Top-notch 'Trying' makes strong revival at Dramaworks

A young woman stands in a cozy, over-the-garage office, trying to figure out how to stand to meet her new employer. Her boss, an elderly man with a limp, enters. She’s polite. He’s mad that she’s early. He tells her not to do it again.

So begins Joanna Glass’s play “Trying,” based on her time as a secretary for Judge Francis Biddle in 1967 and 1968, and now on stage at Palm Beach Dramaworks in West Palm Beach. The play was originally part of their 2006-2007 season and is the first play in the company’s history to receive a revival.

Biddle is the embodiment of a curmudgeon. He’s led a fascinating life — attorney general under President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, chief American judge presiding over the Nuremberg trials, and the author of eight books. Although Biddle was born and raised a Republican, he joined the Democratic Party during the Depression, and became an advocate for civil rights and against antisemitism. As depicted in “Trying,” he was also a strict grammarian who abhorred a split infinitive, a methodical man who followed a strict routine and didn’t care for change, and who, at 81 years old, had made peace with approaching the end of his life.

Glass channels her experience with Biddle through Sarah Schorr, a young woman hired by Mrs. Biddle to be his last secretary, handling the judge’s correspondence, phone calls, and errands. This is before Google, when one actually had to call or write a letter to confirm a fact about a person’s life. Sarah is professional and strong-willed, and tries to find a way to work with her irascible boss.

Biddle and Sarah come from two different worlds: he’s from an old, wealthy, patrician family; she’s from the Canadian prairie. He’s a Harvard man; she’s bitter about the girls at her old job who got promoted before her not on merit, but because of their names and the school they attended. He’s facing death, while she’s on the brink of life. While “Trying” teaches its audience a great deal about Biddle’s life, it is, at its core, about two people bridging a gap between generations, education, and social classes.

Dennis Creaghan, a Palm Beach Dramaworks stalwart and one of the finest actors in the region, delivers a terrific performance as Judge Biddle, personifying his crotchety nature, but also delving deeper to bring his lovable side to light and turning what, in lesser hands, could be a one-note character into a multi-faceted three-dimensional man.

Kelly McCready plays Sarah with a slow-boiling intensity that builds to the point of explosion. Part of the fun of “Trying” is anticipating the moment when Sarah finally puts her foot down, and McCready pulls it off beautifully.

The design elements of “Trying” are top-notch. Brian O’Keefe’s costumes enhance the characters’ personalities and are period-perfect. Addie Pawlick’s lighting imbues each scene with warmth and changes with the seasons. Roger Arnold’s office set is cozy and traditional, reflecting Judge Biddle’s sensibilities and historic life.

Funny, poignant and two decades old, “Trying” is not only Glass’s valentine to a great man, it is, perhaps, more relevant now than when it was written, because it illustrates the importance, beauty, and enrichment of communicating with one another to create true understanding, and who couldn’t use more of that?

If you go

“Trying” runs through June 9 at Palm Beach Dramaworks, 201 Clematis St., West Palm Beach. For tickets and more information, call 561-514-4042 or visit PalmBeachDramaworks.org.

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: 'Trying' wraps up Dramaworks season in top-notch fashion