21 Jul And Then What?
The family. Staged reading “And Then What”. Providence, RI. July, 2017.
Memory Relived: The Apple Does Not Fall
The staged reading And Then What based on the story of one of the branches of my family performed last weekend in Providence, RI. It was an unqualified success!
The producer, Kevin Olson, understood, like even I hadn’t, the meaning of this family in my life which means, by extension, in the lives of my children. He gave voice to the people who have had my back, held my hand, given me strength and confidence, and guided my decisions. With some I grew up and about others I heard stories but it does not make them remote – all of them are with me, holding my hand, guiding my decisions. Because no apple falls from the tree, ever.
And Then What: That Is the Question.
As a child, I dreaded that signature question of my family – when I itched to do something foolish. I was free to disregard it, especially that I-told-you-so was not commonly put to use. But, more often than not, the casual suppose you’ve done this, and then what? stopped me in my tracks.
Staged reading “And Then What”. Providence, RI. July, 2017.
Examples of the good that consideration of And Then What has done are plentiful. Only once in my life, searching for an answer would have been disastrous – in the emigration decision. When you come up to the edge of the world you close your eyes and jump. If you try to see beyond that edge you step back… and don’t emigrate.
Bena and Kevin talking to the audience. Staged reading “And Then What”. Providence, RI. July, 2017.
The title of the staged reading, the cast, all the participants combined perfectly to tell the story of a family, my family, that closed ranks in the face of cruel history and defeated it. All they needed to do was not let anyone answer And Then What for them. And the audience heard the story with their hearts.
Broadway World review — Did I say that the show was a success?
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