And there is a mystery,” Estle adds. “Peg is looking for some personal belongings of her late husband that have gone missing. She has to call the sheriff, whether she likes it or not.”

Estle directed Gilman’s earlier play, Boy Gets Girl, in Chicago. “She came to see it and gave us her blessing,” he recalls. Estle already read the script for Swing State before it was published and saw it at an off-Broadway performance. “We live in a purple state. Swing State asks: ‘What does it mean to live next door to people who don’t think the same as you do?’” It’s message? “If we want to get things done, we have to work together.”

Next Act Theatre performs Swing State, February 11-March 8 at Next Act Theatre, 255 S. Water St. For tickets, visit nextact.org