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By the Way, Meet Vera Stark
"Nottage is one of our finest playwrights, a smart, empathetic, and daring storyteller who tells a story an audience won't expect."― Time Out New York "Lynn Nottage's work explores depths of humanness, the overlapping complexities of race, gender, culture and history―and the startling simplicity of desire―with a clear tenderness, with humor, with compassion."―Paula Vogel, Pulitzer Prize–winning playwright In her first new play since the critically acclaimed Ruined , Lynn Nottage examines the legacy of African Americans in Hollywood in a dramatic stylistic departure from her previous work. Fluidly incorporating film and video elements into her writing for the first time, Nottage's comedy tells the story of Vera Stark, an African American maid and budding actress who has a tangled relationship with her boss, a white Hollywood star desperately grasping to hold onto her career. Stirring audiences out of complacency by tackling racial stereotyping in the entertainment industry, Nottage highlights the paradox of black actors in 1930s Hollywood while jumping back and forward in time and location in this uniquely theatrical narrative. By the Way, Meet Vera Stark premiered in New York in 2011 and received subsequent productions at Los Angeles's Geffen Playhouse in fall 2012 and Chicago's Goodman Theatre and The Lyric Stage Company of Boston in spring 2013. Lynn Nottage 's plays include the Pulitzer Prize–winning Ruined ; Intimate ApparelFabulation, or the Re-Education of Undine ; Crumbs from the Table of Joy ; Las Meninas ; Mud, River, Stone ; Por'Knockers ; and POOF!
112 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2011
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About the author
Lynn Nottage
32 books219 followersLynn Nottage is an American playwright whose work often deals with the lives of marginalized people. She is a professor of Playwriting at Columbia University. She was the first woman to have won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama twice; the first in 2009 for Ruined, and the second in 2017 for Sweat.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 44 reviews
February 6, 2018
Last year as part of my Pulitzer challenge I read Sweat by Lynn Nottage. A contemporary look at how a factory closing effected people in a blue collar community, Sweat merited its award. Previously Nottage also won the Pulitzer for Ruined, and she is earning her place as one of America's leading playwrights today. I recently saw some reviews for another of Nottage's plays By the Way, Meet Vera Stark and decided that it would be a worthy inclusion in my African American History Month lineup. A historical look at the treatment of African Americans in the motion picture industry, By the Way, Meet Vera Stark is a poignant look at things left unsaid behind the scenes.
It is the 1930s, and Vera Stark has left the Vaudeville circuit in an attempt to make a name for herself in segregated Hollywood. With the country in the throes of Depression, Vera takes on work for a promising star actress named Gloria Mitchell, and becomes the woman's maid. It is apparent from the beginning that Vera has more talent than Gloria ever will, yet, with attitudes being what they were at the time, Vera's only hope for a break in the industry is that Gloria puts in a good name for her, and, even if she does, it is only for a bit part, most likely in slavery times. Even though California had always been a favored destination during the Great Migration era, motion pictures were shown to national and international audiences, leaving African American actresses in the roles of mammys or slaves. Those light enough like Vera's roommate Anna Marie 'Fernandez" attempted to pass for white, but those blessed with darker skin tones like Vera were not as fortunate and had to work twice as hard for lesser roles. As a result, Vera only took on roles that were not demeaning to herself or to her race.
The second act of the play occurs in 1973 and 2003 on a talk show and a panel discussing Vera's first movie role. While attitudes toward race had changed, in 1973 many stereotypes still existed. After the passage of the Civil Rights Act, it was taboo to mention slavery on television. Vera appeared on a television show and the younger generation desired to discuss her role in The Belle of New Orleans, yet they could not bring up slavery on the air. As a surprise, Gloria appeared on the same show, and, even though the film catapulted Vera's career, Gloria once again stole the limelight due to her race. Not surprisingly looking through a 21st century lens, is that the talk show host encouraged Gloria's behavior. As the 2003 consortium panel started and stopped the footage, they discuss at length Vera and Gloria's relationship in terms of race and gender and who benefitted the most from this relationship. Although the 2003 scenes received the least amount of text, I was most fascinated by these as they viewed Vera's place in the motion picture industry through a historical perspective.
