Under the Radar Review: The Ford/Hill Project

A show weaving together the testimonies of Christine Blasey Ford and Anita Hill could easily slip into heavy-handedness. However, in Waterwell’s The Ford/Hill Project at La MaMa as part of the 2026 Under the Radar Festival, cocreators Lee Sunday Evans and Elizabeth Marvel choose subtlety at every moment, crafting a show that is gripping instead of preachy. The Ford/Hill Project is necessary viewing not just because of its topic, but because it’s a riveting night of theater.

The four actors of The Ford/Hill Project (Marvel, Amber Iman, Jon Michael Hill, and Josh Hamilton) portray a variety of characters, each taking turns as interviewer and subject. They speak dialogue taken verbatim from transcripts, from awkward introductions to powerful personal statements to questions that aim to undermine the women’s accounts. Their stories are different—Ford relates an alleged assault by Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, while Hill alleges repeated harassment by Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas—but their commitment to the truth, despite their fears of coming forward, are devastatingly and frustratingly similar.

I was expecting the roles of Hill and Ford to only be played by female performers, but the men also take brief turns as those figures, a refreshing and meaningful choice. It thoughtfully builds on one of the many themes of the piece, one of men trying to understand and empathize with women who have experienced sexual assault or harassment. While the men in the transcripts largely fail to do so, the actors convincingly prove it’s not impossible. It’s one of many strong choices made by Evans and Marvel that gently shape the transcripts into a narrative without imposing on the source material. This is also true of Evans’s direction, which puts characters in parallel at key moments, then pulls them apart, allowing the audience to draw connections while maintaining a delicate hand.

Marvel’s Ford is nervous but exacting as she details aspects of brain chemistry, intellectualizing her experience so she can gain enough emotional distance to be able to get through her testimony. At the same time, her Lindsey Graham is bombastic, raging about what a great guy Kavanaugh is while Brett gives meek responses. Iman fully embodies Anita with a calm and specific performance peppered with occasional stutters and false starts that reveal how difficult the hearing is for her.

The fumbling Kavanaugh could have been played for laughs, but Hamilton wisely reigns his performance in and doesn’t fall into caricature. As Thomas, Hill  makes less of an impression though he’s given the least to work with. Thomas’s flat refusal that any part of Anita’s testimony happened seems untextured by design. Some of his other characters hit harder, including a senator who draws her in with compassion then cuts her down by pointing out how many years she kept Thomas’s behavior a secret.

In the last scene, Thomas and Kavanaugh take their seats on the Supreme Court, leaving the female performers, who I read to be Hill and Ford, to process what happened. Ford looks towards the audience in dismay, but Hill is even more revealing. She gives a sardonic, knowing look that says, “We all knew this was coming.” She finally gets to take off the mask to give a hint of her real feelings, and it’s the best moment of the show.