Woman Is - Self-Actualized
Written by Caitlin Nickens with support from Ciara Gogan
Image copyright Jessi Baeten
A quick lesson, for those unfamiliar with Maslow’s hierarchy of needs – the premise of this psychological theory is that every human has essential needs which can be organized into tiers/levels and then ordered into a hierarchy (outlined in the pyramid in the image), with the lowest levels generally taking priority over higher levels. Put simply, if you don’t have the basics, you never get to the top. Thus, the lowest (most foundational) unmet need will be a person’s strongest unconscious motivation or priority, and fulfilling that need will allow them to shift their focus to the next highest level, and so on. Lower level needs tend to be more short term/ urgent/ concrete (basic needs like food, water, safety, and security), and the upper levels more long term/ less urgent/ more abstract (psychological needs like belonging, love, community, and prestige).
Once we started examining Tamara’s journey in the context of this theory, we found that not only does her arc generally follow the pattern, but in fact many of her biggest milestones have direct correlations to tiers on Maslow’s hierarchy. The closest and most linear parallels are found in Act 1, and this is reflected not only in the subject matter of the songs/scenes but also Tamara’s developing mindset along the way (as summarized in the image). We will explore each of these connections as we dig in!
But first, some disclaimers:
These are general principles of this theory which Maslow acknowledged come with all sorts of caveats in practice. For example, priorities may shift depending on what a particular person/culture values or their specific circumstances (e.g., in an active conflict, security/safety may be more urgent in the short term than food/water/rest). Also, a person’s progression up the hierarchy is often not unidirectional – a need may be met one day and lost the next. We’ll address some of these caveats within Tamara herself as we go.
Even with those caveats, the synergy apparent to us between Tamara’s growth and the tenets of this theory is remarkable. We can’t say whether any relationship to Maslow’s hierarchy of needs was consciously intended by the creative team, so this is just our interpretation of the visceral book and score by Carson Kreitzer and Matt Gould, and Eden Espinosa’s incredibly nuanced performance.
Maslow’s hierarchy is about internal, unconscious motivation, so we will be laser focused on Tamara and her perception of her reality. But keep in mind, this ultimately represents only one piece of this complex character. Tamara’s perceptive skills and resourcefulness, her ambition and survival instincts – these are with her at every level. Maslow helps us to see the framework for the unconscious “why” behind her decisions and recognize her resulting growth, but how Tamara arrives at the choices she makes and how she goes about pursuing them gets into discussions of identity, cognitive patterns, and behavior, and is beyond the scope of this theory.
The Hierarchy
To introduce the levels of this hierarchy, let’s first trace Tamara’s ascent in Act 1 from her lowest point in “Our Time” to the highest level of self-actualization in “Woman Is” and beyond, or at least until the metaphorical rug is pulled out from under her in Act 2.
Basic Needs
The two lowest levels of Maslow’s hierarchy are collectively the “basic needs.” These are the most fundamental physiologic needs like food, water, rest, but also safety and security. In “Our Time,” Tamara is thrown from a place of relative comfort at the earliest chronological point in the show into a sudden loss of these fundamental needs. Tadeusz is imprisoned by Bolshevik revolutionaries and with so much insecurity and chaos, Tamara’s first instinct is to get her husband back and keep her family together, even at great cost to herself. She goes to a prison where her safety is not guaranteed, offers up her own personal valuables (presumably her only other potential source of survival without Tadeusz), and shows no hesitation in the face of these risks until she is presented with the dilemma to trade her own body for the night for Tadeusz’ freedom. Her answer of “I’m not leaving without him!” is telling. Not only is it the first time we hear that “steel” enter her voice, but as Tamara later says in “Speed” (another moment with a profound loss of safety and order), Tadeusz is “my name, my family, he’s who I am.” It’s also worth noting that a young woman at that time (particularly one who would otherwise be a single mother) would presumably not have had many options on her own. Her safety and survival in the world is tied to his!