By the Way, Meet Vera Stark is a powerful script that pays homage to African American pioneers in Hollywood's motion picture industry. Vera's character is based on actual actresses who either chose to pass for white or took on demeaning roles when Hollywood was still segregated. By looking at this period piece through a historical lens, Lynn Nottage has preserved this often overlooked slice of Americana. Having also read Sweat, I thought that this text was just as powerful even though it did not win the Pulitzer. Each of Nottage's plays is more brilliant than the next and she should be viewed as one of the foremost playwrights of this generation. A poignant read, By the Way, Meet Vera Stark has been a worthy entry in this year's African American History Month challenge.
4+ stars
It is the 1930s, and Vera Stark has left the Vaudeville circuit in an attempt to make a name for herself in segregated Hollywood. With the country in the throes of Depression, Vera takes on work for a promising star actress named Gloria Mitchell, and becomes the woman's maid. It is apparent from the beginning that Vera has more talent than Gloria ever will, yet, with attitudes being what they were at the time, Vera's only hope for a break in the industry is that Gloria puts in a good name for her, and, even if she does, it is only for a bit part, most likely in slavery times. Even though California had always been a favored destination during the Great Migration era, motion pictures were shown to national and international audiences, leaving African American actresses in the roles of mammys or slaves. Those light enough like Vera's roommate Anna Marie 'Fernandez" attempted to pass for white, but those blessed with darker skin tones like Vera were not as fortunate and had to work twice as hard for lesser roles. As a result, Vera only took on roles that were not demeaning to herself or to her race.
The second act of the play occurs in 1973 and 2003 on a talk show and a panel discussing Vera's first movie role. While attitudes toward race had changed, in 1973 many stereotypes still existed. After the passage of the Civil Rights Act, it was taboo to mention slavery on television. Vera appeared on a television show and the younger generation desired to discuss her role in The Belle of New Orleans, yet they could not bring up slavery on the air. As a surprise, Gloria appeared on the same show, and, even though the film catapulted Vera's career, Gloria once again stole the limelight due to her race. Not surprisingly looking through a 21st century lens, is that the talk show host encouraged Gloria's behavior. As the 2003 consortium panel started and stopped the footage, they discuss at length Vera and Gloria's relationship in terms of race and gender and who benefitted the most from this relationship. Although the 2003 scenes received the least amount of text, I was most fascinated by these as they viewed Vera's place in the motion picture industry through a historical perspective.
By the Way, Meet Vera Stark is a powerful script that pays homage to African American pioneers in Hollywood's motion picture industry. Vera's character is based on actual actresses who either chose to pass for white or took on demeaning roles when Hollywood was still segregated. By looking at this period piece through a historical lens, Lynn Nottage has preserved this often overlooked slice of Americana. Having also read Sweat, I thought that this text was just as powerful even though it did not win the Pulitzer. Each of Nottage's plays is more brilliant than the next and she should be viewed as one of the foremost playwrights of this generation. A poignant read, By the Way, Meet Vera Stark has been a worthy entry in this year's African American History Month challenge.
4+ stars
January 31, 2018
Lynn Nottage plays are uncluttered and make an immediate point; they are funny but also point to race and the way it plays out for actors and their audience. We don't feel manipulated and like being reminded of larger issues. This one has a big surprise at the end and overall leaves an impression of light-heartedness and humor...as much as one can be when one is dead serious about painful truths. The roles for black actresses in Hollywood in the 1930s were ridiculously few: one had be a slave or a maid, there was nothing else. White directors wanted the black roles to be filled with "real" country folk descended from slaves, as though acting weren't the point after all. Actors would scheme for these parts nonetheless.
This two-act play addresses three time periods, all set in Hollywood: 1933, 1973, and 2003. At least half the cast is black, and half is white.
