I just got back from seeing The Disciple, Rachel Carey's bold new play about novelist and philosophical provocateur Ayn Rand and her follower and much younger lover, Nathaniel Branden.
Maja Wampuszyc is chillingly perfect as the domineering Rand. I first got to know Wampuszyc's work when she appeared in my play Foggy Bottom at the Abingdon Theatre Company, but she went on to premiere on Broadway in Irena's Vow and more recently was in James Gray's film The Immigrant.
Cameron Darwin Bossert plays Branden, the devoted acolyte of Rand who went on to make a name for himself as a psychologist and self-help guru. We see him in 1979, leading a self-esteem retreat, and in flashback as a young man manipulated and used by Rand for her own purposes.
The show is playing at the Wild Project until July 25th, and if you join theatre company Thirdwing for a monthly fee, it's ridiculously cheap. Check it out!
