By STU CLAMPITT
news@readthereporter.com
The Reporter spoke with both Director Jim LaMonte and Producer Georgeanna Teipen about Main Street Productions’ (MSP) next play, Mothers & Sons. Both agreed this play is a deeply emotional journey that will take audiences through some heavy material on the way to an ending that speaks to audiences about the nature of grief, love, and finding hope for the future.
When discussing why he chose to ask MSP to let him direct this piece, he told The Reporter about the story that came before this one and how it led him to this script.
LaMonte
“In 1990, Terrence McNally, who wrote this play, wrote Andre’s Mother,” LaMonte said. “It was a teleplay starring Richard Thomas and Sada Thompson and it stuck with me. It was about a mother and the boyfriend [Cal] of her son [Andre] who had passed from AIDS. She comes to the memorial service. She has a lot of rage, and he has a lot of sorrow, and they never quite reconcile anything in that tragic drama.”
Twenty-four years later, in 2014, McNally wrote Mothers & Sons.
“This play takes place 20 years after that memorial service,” LaMonte said. “Katherine, the mother, pays a surprise visit to Cal, who is now married to a younger man, and they have a six-year-old son. Katherine comes and surprises Cal and they attempt to reconcile. Katherine hasn’t gone on with her life and is still blaming others for her actions over the years.”
According to Teipen, who is a first-time producer at MSP, it is the young boy who is the unexpected source of hope and healing in this play.
“Even though she has lost her son and he has lost his husband, this little boy connects with her,” Teipen said. “She realizes this is potentially a grandchild for her. This is a connection with her going forward, if she can connect with these men. Cal, the man who was in a relationship with her son is open to this. He doesn’t just kick her out of his house. He’s trying to give her peace.”
LaMonte said every character brings their own integral piece to this drama.
“It’s like a quartet,” LaMonte told The Reporter. “The characters all play notes of love, loss and regret, which never grows old in theater. The play certainly has its funny moments and its light moments, especially when they are all four in the room together. There are some life lessons in this show.”
Teipen said she believes the lessons play out beautifully on stage.
“It’s a very heartfelt and deeply emotional piece,” Teipen said. “The levity comes through this little boy. You know how kids are. They just say it like it is. That’s what this little guy does. He’s as openminded and loving as any child would be. She sees that and she feels that. That connection is just beautiful, I think.
For Teipen, the character Katherine turning her back on her son was heartbreaking because she can’t take that back.
“How do you make peace with things in your life that you can’t take back and go forward with your life?” Teipen asked. “We all face that. That’s what’s so beautiful about this piece. It gives hope to her at a point when she’s got nothing left. I think it’s beautiful.”
LaMonte told The Reporter that by the end of the show audiences should walk away feeling hopeful and a little teary-eyed. The young actor closes the show with a monologue that is sure to touch some hearts.
Teipen definitely agreed, saying, “Families struggle with relationships all the time. It’s the struggle of families, just at a different level. In the end it leaves you with hope that maybe she can still have joy in her life. That she can still bond with these people and that little boy and maybe have a connection going forward. I think that’s what the whole purpose of this thing is: to encourage open-mindedness, acceptance and love. Love: what else do we need in this world right now? What are we missing across the board everywhere? Love and acceptance.”
Mothers & Sons is staging from Nov. 10 to 20 at Basile Westfield Playhouse, 220 N. Union St., Westfield. Go to westfieldplayhouse.org/showstickets or call (317) 402-3341 for tickets.