Act One opens in 1933 on the bedroom of a white actress who is having some trouble learning her lines. Her black maid Vera is prompting her, not without a little throw-away sarcasm. The two seem especially intimate in conversation but there is no love lost, particularly. One gathers that the white woman relies on the black maid to keep her organized and producing, and the black maid is a tiny bit resentful that her assistance is not rewarded with bit parts in the actress' films. That is why they are all in Hollywood, after all.
It's a terrific short play, packed with great language and situational pranks. At the same time, it conveys a real truth that has everything to do with what is being discussed, finally, in Hollywood under the aegis #OscarsSoWhite. The black actress Gabrielle Union wrote in her recently published memoir, We're Going to Need More Wine", that black actresses need to be given more and better roles in order to be recognized. The talent is there, it just needs to be showcased. Same story, nearly a century later.
In Act Two the time has jumped to 2003 when a group of people are discussing Vera's brilliant acting in an underwritten bit part that raises the movie to the level of “Art." They reference Vera's last known TV interview in 1973, forty years after the film was made, when she met again with the lead of the film, the white woman of Act One, Scene One.
So enamored am I of Nottage's plays, I hesitate to chose a favorite from among them, but this one, with it's layered time, great comic roles, and deliberate pointing to the lack of substantive change across a century, is among my favorites. Vera's personality changes over the forty years since the film was made, but she is a consummate actress to the end.
This play satirizes Hollywood and all the well-intentioned but unmistakably dull audience that takes what it is fed by delusional directors and does not demand more and better writing, casting, acting, directing. I love it.
Other Nottage plays recently reviewed:
※ Sweat
※ Ruined
※ Intimate Apparel
Just got a tweet saying Nottage has a short play, "Poof," available on the Playing on Air podcast. This is an early play Nottage wrote while she was working on human rights concerns in Africa. An interview with the author comes at the end of the performance. Enjoy!
This two-act play addresses three time periods, all set in Hollywood: 1933, 1973, and 2003. At least half the cast is black, and half is white.
Act One opens in 1933 on the bedroom of a white actress who is having some trouble learning her lines. Her black maid Vera is prompting her, not without a little throw-away sarcasm. The two seem especially intimate in conversation but there is no love lost, particularly. One gathers that the white woman relies on the black maid to keep her organized and producing, and the black maid is a tiny bit resentful that her assistance is not rewarded with bit parts in the actress' films. That is why they are all in Hollywood, after all.
It's a terrific short play, packed with great language and situational pranks. At the same time, it conveys a real truth that has everything to do with what is being discussed, finally, in Hollywood under the aegis #OscarsSoWhite. The black actress Gabrielle Union wrote in her recently published memoir, We're Going to Need More Wine", that black actresses need to be given more and better roles in order to be recognized. The talent is there, it just needs to be showcased. Same story, nearly a century later.
In Act Two the time has jumped to 2003 when a group of people are discussing Vera's brilliant acting in an underwritten bit part that raises the movie to the level of “Art." They reference Vera's last known TV interview in 1973, forty years after the film was made, when she met again with the lead of the film, the white woman of Act One, Scene One.
So enamored am I of Nottage's plays, I hesitate to chose a favorite from among them, but this one, with it's layered time, great comic roles, and deliberate pointing to the lack of substantive change across a century, is among my favorites. Vera's personality changes over the forty years since the film was made, but she is a consummate actress to the end.
This play satirizes Hollywood and all the well-intentioned but unmistakably dull audience that takes what it is fed by delusional directors and does not demand more and better writing, casting, acting, directing. I love it.
Other Nottage plays recently reviewed:
※ Sweat
※ Ruined
※ Intimate Apparel
Just got a tweet saying Nottage has a short play, "Poof," available on the Playing on Air podcast. This is an early play Nottage wrote while she was working on human rights concerns in Africa. An interview with the author comes at the end of the performance. Enjoy!
December 30, 2016
This text is so rich. Act One explores the complexities that plagued African-American women in the glamorous Hollywood films of the 1930s, and Act Two looks back from the present to evaluate how one African-American actress, Vera Stark, faced those identity challenges. I found the ending with the academic colloquium especially powerful. It asks questions about how our words and actions are interpreted by others when we're gone, and it leaves you wondering about the truth. I loved it, and I'm eager to read it again.
