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Living Out
Included in this listing is another play - "A Doll's House" by Henrik Absen, also a Dramatists Play Service, Inc. edition.
68 pages, Paperback
First published June 30, 2005
54 people want to read
About the author
Lisa Loomer
16 books4 followersLisa Loomer is an acclaimed American playwright and screenwriter whose work often explores family life, cultural identity, and pressing social issues. She is best known for The Waiting Room, a widely produced play examining body image and societal beauty standards across different cultures and eras. Her powerful storytelling also shaped the screenplay for the film Girl, Interrupted.
Born in New York, Loomer later moved to Mexico, an experience that deepened her connection to Latina and immigrant narratives, which often appear in her work. She studied theatre at Brandeis University and NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts, beginning her career as an actress and stand-up comic before turning to playwriting.
Loomer's plays, including Roe, Living Out, Distracted, and Homefree, have premiered at major theaters such as the Mark Taper Forum, Arena Stage, and Oregon Shakespeare Festival, with many receiving national and international productions. Her work has been honored with awards such as the Jane Chambers Playwriting Award, the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize, and the American Theatre Critics Association Award.
In addition to her plays, Loomer has written for television and film, with credits including Girl, Interrupted, Nappily Ever After, and TV pilots for HBO, CBS, and Showtime. She served as a supervising producer for the second season of Love Is… on OWN. In 2023, she adapted Real Women Have Curves into a stage musical.
Her writing is widely studied in university drama, Women’s Studies, and Latino Studies programs. An alumna of New Dramatists, Loomer’s work is celebrated for its wit, heart, and incisive social commentary, making her one of the most important voices in contemporary American theatre.
Born in New York, Loomer later moved to Mexico, an experience that deepened her connection to Latina and immigrant narratives, which often appear in her work. She studied theatre at Brandeis University and NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts, beginning her career as an actress and stand-up comic before turning to playwriting.
Loomer's plays, including Roe, Living Out, Distracted, and Homefree, have premiered at major theaters such as the Mark Taper Forum, Arena Stage, and Oregon Shakespeare Festival, with many receiving national and international productions. Her work has been honored with awards such as the Jane Chambers Playwriting Award, the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize, and the American Theatre Critics Association Award.
In addition to her plays, Loomer has written for television and film, with credits including Girl, Interrupted, Nappily Ever After, and TV pilots for HBO, CBS, and Showtime. She served as a supervising producer for the second season of Love Is… on OWN. In 2023, she adapted Real Women Have Curves into a stage musical.
Her writing is widely studied in university drama, Women’s Studies, and Latino Studies programs. An alumna of New Dramatists, Loomer’s work is celebrated for its wit, heart, and incisive social commentary, making her one of the most important voices in contemporary American theatre.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
November 6, 2022
Living Out refreshingly tells it like it is. In Lisa Loomer's fine play, Nancy and Richard Robin are lawyers who have recently had their first baby. Richard is a poorly-paid public defender who, sort of against his better judgment, has let himself be talked into moving to a swankier part of Los Angeles to raise their daughter. Nancy is a high-powered entertainment lawyer (though thankfully not the stereotyped Type A superbitch who has become a staple of contemporary American drama).
Because Nancy makes the larger salary, and because Nancy genuinely likes her work, the Robins hire a nanny--excuse me, caregiver; Nancy hates the word "nanny." The one they choose is Ana Hernandez, an El Salvadoran immigrant who is desperate for the job; she and her husband Bobby are trying to save enough money to bring their elder son to this country (he currently lives in El Salvador with his grandmother). Because Ana's experience has taught her that mothers don't want to hire nannies who have young children at home, Ana leads Nancy to believe that her other son is also in El Salvador, though that is not true.
Little lies are just part of the tangled web modern life makes these characters weave: Living Out is about, more than anything else, the inexorable complexity of choices facing people who are trying to do the best for themselves and their families these days. Ana lies to Nancy about her husband's immigrant status (he's illegal), and to her husband when Nancy eventually gives her the name of a good immigration lawyer to help speed things along. Nancy lies to Richard when she finds out her nanny is illegal, and she spies on Ana (on advice from not-so-well-meaning neighbors) to make sure that her new employee doesn't steal money from her. Richard tells Ana to lie to Nancy when Ana reports one day that the baby has crawled for the first time. And so on. And so on.
The fabrications and falsehoods pile up, but naturally so; so when one of them suddenly has enormously serious consequences at the climax of Living Out, we're more than a little jolted. Loomer ends her play realistically, which is to say that the Robins make out better than the Hernandezes; but nobody gets all the things they wanted. She leaves us thinking whether the complicated world that we've created, where it seems that people can't afford to live honestly, is worth the trouble.
