Approaching the theater last Thursday, I made up my mind to just sit back and take the whole production as it was, no preconceived ideas about what it should be. For the first time I was able to watch something I wrote as though it were not mine at all. And I was delighted.
Great capture of the images already in the script, and beautiful addition of some new and startling imagery, thanks to the expert staging (by Ellen Graham) and lighting design (by Beth Hersh).
What a terrific cast. They worked hard to reach this level of ease and fluidity on stage, and they mined the script for all it was worth.
As the three women who must "have it all" Heidi Heimarck, Morgan Rowe, and Cynthia Whalen are shocking, funny, and even more disturbing than the characters seemed on paper. I admire their willingness to dig down to the core of each story.
Finally, it was a joy to see how many people turned up just to find out what the hell "Daughters of Catastrophe" might mean. I never expected this script to be a crowd pleaser, even though it is funny. It questions many of the fundamental beliefs of the status quo, and we Americans are expert at hiding from ourselves. I thought our potential audience would wander off to a musical or a walk by the lake.
So, thanks to all who were there on the first weekend! You are so much more adventurous than I gave you credit for being!
With love.
SP
