Ahh, family, circa 1937…dinner at the big table, baseball and news about impending war on the radio, sewing and writing by hand, short pants with argyle socks, a quick trip to the corner store for butter, bread, sugar, or ice cream. Can’t relate? Well, there’s always homework, rent, squabbles, puberty, table settings, sisters, brothers, and cute cousins, heart problems, and extended relations.
This play wasn’t the first snapshot of an American family and it won’t be the last, but there is a reason this one has staying power. It’s solidly good. It’s funny, heartbreaking, and resolves in a satisfying puddle of hopeful sniffles.
Kian Monsef delivers as baseball-loving, aspiring writer Eugene, who narrates his young life in Brighton Beach during that idyllic time between the twentieth century’s two world wars. He seamlessly jumps in from the narration to give shape to all the pieces of his young life.
Older brother Stanley (Logan Hyer-Long) stretches his legs as he tries to decide how to be his own man, while their mother Kate (Kellyanne Walbeck) keeps time like a family heirloom clock to make sure each person at her table has food and sleep and respect.
Sean Walbeck plays Jack, the head of household, with all the pressures that implies, hurdling family tragedies and trying to keep food on the table and a roof over their heads for not only his wife and kids, but his wife’s sister, Blanche and two young daughters (precocious, girl-on-the-cusp Nora, played by Pearl Hoates and the chronically ill Laurie- Chloe Shaw).
Sarah Schermer grants sweetness to the character of a heartbroken widowed mother who is losing her eyesight while trying to maintain her sanity and pride though forced to rely upon the good will of her sister’s husband to survive.
Director Mark Kuntz has recreated the perfect glimpse of American family life and the actors he’s cast are winsome and believable. Highly recommend this piece!
Bellingham TheatreWorks presents Fairhaven Summer Repertory Theatre: Three plays to the theme “Family First”
✅‘Brighton Beach Memoirs’ by Neil Simon, Directed by Mark Kuntz
7:30 PM, June 24, 27, 30 July 3, 9, 15, 18
5:00 PM July 12
✅‘Fairview’ by Jackie Sibblies Drury Caja, Directed by Charles Grant
7:30 PM, June 23, 26, July 2, 8, 11, 14, 17
5:00 PM July 5
❇️‘Appropriate’ by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins, Directed by Kayla Adams
7:30 PM June 25, July 1, 4, 10, 16, 19
5:00 PM June 28
Firehouse Arts and Events Center, 1314 Harris Ave
Tickets: $25 general, $15 student
Info: bellinghamtheatreworks.org