In “Starting Over” their newly reunited family flees to Paris, still seeking safety. Tamara has gained one form of safety in Tadeusz and lost another in her own bodily integrity. Tamara stands still on the dark train (a contrast to her frantic movements under overwhelming spotlights in “Our Time”), holding Tadeusz’ arm around her, staring into the middle distance, repeating her lyrics like a hypnotizing mantra: “Listen to the wheels on the track, become steel just like that. You won’t feel any of that anymore.” It all speaks to a desperate need to anchor herself (as does her low harmony), to find safety in this moment, but the occasional breaks in this mantra (and the distant echo of “Revolution!” from the ensemble) reveal that she’s still reliving the trauma they just escaped: “Breathe… Steady… Can’t breathe. I’m dizzy. My dress filthy. Ruined, she’s ruined. Breath on my neck. Do the bruises show? He can never know.”
They arrive safely in “Paris” (already both the music and the stage is lighter and brighter, the energy more jovial), but without any of the basic necessities they took for granted in their old lives. Tamara sells her last piece of jewelry to secure shelter and takes a job as a cleaner to provide for her family, once she realizes that Tadeusz is either unwilling or unable to adapt to their new reality. ("One small room for a family of three. Hot water, a forgotten luxury. Like eating when you're hungry.") As pieces of their new life come together, her mind is waking up from survival mode, noticing the aesthetics around her: the “ugly” city, the beautiful women, the artists at work. She’s transitioning from being motivated by the lack of basic needs (Maslow calls these “deficiency needs”) to the desire for psychological needs (“growth needs”), and the lyrics contain references to both. (“I am hungry, I am awake, can’t break down, can’t break… Start again in this dirty city. How can I make it mine?”) Then she smells oils and turpentine. Painting! Maybe her first love. Maslow mentions “creative activities” much higher in the hierarchy, but he’s referring to the equivalent of indulgent hobbies in the individual who wants for nothing. For Tamara, painting is her industry, a means of achieving some of her basic needs, and she seizes this new opportunity with both hands. By the end of the song, the Great War is over (more general security in the world), and Tamara is firmly looking ahead: “Everything is different. All new possibilities.” She has just sold two paintings, which is not only a personal accomplishment but also further cements her family’s basic needs. There’s a striking change in the music and the vocal from the exhausted “I am hungry” to the buoyant, full-bodied and full-voiced “My God, I’ve never been so hungry. It. Feels. Good.” By the end of this song Tamara feels she is finally home, in a place where she belongs, all her basic needs met, and bringing her artistic eye to bear on her surroundings. (“The city belongs to me, and I belong to her. Look at her! Shining, drenched in color. This is where I was meant to be, this beautiful city. […] And I will capture all that it could be, show the world what I see.” The lyrical similarity to “I Will Paint Her” is not to be overlooked, but we’ll get there.)
Psychological Needs
Above the Basic Needs levels in the hierarchy are the next two levels, which are the “psychological needs.” These are Belonging and Love (friendship, love, intimacy, community, and connectedness) and Esteem (both personally as in self-worth and achievement, as well as publicly as in status or prestige). As opposed to basic needs which are predominantly physical and motivated by a lack of that thing (“deficiency needs”), psychological needs are intellectual and emotional and come from a desire to grow as a person (“growth needs”). As we will soon see in Tamara, a person motivated by growth needs is able to play the long game, pursue more abstract aims or take chances on uncertain future gains, as opposed to the transactional decisions of someone living hand to mouth.
At this point we need to address one of the previously mentioned caveats to Maslow’s theory, where adjacent levels, often intertwined anyway, may be prioritized differently in certain individuals. For Tamara, her 3rd and 4th levels are flipped (Esteem before Belonging/Love). This is because 1) her art is so fundamental to her identity and tied into so many other of her needs, and 2) prior to meeting Rafaela I don’t think she was looking for that sort of companionship outside of her family. As soon as she could, she started pursuing her art, and the interpersonal benefits were a pleasant surprise along the way. We’ll discuss this more as we get into these next points.
Through painting, Tamara not only recaptures an old skill and a piece of her old identity, but she also finds a community in other artists and patrons like Marinetti and the Baron and Baroness. For the first time, we see Tamara extend beyond her family (who we know she views as a part of herself) in a meaningful way. In “Paris,” Tadeusz asks her "What do you think of Marinetti?" and she responds, “The class is opening up my eyes.” Their conversation in “Plan and Design” signals a very subtle but extremely important change in Tamara’s mindset in light of Maslow’s hierarchy. In this scene, Marinetti mocks her for aspiring to be "a portrait painter, lapdog to the rich" and she answers, "Who else buys paintings?!"
