It’s the story of a grandmother learning about her hidden feelings toward a new neighbor and, at the same time, dealing with her daughter’s own self-esteem issues that culminate around her granddaughter’s newly told secret.
Watching her amazing performance as the emotionally charged mother and grandmother Ava, Kady Douglas give a poignant and memorable interpretation of a grandmother/mother who has unresolved issues and feelings for everyone in her life. Kady is bright, snappy and her expressive mannerisms made her character funny, compassionate and one who warms your heart throughout the show.
Challenged with her daughter’s new revelation, as well as her mother’s own acceptance issues, Gabrielle Abitol’s plays Suzanne, whose emotional connections and compassionate sentimentalities clearly strengthen the entire production making it clear that she is the one who learns the most through her family’s trials all around her. Gabrielle takes moments and makes them her own on stage.
Ted Arabian plays the new neighbor Buddy who just moved in next door and has an enormous history with the entire family. Ted makes Kady and Gabrielle’s performance emotionally charged because, like the audience, he is learning about things as they happen but with a more objective and sometimes humorous commentary.
Enter the college-aged daughter Molly played by Elizabeth Sekora who somewhat timidly, but with a lot of anger brings doubt into the play. Her ‘friend’ (who has his own backstory) Brandon, played by Travis Dahlhauser, along with Molly both share a major piece of news that literally has everyone in the cast wonder (and audience) what went wrong and where!
The play is written in a very clever way where scene for scene the progression of the characters flows to a natural feeling and emotional surprise at the end. It deals with a parent-child relationship very well and even spreads the relationship over three generations. There were some very funny movements as well as some touching scenes that make you feel good about everyone involved.
Watching Kady and Gabrielle’s performances made this production very special and brought it very close to home for me in terms of seeing pieces of my own mother in both of their characters. Check out the play and more at www.ZombieJoes.com.
Photo Credit: Adam Neubauer
