Good storytelling is the key to a great play, and Eleemosynary is good storytelling. Playwright Lee Blessing uses a very unconventional structure to unfold this story of a three singular characters—a young girl, her mother, and her grandmother. The three women relate their stories—individually and together—in vignettes from various times in their lives as well as in narrative directly to the audience. All three are extraordinary, but in very different ways.
Blessing has managed to encapsulate the relationships between mothers and daughters and grandparents and grandchildren in a way that is captivating from beginning to end.
The ACT 2 Theatre Company production is staged on platforms at varying levels and uses very few props. With the exception of a pair of wings and a couple of blankets, the actors use no props. The story is entirely dependent upon the skill of the actors to convey the images of phones, books, toy letters, a kitchen, and the like into the minds and vision of the audience. And the performances by Phyl Charnes, Susan Capicotto Nichols, and Jordan Kennedy Rea are up to the task.
These ladies range in experience from one who is doing a strictly acting role for the first time to one who has more years of experience on stage than the combined ages of other two actresses. But the level of talent demonstrated by all three ladies belies experience. These are strong performances all.
So if you missed the first week’s performances, make it a point to see one of the remaining ones. Eleemosynary continues Thursday, November 14-16 at 7:30 pm through November 17 at 2:00 pm. at the PWA Uptown Event Center in Clarksburg. No reservations are necessary. Admission is $10.