M: “You can at least try for something that means something! What are you trying to do here?”
T: “Honestly, sell this so I can pay the grocer.”
M: “Bullshit! What are you trying to do?”
T: “To create a work that is faithful to my subject.”
M: “Faithful to your subject – there’s your problem! The only thing you need to be faithful to is your eye. […] A painting is not a woman. […] A painting is a flat surface covered with paint. […] Everything within your control!”
After this conversation, she walks away musing over his parting words, "We do not control the world. We control one flat rectangle of canvas..." Tamara has shifted from thinking of her art predominantly as a means of survival (though an enjoyable one) and instead has begun to consider it in an intellectual and abstract way. Not just a way to make money but a lofty pursuit of ideas and innovative technique and artistic immortality. Marinetti plants that seed and empowers her to claim the space for her own vision, to break the mold rather than catering to her subject or current trends just to sell. For someone who has just spent so much effort clawing her way back from a total lack of safety/security (some might say control), it’s not surprising that the freedom to prioritize her own eye, choices, and skills on the canvas appeals to her.
Put simply, Marinetti tells her to stop painting what she thinks will sell and instead paint whatever she wants (but make it mean something). So Tamara walks away thinking, "What do I want to paint…?"
Enter Rafaela, with all the impact and subtlety of a freight train!
If “Plan and Design” represents an intellectual awakening for Tamara, “I Will Paint Her” is its emotional counterpart. In a moment when Tamara is searching for inspiration, Rafaela stops her in her tracks and leaves her reeling. This song somehow beautifully encapsulates both the precise moment everything changes and the emotional journey of that realization. The softness and baffled wonder of the vocal and instrumental in the beginning build into a wall of sound and a tidal wave of emotion by the end. As unexpected as this moment appears for Tamara, she’s in a place where she’s secure enough (all lower tier needs met) that she’s able to pursue this new desire, though it’s notable that she does so at first through the lens of her art (Esteem before Belonging/Love). Throughout “Don’t Bet Your Heart” we see her moving about the stage, staring at Rafaela from different angles, holding up her hand in an “L” shape (an artist’s sighting tool to visualize composition and proportions in preparation for a drawing or painting), and she even punctuates the final “I will paint her” by thrusting both hands out into this posture. There’s something playful throughout this song in that both the instrumental and the audience are ahead of Tamara, who doesn’t yet seem to understand how else to interpret her feelings other than artistic inspiration. (“Is this how it feels, when God sends you a muse?”) Her earnest confusion is intentionally hilarious (“She will take off her clothes, lie down, and I will… paint her” and “I won’t rest ‘til I find her, won’t rest ‘til I paint her, won’t rest ‘til I have her… portrait”) but takes nothing away from the profoundness or intensity of her feelings for Rafaela as we see in the subsequent scenes. She has to physically take a step back and put a hand to her chest when Rafaela suddenly appears at the group show, wastes no time arranging to paint her, and practically stakes out The Dead Rat in an effort to track her down. “I Will Paint Her" sets the stage, but it’s only the first part of this emotional journey for Tamara.
The scene where Tamara and Rafaela finally connect at The Dead Rat is vital to her growth along the hierarchy. First, it’s important to mention that Tamara starts their conversation by pitching her vision for this painting to Rafaela (Esteem before Belonging/Love), and she’s speaking not only of the work itself but of its impacts on the art world and society at large: “this painting will be a whole different way of representing a woman, referencing the classical but now - timeless.” She’s thinking far-reaching and long-term in keeping with this level of the hierarchy, not unlike her promise to Rafaela of immortality (“100 years from now people will stand before the canvas and wonder who. is. she”).
