East Bay Premiere
February 17-March 12, 2017
Directed by Susan E. Evans
This wonderfully human “solo show with people in it”, from the author of the Broadway hit Fun Home, examines the complicated relationship between a mother and daughter as they attempt to make sense of the world and each other, with riotously funny and unexpected results.
Running Time: 2 hours, plus intermission
KATE DUNLOP TOMATIS
(Lisa)
BUNNY WALKER
(Ann)
BETH CHASTAIN
(“A”)
PAM DRUMMER-WILLIAMS
(“B”)
REG CLAY
(“C”)
BEN KNOLL
(“D”)
Director – Susan E. Evans
Set Design – Kuo-Hao Lo
Lighting Design – Courtney Johnson
Costume Design – Lisa Danz
Sound Design – Michael Kelly
Props Design – Devon LaBelle
Stage Manager – Georgia Taylor Benedict
Dress rehearsal photos by Ben Krantz
“Tony award-winning playwright Lisa Kron’s comedy Well delivers wit and wisdom from a woman character, based on Kron’s mother, while seated in a recliner. The potent autobiographical storyline also includes brain-stimulating explorations of aging, illness, mother-daughter dynamics — and also a few characters who bust in and disrupt. Well offers laughs that tickle until they hurt, and director Susan E. Evans takes a straightforward approach, allowing Kron’s deeply human, “that sounds just like my mom” script to shine. As the play crumbles around its characters, the women find strength and nurturing in community. What a grand idea that we can all take with us after leaving the cozy El Cerrito theater and venturing back into the great big (and unfortunately frightful) world.” – East Bay Express
“The show’s honesty about its own doubts and the very difficulty of writing it is engaging. And Tomatis’ burgeoning dissatisfaction when life refuses to fall into line is fun to watch….the best thing about this Susan Evans-directed production, which of course is (Marlene) Walker (as Ann Kron). Although Kron does her no favors by continually refusing to give us any solid sense of who Mom is, Walker is simply a hoot in a very honest and natural way.”
Read the entire EDGE San Francisco review
“Directed by Susan E. Evans, the CCCT production is sharp and funny and pleasingly complex….Marlene Walker’s Ann is wonderfully endearing, perceptive and solicitous about everyone else’s comfort….Kron’s plans for the play are foiled more and more hilariously as the narrative becomes increasingly unruly and metafictional. The supposedly central question of why some people are ill and others well remains unanswered and unanswerable, because despite Kron’s protestations, it’s not really what the play is about. When she says it’s not about her and her mother, it’s clear from the start that she’s kidding herself.”
Read the entire Mercury News review
“After all, one has to ask, aren’t we are all doing the best we can with what we have to work with? At least, one would hope so. I think you will find this a unique, enlightening and entertaining story. As in many conflicts of memory, there are always three ways of looking at or interpreting the events that have taken place – your way, my way and last but not least, the correct way.”