Read
September 25, 2013Saw the Goodman production of this play, and now have finally read it. Always a pleasure to read a new Nottage play, and this one feels much different than her other works. It's nice to know she's still playing with form and experimenting. I can't wait to see what work is still yet to come.
October 21, 2021
If you're into the "movie within a talk show within a colloquium within a play" trope, this book is for you.
September 28, 2017
An interesting play about the complexities of passing, the success of black actresses, and academic perception of the film industry. It is definitely worth a read.
March 19, 2018
This is exactly my sort of thing. A must read for classic Hollywood fans, and just a genuinely great idea for a play. Starts simple and builds to a wonderfully complex conclusion.
May 12, 2019
Oh to see this performed live
December 16, 2014
This play is an impressive juggling act, as Nottage balances scenes from African-American actress Vera Stark's career with a scholarly retrospective on her work. It speaks powerfully to the long history of marginalization within the culture and only just fails to pull everything together with a startling revelation near the end. Well worth reading and with some juicy comic dialog that would play very well.
August 19, 2017
First play of new play discussion group. Review to follow...
(Play discussion group script #1)
(Play discussion group script #1)
December 31, 2018
Lynn Nottage is utterly brilliant, and I should have been reading her work long before now. I absolutely devoured this play, and I can't think of enough superlatives to describe it.
June 3, 2024
Right off the bat, when I saw Gloria described as a 'white' starlet, I wondered why Nottage had put quotes around the word white. I made a note on the margin of my physical copy of the play that the quotes could mean that Gloria was passing as white, and I figured that would be an important part of the commentary of this play. Though it turns out I was right about the importance (commentary-wise) of the fact that Gloria is able to pass as white, I was totally shocked to find out that Gloria and Vera are cousins.
When I found out about this, it made me think back to that scene where Mr. Slasvick says that Vera Stark sounds like a name that his publicity department would have come up with. Since Vera and Gloria have different last names, I'm wondering if Vera did in fact come up with her last name. (Or maybe Gloria and Vera are cousins on their mother's side of the family, which in that case they would have different legal last names.)
Overall, I think I like this play better than "Sweat". Part of the reason why I like "By The Way, Meet Vera Stark" more than "Sweat" is because I'm interested in the film industry and its history, so the whole setting and plot of this text was compelling for me. However, I also think the commentary in this play is more nuanced than that of "Sweat" (which makes sense, because my English teacher did say that "Sweat" is one of Nottage's more introductory plays). To illustrate, on page 91, the audience gets to see a tense debate about how responsible Vera Stark is for perpetuating the stereotypes of Black women in her film roles. On top of that, once we find out Gloria and Vera are blood related, that really makes us as an audience think about just how much race is a social construct; Gloria and Vera have the same bloodline, yet they have entirely different acting careers because one has lighter skin than the other and can thus play white (or whiter) roles.
When I found out about this, it made me think back to that scene where Mr. Slasvick says that Vera Stark sounds like a name that his publicity department would have come up with. Since Vera and Gloria have different last names, I'm wondering if Vera did in fact come up with her last name. (Or maybe Gloria and Vera are cousins on their mother's side of the family, which in that case they would have different legal last names.)
Overall, I think I like this play better than "Sweat". Part of the reason why I like "By The Way, Meet Vera Stark" more than "Sweat" is because I'm interested in the film industry and its history, so the whole setting and plot of this text was compelling for me. However, I also think the commentary in this play is more nuanced than that of "Sweat" (which makes sense, because my English teacher did say that "Sweat" is one of Nottage's more introductory plays). To illustrate, on page 91, the audience gets to see a tense debate about how responsible Vera Stark is for perpetuating the stereotypes of Black women in her film roles. On top of that, once we find out Gloria and Vera are blood related, that really makes us as an audience think about just how much race is a social construct; Gloria and Vera have the same bloodline, yet they have entirely different acting careers because one has lighter skin than the other and can thus play white (or whiter) roles.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 28, 2024
This play almost felt like it held your hand as you wandered into a social commentary, weird but... true. It almost slips your defenses until you realise your slap bang in the middle of a discourse that has real gravitas, you know their talking about real issues, but it doesn’t seem like its blaming/shaming anymore, yet you can’t help but understand her pain and the ramifications of what she’s talking about and faced.