Loomer cannily fills out her story with twin choruses--two other mothers in the neighborhood and their two Hispanic nannies--who comment on and occasionally catalyze the action. These four women occupy opposite ends of the economic spectrum; they also provide useful contrast to Nancy and Ana in terms of the values they hold and the choices they make. I love Living Out because it never lets us forget that nothing is black or white in real life; everybody's got a point in this play, and furthermore, everybody gets a chance to explain it.
Because Nancy makes the larger salary, and because Nancy genuinely likes her work, the Robins hire a nanny--excuse me, caregiver; Nancy hates the word "nanny." The one they choose is Ana Hernandez, an El Salvadoran immigrant who is desperate for the job; she and her husband Bobby are trying to save enough money to bring their elder son to this country (he currently lives in El Salvador with his grandmother). Because Ana's experience has taught her that mothers don't want to hire nannies who have young children at home, Ana leads Nancy to believe that her other son is also in El Salvador, though that is not true.
Little lies are just part of the tangled web modern life makes these characters weave: Living Out is about, more than anything else, the inexorable complexity of choices facing people who are trying to do the best for themselves and their families these days. Ana lies to Nancy about her husband's immigrant status (he's illegal), and to her husband when Nancy eventually gives her the name of a good immigration lawyer to help speed things along. Nancy lies to Richard when she finds out her nanny is illegal, and she spies on Ana (on advice from not-so-well-meaning neighbors) to make sure that her new employee doesn't steal money from her. Richard tells Ana to lie to Nancy when Ana reports one day that the baby has crawled for the first time. And so on. And so on.
The fabrications and falsehoods pile up, but naturally so; so when one of them suddenly has enormously serious consequences at the climax of Living Out, we're more than a little jolted. Loomer ends her play realistically, which is to say that the Robins make out better than the Hernandezes; but nobody gets all the things they wanted. She leaves us thinking whether the complicated world that we've created, where it seems that people can't afford to live honestly, is worth the trouble.
Loomer cannily fills out her story with twin choruses--two other mothers in the neighborhood and their two Hispanic nannies--who comment on and occasionally catalyze the action. These four women occupy opposite ends of the economic spectrum; they also provide useful contrast to Nancy and Ana in terms of the values they hold and the choices they make. I love Living Out because it never lets us forget that nothing is black or white in real life; everybody's got a point in this play, and furthermore, everybody gets a chance to explain it.
February 18, 2011
Reading the synopsis that GoodReads provided for this play, I can see how Loomer and her play tried to reach all those goals. I have to say though that I disagree with the assessment that it was successful.
In college I stage-managed the show, and with that was involved with months of rehearsals and discussions of the play. The actors involved always seemed hampered by the shortcomings of the writing. It was too cold with too few humorous breaks to let the audience in. (No matter how hard the cast worked to make it accessible.)
---spoiler?--
The tragic ending with Ana's son's death seemed really out of the blue and tacked on. It was as if Ms. Loomer knew her play wasn't achieving what she wanted it to emotionally so she did whatever she had to, to get some sort of reaction out of the audience.
---
Ultimately that's why I decided to file it under 'unfortunate crap' in my shelving. It's unfortunate because the basic premise of the story has so many opportunities for greatness and the actual play falls short of all of them.
In college I stage-managed the show, and with that was involved with months of rehearsals and discussions of the play. The actors involved always seemed hampered by the shortcomings of the writing. It was too cold with too few humorous breaks to let the audience in. (No matter how hard the cast worked to make it accessible.)
---spoiler?--
The tragic ending with Ana's son's death seemed really out of the blue and tacked on. It was as if Ms. Loomer knew her play wasn't achieving what she wanted it to emotionally so she did whatever she had to, to get some sort of reaction out of the audience.
---
Ultimately that's why I decided to file it under 'unfortunate crap' in my shelving. It's unfortunate because the basic premise of the story has so many opportunities for greatness and the actual play falls short of all of them.
February 6, 2011
Two mothers from very different social and economic backgrounds experience what they believe is the necessity of returning to the work force and leaving the care of their children in the hands of others. The response of both husbands to this decision is similar, distinguished in expression by their social class differences. Ana, an illegal immigrant, works as a nanny and wants to "live out" of her employer's home, so she can be with her husband and their son; they have left their oldest son in the care of relatives in San Salvador. In order to obtain employment (which will allow her to earn the money to bring her first son to the United States) and still be able to "live out," she lies about her family status and leads her employer to believe that her children are still in San Salvador. The play uses a minimal set, preferably on a turntable, and addresses the question: don't we all sacrifice our ethics to obtain material security?
September 17, 2013
"Living Out" follows the story of Ana, an illegal immigrant, and Nancy, her employer. Both women are striving to have the perfect life for them and their family. They take risks in order to have it all, but not everything they risk is worth it. Both women are similar in their goals, but their differences in race and class keep them from truly knowing each other. This play sets out to answer the question: Is it truly possible to have it all?
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews