Play Description

TAKING CARE chronicles the last years of an elderly woman and the mentally ill adult son who has lived with her for almost three decades. Stuck in a cramped, one-bedroom apartment, Ma and Benny have spent much of the past thirty years pretending the other wasn’t there. Now that the old woman is more or less house-bound, she foists conversation upon her unwilling son and threatens to institutionalize him if he doesn’t clean up his act and start behaving more responsibly. When she breaks her hip, Ma convinces her alienated daughters that their brother is well enough to look after her in her “recovery.” Realizing that failure to do so could result in institutionalization for both them, Benny tries to rise to the occasion and care for his mother, even as she begins a quick decent into dementia. His new responsibilities test his limited capabilities and force mother and son to forge new bonds in the waning days of her life.

Production Info

Play Description

A black comedic look at the parents in Peter Pan. It is set in the present, in an upscale townhouse. Mrs Darling is a socialite and George Darling is a white collar criminal with the U S Attorney’s Office closing in. George has decided that he must escape to Switzerland, but his wife refuses to believe that his problems are real. She goes off to receive an award for her work with “brownish” children. George then confides in Nana, his dog and drinking companion, his disappointment in the devolution of his marriage. Upon Mrs Darling’s return, they notice that their children, Wendy Peter, and Michael to are missing — it takes them awhile, though, as they only speak to their children through the intercom. The Darlings proceeded to try to retrieve their children, each in his own way. In doing so, they explore their commitment to parenthood and to each other.

Production Info