Cast: 4W, 3M
Helen Bastion is 74 years old, but age has not taken its toll on this matriarch’s will or her need to control her family, from her compliant husband David to her resentful daughter Barb. But when she begins to suffer lapses of memory, her steely facade begins to crumble. As words lose their meaning and reality fragments, Helen’s own sense of self starts to dissolve. Is she truly disappearing, or is she becoming something greater, as the mysterious, mocking figure known as Dr. Bright promises her? Helen struggles desperately to find meaning in an existence that is slowly and inexorably becoming a void.
History
February 2019
Accademia Teatrale Campogalliani
Assenze
Mantua, Italy
Director: Mario Zolin
February – April 2017
Riksteatern
Försvinnandet
Many towns, Sweden
Director: Åsa Ekberg
August – September 2017
Oslo Nye Teater
Fravær
Oslo, Norway
Director: Birgitte Victoria Svendsen
April 2017
Newhaven Court at Lindwood
Absence
Greensburg, PA
Director: Michael Anton
February – March 2017
Accademia Teatrale Campogalliani
Assenze
Mantua, Italy
Director: Mario Zolin
Photo Gallery
February – April 2017
Dalateatern
Försvinnandet
Falun, Sweden
Director: Åsa Ekberg
Photo Gallery
May 2016
Cotuit Center for the Arts
Absence
Cotuit, MA
Director: Robert Bock
September – October 2015
Oslo Nye Teater
Fravær
Oslo, Norway
Director: Birgitte Victoria Svendsen
Photo Gallery
April 2014
Manhattan Theatre Club
Reading
New York, NY
Director: Megan Schy Gleeson
February – March 2014
Boston Playwrights’ Theatre
Absence
Boston, MA
Director: Megan Schy Gleeson
Article in the Boston Globe
Post in Playwrights’ Perspective
Photo Gallery
January 2014
Midtown Direct Rep
Theatre in the Loft (reading)
South Orange, NJ
Director: Margaret Whitton
Photo Gallery
June 2013
Alliance Theatre
Reading co-sponsored by the Arbor Company
Atlanta, GA
Director: Lisa Adler
February 2013
Alliance Theatre
Alliance/Kendeda National Graduate Playwriting Competition Readings
Atlanta, GA
Director: Lisa Adler
October 2012
Alliance Theatre/Lark Play Development Center:
Alliance/Kendeda National Graduate Playwriting Competition Readings (excerpt)
New York, NY
Director: Judith Ivey
May 2011
Boston Playwrights’ Theatre: Ground Floor Readings
Boston, MA
Director: Megan Gleeson
Article in Playwrights’ Perspective
Nominee, Best New Play (Small Theater), 2015 IRNE Awards
Nominee, Best New Script, 2014 Elliot Norton Awards
Winner, Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival’s Jean Kennedy Smith Award
Included in WBUR’s Best Theater of Boston, 2014
Announcement in Playwrights’ Perspective
Finalist, Alliance Theatre Company’s Kendeda Graduate Playwriting Competition