Angela Timberman Photo by Dan Norman

The solo play Ann by Holland Taylor, spills all the beans on this iconic figure, and is the latest offering from Prime Productions, playing at the Conn Theater in Minneapolis. The bean-spiller is the wonderful actor Angela Timberman, who does a swell job of inhabiting the life-affirming, truth-telling Richards, whose penchant for "telling it like it is" was matched only by her razor-sharp wit. Had she chosen a career in stand-up comedy, Richards could have held her own with Joan Rivers, Roseanne Barr, or any of the comedy queens of her day.

Timberman delivers on this broad and bawdy sense of humor, along with the probing intelligence that informed it. She also reveals a hint of Richards' regret over her descent into alcoholism–in one sobering scene, she describes the intervention by loved ones that led her to seek rehabilitation–and the dissolution of her marriage to her high school sweetheart. However, for Richards, regrets were not an excuse for slowing down, but an invitation to shift into higher hear and keep moving forward, a drive fueled by optimism that is inherent in Timberman's performance.

Taylor, an esteemed actor, not only wrote but produced Ann, giving herself the juicy lead role which brought her a 2013 Tony Award nomination as Best Actress when the play was mounted in New York's Lincoln Center after runs in Chicago and Washington. Ann and Taylor's performance were filmed in Austin, Texas, and aired on PBS's "Great Performances" series in 2020, which is where I first saw the play, but it was not the first time I had seen Ann Richards. I was among those who heard her keynote address at the 1988 Democratic National Convention, where the then Texas State Treasurer made a much deeper impression on many than the party's presidential candidate, Michael Dukakis.

Ann uses the occasion of Richards, later in her life, delivering a graduation speech at an unnamed institution of learning. Given her audience, she refrains from her usual casual use of profanities, though can't resist slipping in one "dirty joke." She pauses long enough to leave the speakers rostrum and take a seat, summoning up memories of where her journey began. Richards describes, in colorful, homespun terms, her small-town childhood in rural Texas, a stay in San Diego (while her father was in the Armed Forces during World War II) that exposed her to a much more diverse world, and then returning to Texas. Her life as wife of a politically active civil rights attorney got her noticed as a great organizer and fundraiser for other people's campaigns. Her first foray into elected office was as a Travis County Supervisor before going statewide as Treasurer and drawing the national spotlight at the 1988 Democratic National Convention. That was enough to enable her to squeak to victory in 1990 and become the second woman governor in Texas history.

At this juncture in the play, an executive desk is ferried in, placed center stage, and we see Richards in "a day in the life" mode, as she fields a plethora of phone calls, places calls to hound her staff, none of whom are rising to her high expectations, gives a journalist a quote for an upcoming story on abortion rights, goes through a sheath of paperwork on her desk, fumes over ill-formed travel plans, calls for background papers to inform her response to a constituent concern, and continuously shouts directions to her secretary, Nancy, whose even-keeled responses are pre-recorded, spoken by actor Bonni Allen.

There are also a couple of contacts with President Bill Clinton, one southland liberal rubbing shoulders with another. A telling insight into both figures comes when Richards opens an envelope that came in the mail from Clinton. It contains a crossword puzzle he sent to her so that she could revel in seeing her name used as a clue. But Richards is fairly sure his real reason for sending it was to show off that he completed the crossword in ink.

Two through-lines provide focus that keeps this crazy quilt of activity from overwhelming. First is Richard's deliberation, which must be made by the next day, about whether to issue a stay of execution to keep a man found guilty of a horrendous, violent crime from being put to death. We are party to the governor's mental wrestling match, considering the convicted man's abusive, neglected childhood, and that fact that Catholic church leaders are calling for forgiveness, counter to the public's expectation that the state show no mercy to murderer-rapists.

The second through-line is in a totally different vein. Richards shoehorns in calls with each of her four grown children around plans for an upcoming fishing weekend. Here she wrestles with the same foibles as any other family matriarch, including a son who threatens not to come because last time his feelings got hurt in a cutthroat game of charades. At these moments, Richards tone changes, and she is anyone's feisty but loving mom, holding on to her hat as head of the family. She may be the most powerful woman in Texas, but she is still a regular mom and grandma. The role of Ann Richards is as wily as a panhandle cyclone, and Timberman keeps her lasso firmly around the eye of the storm.

Ellen Fenster-Gharib directs this production and keeps Timberman on track without a beat being missed over the two acts. Rich Hamson's costume features a conservative white suit, which is how Richards was often seen, and Tracy Swenson came up with a wig that replicates Richard's helmet of hair-sprayed white tresses. Lily Isaacson's projections provide the images that serve as backdrops throughout the play. Alex Clark's lighting focusses in to create intimacy in the more confessional moments, as opposed to the bright lighting of a political event. Anita Kelling's sound design allows us to hear protesters outside the Capital, hoping to influence the governor's decision about the man on death row. The movement in and out of Richard's executive desk is somewhat awkwardly executed, but that is a small hiccup in an otherwise smooth staging.

In 1994, Richards lost her second bid for governor to George W. Bush, who was six years away from becoming the next president. The play continues past her time in office, through the remaining years of her life. Much of the progressive reform agenda she championed has been reversed by her successors. But while she had the chance, Ann Richards was a force to reckon with in Texas, and beacon to liberal-thinking Americans across the nation. As we face the prospect of the coming election, Ann is a welcome refresher about the not-so-distant past history that laid a segment of the groundwork for our nation's next move.

Ann, presented by Prime Productions, runs through September 22, 2024, at the Conn Theater, 1900 Nicollet Avenue, Minneapolis MN. For information and tickets, please visit www.primeprods.org.

Playwright: Holland Taylor; Director: Ellen Fenster-Gharib; Assistant Director: Alex Church; Costume Design: Rich Hamson; Lighting Design: Alex Clark; Sound Design: Anita Kelling; Wig Design: Bee Tremmel; Wig Design: Marc Berg; Tracy Swenson; Projection Design: Lily Isaacson; Dialect and Vocal Coach: Sara Becker; Stage Manager: Mirana Shunkwiler; Assistant Stage Manager: Q'ori Goerdt.

Cast: Angela Timberman (Governor Ann Richards), Bonnie Allen (voice of Nancy).