NORTH CENTER — It was the "Why? ... why?" heard 'round the world — figure skater Nancy Kerrigan's plaintive wail after being clubbed in the leg while leaving a practice session in the run-up to the 1994 Winter Olympics.
In a you-can't-make-this-stuff-up twist, Kerrigan's archrival Tonya Harding and her husband Jeff Gillooly were later implicated in the planning of the attack, a true crime tale that grabbed worldwide headlines and, along with the O. J. Simpson trial, provided plenty of lurid material for the emerging 24-hour news cycle.
More than 30 years later, American Theater Company's upcoming world premiere of Dan Aibel's play "T" (for Tonya) attempts to answer Kerrigan's question.
Why?
Actors Leah Raidt (T), Tyler Ravelson (Jeff) and Kelli Simpkins (Joanne) at the first rehearsal for American Theater Company's production of the world premiere of "T." [Dusty Sheldon]
"Each scene is almost written like a cage match. There's this push and pull between Jeff and Tonya — what he wants for her career and what she wants," said Will Davis, American Theater Company's artistic director. "It's this knock-down, drag-out desire to make it happen."
Gillooly, in particular, was preoccupied with the media's juxtaposition of the conventionally attractive and feminine Kerrigan against the less polished, more athletic Harding, Davis said.
Harding "designed her own costumes and they were terrible" — Kerrigan had Vera Wang in her corner — "she picked her own music; we find her so campy and gauche," Davis said.
In short, Harding may have been the first U.S. female skater to land a triple axel, but she wasn't the Olympic Princess the American public or media wanted.
(She's still not pretty enough for Hollywood's taste. "Wolf of Wall Street" beauty Margot Robbie has been cast as Harding in the upcoming feature film "I, Tonya," and will star opposite the hunky Sebastian Stan, best known as the Winter Soldier in the Avengers franchise, as Gillooly.)
As depicted in "T," the couple's underdog status — viewed more as "trashy" than "scrappy" — creates anxiety and a feeling of disenfranchisement, which motivates their drive to get ahead at all costs.
"The play is really preoccupied with class — if you start three steps behind, what's it going to take to catch up to someone like Nancy?" Davis said.
The subject matter is as relevant today, perhaps even more so, as it was in 1994, Davis said.
"I actually think Tonya's having a zeitgeist moment," Davis said.
"She was a poor American. To be a poor woman trying to win a gold medal, there's thematic fodder about the sham of the American Dream," he said.
"There's something in the current moment about how impossible it is to be poor in this country," said Davis. "The country has continued to stratify."
In addition to sparking conversations about class, Davis said he hopes "T" provokes discussion of gender stereotypes as well.
Harding "was so muscular and strong," he said. "In a man, it would have been lauded."
Preview performances of "T" will begin May 18, with the play's official opening night scheduled for May 22 at the theater, 1909 W. Byron St.
