Lungs is a stream of consciousness rom-com set in the pre-Trump fainting spell that privileged liberal America endured very loudly. The narrative employs the manic pixie dream girl and frustrated musician as the stereotypes to help us struggle with big decisions whilst policing climate change and renewables, carbon footprints, and the rise of the Deplorables. The young couple flails in histrionics like used car lot inflatables about the burdens of procreation amidst the uncertainties of the future. They face challenges, betrayals, reconciliations, all while the audience sits in cringe, outright contemptuous laughter, and surprising reflections of our own behavior.
The play demands a sparse stage, insisted on by the playwright Duncan Macmillan. The duo that will carry the entire production are unnamed and stand-in for the Millenial/Z/Alpha subculture of eager and performative “stewards of the planet”. Noble, selfish and selfless, undisciplined and dictatorial, well-read and failing comprehension. I didn’t like the characters, but I celebrate the performances. I liked the play, but I loved the production. I didn’t enjoy it fully until I went home and thought about what on Earth was the point of what I just saw, and then it clicked. Loudly.
Lungs is a snake waiting in the grass. It uses some clever misdirection in its format to draw you into the human drama unfolding under the lights. “Get close to this charming couple”, it bends you. “Care what they care about. Root for their love, their growth.” It bends you further. “Ignore the grating subtleties of their personalities. Forget how they dismiss or deride each other.” Now take a step back and notice how much of yourself lingers with them. How your criticism catches in your throat to avoid hypocrisy. How over-the-top yet frustratingly realistic these people are. How “what the fuck have we done to ourselves as a society?” won’t stop spinning in your head.
Sometimes I wish I could just see the play with all of you at once, and just have a drink afterwards and discuss. Because that is impractical, I terrorize my wife with impressions and knee-jerk reactions to themes and the overall experience of the night out. Much of what I wrote above is a pit-stop on the journey to fully absorbing the work. There are other avenues of thought that arrive at appropriate destinations of understanding, and I wish you well on the ride. I hope it’s scenic. I may have taken the back roads.
What I really want to talk about, however, is the debuts of massive talent at Blk Va Theatre Alliance and the hustle and panache of its leadership.
First, Emily King Brown makes her directorial debut in Richmond, but is far into a notable career on and back stage. I want to talk about a lot of people here, so I won’t go into deep stats listed on the back of her baseball card. Suffice to say, her background spans formats, genres, and talents. She did an incredible job of creating meaningful areas of the stage that stood in for spaces we could identify specifically in imagination. She employed metaphor through minuet for subtle moments of unspoken character exposition, and made a modest terrace of platforms an entire world for her cast.
Second, and I swear you will be hearing this a lot, is “TJ Washington, Lighting Designer”. This is her debut with the title, having previously assisted on Firehouse’s “Peter and the Starcatcher” (great production also!) and holding the role of Lighting Supervisor at King’s Dominion. I mean, what? I got the impression this was a big moment for her, and I am here for it. The lighting plan for the play was essentially on autoplay. Imagine lighting a play the way you score a ballet. Everything is timed to the performance, locked in, and, like a symphonic accompaniment, now dictates the pace of the production. Maybe I’m just a nerd for these things, but I’m impressed.
Now to the cast.
Lily Marcheschi just got to Richmond from California nine months ago. This is her fourth play in RVA in that span of time. It is obvious why. One of the challenges of Lungs is that it hops from moment to moment like a French New Wave Film. Days, months, years sometimes, go by in the span of a breath or a cross from stage right to left. Emotions and motivations shift in the span of a pirouette and Lily was never caught catching up. She was in each moment, every soliloquy. Every shift of era, or change in contemplation within an implied fast cut, was executed as if she were patiently waiting for us to meet her there. She was prepared. I’m very much looking forward to seeing her further break out in town.
Robbie Winston, playing opposite Lily, gives the Boyfriend a heart, some pity, and a dagger. Benign is great to hear when you’re at the doctor’s office, but not so great to describe a partner. He reacts, interacts, but rarely acts, until he does. In heartbreaking, and selfish ways. His character is a study in patience, failure, and forgiveness. Robbie makes you feel each thing without submission to parody. He is us writ large. Loving and careless. A doofus, a refuge, an honest friend and an opportunistic liar. Lungs gives you a lot of lane to weave in your feelings for the characters. Robbie has us swerving onto both shoulders in search of the double yellow line.
I cannot comment on the success of this effort without calling out Tariq Karriem, the Artistic Director and Production Manager of BVTA. Tariq presides over his third season in this role. He is delightful in a way that wranglers of art are frequently not. The subversive nature of this production was not lost on him. There is a devil behind those kind eyes, and I, for one, live for the imp behind the smile. I give high praise to everyone that made Lungs a sucker punch worth keeling over for.
Show: Lungs by Duncan Macmillan
Presented by: Black VA Theatre Alliance (BVTA)
Director: Emily King Brown
Venue: The Basement
Run Dates: November 20–30, 2025
Tickets available HERE
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