To be an actress, where the only roles available are maids, slaves, or ‘the help’; then find success in an epic feature alongside your boss, a white woman; then subsequently go on to work in the industry only to then constantly have conversations about your ‘breakout role’ of playing a maid despite whatever else you’ve gone on to achieve... is a lot.
A scene worth mentioning, again without giving too much away, was in the living room where Vera and Lottie were able to mould instantaneously into a more ‘docile’ version of themselves. The subtle yet progressive changes to their body language and speech just really stuck with me, a stark reminder that the ability to do so was often a necessity/means of survival for black people.
Definitely worth a read
To be an actress, where the only roles available are maids, slaves, or ‘the help’; then find success in an epic feature alongside your boss, a white woman; then subsequently go on to work in the industry only to then constantly have conversations about your ‘breakout role’ of playing a maid despite whatever else you’ve gone on to achieve... is a lot.
A scene worth mentioning, again without giving too much away, was in the living room where Vera and Lottie were able to mould instantaneously into a more ‘docile’ version of themselves. The subtle yet progressive changes to their body language and speech just really stuck with me, a stark reminder that the ability to do so was often a necessity/means of survival for black people.
Definitely worth a read
December 9, 2024
Read this for theater, this is one of the worst civil rights related books/stories i've ever read. I am black and disliked it bc of how ridiculous it is, the film on youtube shows her at MLK speech but it's a horrible shot and gives no info of identity to who to the protest was. This was clearly a made up story and not a real non-fiction piece. She was also said to be at the rally but played a character in theatre that was disrespectful to her own kind trying to pass as a non-black woman.
August 30, 2023
This play made me feel sad. "That's the problem with this town, you don't die once, you're forced to die many slow deaths." The film industry is sordid and horrible. Lynn Nottage is an incredible playwright - the amount of research in her work and the perfect execution of storytelling and politics (?for lack of better word).
August 23, 2021
I wish the second half was as strong as the first half. I felt Vera's character was forgotten about and really had no arc, but I guess that was the point that black actresses at that time were forgotten about near the end of their careers. Still, I wish the second act was stronger.
April 8, 2022
Nottage played a fascinating formal experiment in the construction of Vera Stark. It definitely comes off a little jarring on the page, and I really would benefit from at least hearing this out loud in a reading, but it's a unique experiment that I'm glad exists.
January 1, 2019
A delightful and complex play. The structure is beautifully executed, and the text's themes and issues come through loud and clear without being clunky.
March 11, 2019
Play.
Phenomenal.
Phenomenal.
August 17, 2019
My son had to read this play for one of his college classes, and then went to see it performed live. Interesting. Quick read.
November 18, 2019
pleasent read but like every play, it says so much more underneath
February 3, 2022
The characters were amazing, the dialogue was alive and kicking, the themes relevant even today. It would be a true gift to see this on stage and perhaps even the screen!
March 14, 2022
Diverse, witty, and intensely smart— one of my favorite plays I’ve read this year!!
April 7, 2022
4.5/5
October 10, 2022
Lynn Nottage is one of the most prolific living playwrights in the world for a reason.
February 27, 2023
Also saw in theater
August 8, 2023
Lynn Nottage is a playwright to read! I loved following Vera’s story of ambition, her rise to fame, and her disappearance. I was fascinated by her relationships with other characters.
October 23, 2023
I feel like the playwright herself is pretty good… it’s just that this play as a whole kinda wasn’t…
December 11, 2023
Very upsetting in real life that this has happened and is a good play to have a discussion afterwards
December 31, 2023
This play changed my brain chemistry. This play was justice for Hattie McDaniels.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 44 reviews