Second, this encounter transforms their new attraction into a deeply intimate interpersonal relationship. Tamara shares more aspects of herself and speaks more frankly with Rafaela than with anyone else (possibly helped by a little alcohol and opium). Her visible ease and comfort with Rafaela speaks to how unconflicted Tamara feels in pursuing this seemingly innocent connection, belying both the potential complications of their relationship and the heavy topics of their conversation. She shares her Polish roots, her love for her family, her shrewd business mind, and perhaps most notably, (inspired by Rafaela’s candidness about her profession as a “whore”) Tamara shares her own shame about her assault and having to harden herself to steel as a result. Rafaela not only offers validation and affirmation for Tamara’s experiences but also recognizes and celebrates her strength as a survivor. It’s a bridge for this woman who has felt like an island for so much of her story. Meaningful interpersonal relationships are an essential component of the Love and Belonging level of the hierarchy, but so is self-love, and it’s this acceptance from such a kindred spirit that helps Tamara to let go of any lingering shame and embrace “the new woman” she’s becoming. The extent of Tamara’s healing from this can be assumed but doesn’t become fully clear until “Speed,” when Tamara finally reveals the truth to Tadeusz and all evidence of shame is gone (“I let them do anything to me, whatever they wanted. And you know what, it didn’t touch me! I walked out of there clean”). She stands tall in all her power and looks him in the eye to speak her truth, and it’s simultaneously breathtaking and devastating.
But we’re jumping ahead. Before we get to “Woman Is” and the highest level of Maslow’s hierarchy, we have to talk about the moment Tamara finally puts it all together. Somehow, Tamara has interpreted all of her emotional and physical responses to Rafaela as artistic inspiration. Presumably she’s never had a muse before, so this must be what it’s like when the art consumes you, right? Struck speechless by her beauty? Art. Heart racing? Art. Need to know the feel of her skin, the smell of her perfume, the exact color of her lipstick? Art! (The audience knows better, but remember that Tamara habitually seeks out these vivid sensory details both in her life and for her art – “paint so the observer can smell the fine white butter” and “see the dusted sugar” on the madeleines.) There is awe in Tamara’s heated gaze as she watches Rafaela perform “The Most Beautiful Bracelet,” but I don’t think the penny fully drops for her until Rafaela kisses her, and suddenly she recognizes her sexual attraction for what it is, accompanied by a little momentary panic. It’s the first sign of hesitation Tamara has shown around Rafaela, the first indication that something has changed for her. Up until this point everything about Tamara’s body language and expression has illustrated a near single-minded focus in pursuing her muse -- literally, in that her body and gaze are always turned towards Rafaela. But their first kiss exposes more than Tamara bargained for, and for a moment she can't meet her gaze. It's truly remarkable how clearly and specifically these nuances are conveyed in Eden’s performance, sometimes entirely in nonverbals. There are two story details in this sequence that are fundamentally important. One, the moment after Tamara pulls away from their kiss, when Rafaela is watching the ensemble members run by and Tamara is watching Rafaela, and Tamara says “Let’s go” before taking Rafaela back to her studio. And two, when Tadeusz surprises Tamara outside of her studio and she resolves to end things with Rafaela rather than risk the life she has built, before going back inside and realizing in an instant that she can’t. Allowing both of these moments to exist, and particularly before “Woman Is,” articulate so clearly that Tamara is not getting caught up in a moment or passively enjoying being pursued. She has agency and is making a conscious choice that she knows (maybe even hopes) will irreversibly change her life. It’s recognition and acceptance of that part of herself and a surrender to it. Given all of that, is it any surprise that what follows is nothing short of transcendence?
Self-Actualization
“Woman Is...” self-actualized.
I won’t pretend to discuss every idea and threadline woven into “Woman Is” because frankly I still feel like I haven’t fully decoded it. But I can discuss what it adds up to, at least in the context of Maslow’s hierarchy. Self-actualization is the highest level of the hierarchy and is very difficult to encompass in just a few words. It is a state of realizing one’s fullest potential, which is not the same as achieving a goal or even reaching a final phase. Instead it is a state of becoming, a platform from which to pursue one’s fullest life. To quote Maslow, he believed self-actualization “could be measured through the concept of peak experiences. This occurs when a person experiences the world totally for what it is, and there are feelings of euphoria, joy, and wonder.” This moment holds so many things for Tamara: creative epiphany, self-(re)discovery, childlike wonder, inspiration, reclaiming her body, healing, connection, love. Eden uses so many colors and tones in her vocal that it somehow feels spontaneous and conversational, like we’re riding this stream of consciousness toward epiphany in real time alongside Tamara. The lyrics are a dizzying amalgamation of vivid sensual details (mostly about Rafaela and how she makes Tamara feel), and Tamara retracing ideas and pieces of her life to reform the fragments into a new whole. And running through it all is a desperate plea to keep feeling as alive and present as she does in this moment. Rafaela is the catalyst for it and Tamara is focused on her, but there’s a synergy between Rafaela, Tamara’s art, and Women in general. She suddenly recognizes that the life and energy she sees in Rafaela (effectively, her soul) is what Tamara wants to capture on a canvas and send out into the world. And beyond that, Tamara also wants to keep her for herself. From this moment on, Rafaela and Tamara’s art are intertwined, perhaps because of this shared moment of inspiration. And Tamara’s sense of self is forever changed.
