The issue of suicide has always been complicated and controversial. Whitmore Eclectic celebrates its 6th anniversary with a revival, presented in association with Ellen Gerstein Productions, of Marsha Norman's eloquent, darkly humorous, Pulitzer Prize-winning drama 'night, Mother. Aliah Whitmore directs Sylva Kelegian and Lisa Richards for a November 1 opening at The Lost Studio on La Brea Ave. BroadwayWorld has a first look at the duo onstage below!
Considered to be an American classic and one of the most powerful contemporary dramas ever written, Norman's gripping two-hander is an intense, edge-of-your-seat drama that will keep audiences guessing the outcome until the very end. A supposedly normal evening in the mother-daughter Cates household is shattered when 40-something Jessie announces to Mama that she plans to kill herself before the night is over. Over the course of 90 minutes, in real time, Thelma desperately works to convince her daughter that life is worth living. Humor, pathos and the difficulty of looking life in the face become seamless everyday moments, inviting us to struggle with what is, and is not, in our control.
This production started out as a workshop at the Actors' Studio, where Kelegian and Richards are both lifetime members. When Whitmore saw a performance, she knew instantly that it would be right for her company, Whitmore Eclectic.
Not until playwright
Marsha Norman heard an audience laugh at its dark humor during a reading of the play did she have confidence that it would be a success. 'night, Mother premiered at the American Repertory Theater in Cambridge, Massachusetts with
Kathy Bates and
Anne Pitoniak, then transferred to Broadway, where it received a Tony nomination for Best Play as well as nominations for both actresses and director
Tom Moore. Other awards include the
Dramatists Guild's prestigious Hull-Warriner Award, the
Susan Smith Blackburn Prize and the 1983 Pulitzer Prize for Drama. The 1986 film version, adapted for the screen by the playwright, starred
Sissy Spacek and
Anne Bancroft, and a Broadway revival in 2004 starred
Edie Falco and
Brenda Blethyn. A second Broadway revival, starring
Oprah Winfrey and
Audra McDonald, is scheduled for the 2015-2016 season, with Tony winner
George C. Wolfe linked to direct.
Scenic design for the Whitmore Eclectic production of 'night, Mother is by Jacob Whitmore, with lighting design by Lauren Sego.
Whitmore Eclectic founder and creative director Aliah Whitmore has been directing and producing theater in L.A. for the past seven years, including productions of The Last Days of Judas Iscariot (Backstage West "Critic's Pick"); True West; Briar Rose (co-director); Below the Belt; Moby Dick Rehearsed ("GO!" - LA Weekly); Girls, Girls, Girls... The Heart of the Relatively Make Believe; Kosher Cheerleader; and Proof. A graduate of the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York City, she was the recipient of the Los Angeles Women's Theatre Festival's 2012 Maverick Award.
'night, Mother runs Saturdays at 8 p.m. and Sundays at 3 p.m., Nov. 1 through Dec. 14. There will be two preview performances, on Thursday, Oct. 30 and Friday, Oct. 31, both at 8 p.m. Tickets range from $20-$27.50; previews are $15. TheLost Studio is located at 130 South La Brea Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90036. For reservations and information, call 818-826-3609 or go to
www.WhitmoreEclectic.com.
Photo Credit: Aliah Whitmore
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