According to Maslow, it’s the rare person who ever truly reaches self-actualization. Peak experiences are more common, though the experience is usually brief. At the top of Act 2, we get to see Tamara reveling in her newly fulfilled life. She’s ready to publicly share her new work and own the “new her.” She starts signing her paintings with her own name rather than the masculine pseudonym (“I’m ready to be myself in the world”). Tamara seems to know as soon as she completes her first painting of Rafaela in the warm glow of this epiphany that she has opened the door to something great and hugely significant, and what follows – her meteoric rise both for her portraits and her public persona of The Modern Woman – shows us that she was right.
One of my favorite three-peats in the show pays off in this aftermath. Remember that Tamara’s first involuntary reaction to seeing Rafaela is “who. is. she?” as her world turns on its head. Then she promises Rafaela that if Tamara can paint her, 100 years from now people will stand before the canvas wondering “who. is. she?” Tamara wants her art to move people the same way Rafaela has moved her. And then when she does paint Rafaela, the Baroness immediately asks, “who is she?” I can’t help but read a lifetime of satisfaction into the pause before Tamara replies nonchalantly, “Oh, she’s just a model.” Never let them see your brushstrokes, indeed. Even Marinetti has to acknowledge that she has done what he thought impossible. (“Show me something I’ve never seen. Of all the classes I have told, now you of all people have done it.”)
If the power of “Woman Is” wasn’t enough to signal Tamara’s ascension, it becomes crystal clear by the time Tamara emerges from the trapdoor in her signature green and sings a reprise of “Woman Is” flanked by her fellow modern women. It’s the second use of that trapdoor as a transformation or rebirth, and the contrast of the way she crawls out of it after her assault, head bowed at her lowest point in “Our Time” vs strutting up those stairs into a literal spotlight here at her metaphorical peak could not be more striking. The trapdoor marks both ends of her initial climb up Maslow’s hierarchy, and it feels so earned and satisfying after watching her fight for every win along the way. What an absolute boss!
Still Not Convinced?
Tamara’s growth in Act 1 shows the closest relationship to Maslow’s hierarchy, but lest anyone assume that these commonalities are just a coincidence, there are several other places throughout the show where I can see the principles of this theory at work. I’ll mention a few of the more notable ones.
The next most significant is during “Here It Comes,” when all of the tiers of the hierarchy (except self-actualization) are traversed once again, albeit in the truncated form of Tamara’s contingency plans. In “Pari Will Always Be Pari,” her emerging fame is juxtaposed with Marinetti's account of increasingly ominous world events. Tamara is clearly aware of the warning signs. She knows firsthand how quickly a comfortable life can disappear and now she has even more to lose. “In case” is a constant refrain as she works frantically behind the scenes. But still she hopes for the best, doubles down on her multifaceted life and refuses to compromise any part of it for another: Tadeusz and Kizette, Rafaela, her commissions and exhibitions. It’s not until “Here It Comes” that these distant threats suddenly materialize and her basic needs are threatened once again. Immediately prior to this song, political demonstrations at the International Exposition have brought imminent world conflict to their doorstep, but Marinetti drives the final nail in the coffin by convincing Tamara that not only is Paris as they know it in jeopardy, but that her art and relationship with Rafaela paints a target specifically on her back.
M: “You’ve heard about Hitler’s degenerate art exhibit – Jews and queers. Word of this gets out and that’s where you’ll be, your chance for legacy, immortality – I know you want it, it’s all over your face – gone! You will be erased. A woman who also wants to be a man will not be safe. Not for long.”
T: “We’re not in Germany. This is Paris.”
M: “Perhaps, not for long.”
We can see the devastation settle on her face, can hear the interplay between disbelief and outrage in her voice throughout the song. But she’s already back in survival mode. Her emergency plans again follow the tiers of the hierarchy in order starting back at the bottom: 1) Her safety/home: “This can’t be the end. I will grow old here, in this place where I was always meant to be. Pari will always be Pari, but if Pari were not Pari –” Paris is her home, the source of many of her needs. But if Paris is no longer safe, she will run. 2) Her family: “One bracelet for passage, one little family of three. If we had to leave tonight then one bracelet sets us free.” 3) Her art and Rafaela: “Why do I want to paint perfection, gleaming skin and steel, when all that matters is what is real? The heartbeat fluttering beneath her skin. The fingers curled around a glass of gin. The eyes accusing me. Of what, I don’t know. Did she always know I would have to go?” She’s not only following the order of the hierarchy but the same pattern as she did in Act 1, the way trauma-response patterns can become ingrained. Marvel at the internal consistency.
I even see ties to Maslow’s hierarchy in moments of levity. The scene with the madeleines is an interlude in the middle of “Paris” and it’s a perfect, hilarious little encapsulation of Maslow’s theory right at this tipping point for Tamara between basic needs and psychological needs. In the first half of the song, still driven mostly by those basic needs, Tamara sees that painting could be a lucrative way to support her family and sets up three madeleine cookies on a plate as a still-life model to start. But she’s so hungry that she eats them one by one, and her body language in this scene, though it’s meant to be light-hearted, feels a little desperate, like she can’t help herself. She’s reaching for this higher tier need, but the unmet lower tier need wins out, at least in the short term. She’s annoyed when she realizes what she’s done, but now that the lower tier need has been met, she can focus on the higher tier need and calls Kizette to model.
The earliest suggestion of the hierarchy is actually right at the top of the show. Perhaps the most succinct way to express self-actualization is simply “this is me.” From her first introduction in “Unseen” Tamara asks the audience over and over, “Do you know who I am?” Which could mean just “Do you know of the artist Tamara de Lempicka?” or “Does anyone really know me?” because she was such an enigma of a public figure by her own design, but could it hint at this unconscious pursuit of self-actualization in her life?
Conclusions
As we mentioned in the disclaimer, we have no idea if the creative team were aware of Maslow’s theory, whether they deliberately infused these principles into her journey and somehow managed to keep it recognizable through all the moving parts of this show, or if this was truly unintentional and this character was just written and performed so authentically that actual human psychology applies – I honestly don’t know which I’d find more impressive. Above all else, revisiting Tamara’s arc through this lens has just reinforced how real and human she feels, flaws and all. One underlying assumption of this theory is that all humans have an innate drive to fulfill their individual highest potential. Not everyone succeeds, but the struggle is universal. The fact that Tamara does it with her unique sets of gifts in these tumultuous moments in history and is still influencing people today makes her remarkable and noteworthy, but no less relatable. Her life may have appeared tempestuous and eccentric from the outside, but there is order in the chaos. A human pursuit of survival, self-fulfillment, an internal call to perfection.
Self-actualization is usually brief, sometimes cyclical, but blazing, like Tamara’s zeitgeist moments, like this poignant and beautiful musical. In the final scene, we find Tamara alone, convinced that the world has passed her by, and it’s her memory of Rafaela that reminds her of the legacy she has left in the world. Not only her valuable and historic paintings but the lives she has touched, even indirectly. In the end, Time (or “the world”) is the only real machine. But Tamara knew the only way to make a moment last, to defy that relentless machine, is through human connection. To capture a moment, the truth of a person, live on through others, to inspire and influence and hope the ripple effects carry on. Tamara did that with her paintings, but so did this creative team with this show. In the last moments of the finale, Tamara acknowledges all of the people onstage whose lives she has touched (and vice versa), and then extends her gaze to people in the audience. The stage is suddenly backlit by Tamara’s signature green as the ensemble begins a reprise of “Our Time,” and it feels like an inviting embrace as much as a call to be answered. “You and I, what will we do? (Now it's) Our time! Our time."
Resources:
https://www.simplypsychology.org/maslow.html
Caveat:
We do not own the rights to the lyrics (in italics) or words (in “quotes”) from Lempicka Musical. Rights remain the property of Carson Kreitzer and Matt Gould.