Eleemosynary

Reviewed by Holly Bartges

Eleemosynary: E-L-E-E-M-O-S-Y-N-A-R-Y means charitable, reflecting a spirit of giving to oneself and one’s surrounding world.

Jessica Posner, Patty Mintz Figel and Trina Magness star in Eleemonsynary at the Bardeen Family Theatre.

Lee Blessing’s Tony Award-winning play and Pulitzer Prize nominee comes to life in warm, tender, emotion-wracked perspective on the small intimate stage of the Bardeen Family Theatre nestled in the heart of the Logan School for Creative Learning. The only thing uncharitable about this production directed by David Payne is the all too short run. Appropriate the show runs through Mother’s Day. Every daughter who feels uncomfortable with her mother, every mother struggling to understand why her daughter never listens, should make reservations to experience this production. Of course, it’s not possible. The Bardeen Family Theatre just isn’t that big.

Because of the small space, which encompasses the intimacy of the brilliant writing, another theatre in Denver should snatch up this show, giving it the long run it deserves for itself as well as for Denver.

Of course, that’s not possible either. Eighteen-year-old producer Jessica Posner after all is in her senior high school year. Small technicality for someone involved in several projects, getting ready to begin her college years at Wesleyan College back east.

For one second, but only one second, forget the significance this production is a benefit for The Spiritual Project, a non-profit organization committed toward preserving the songs first sung by Black slaves in the 18th and 19th centuries.

For one more second, and only one second, forget the fact Posner produced this show. What’s extraordinarily important, for the moment, is the magical connection-taking place on stage. Sensitive artist Patty Mintz Figel slides easily into the character of Dorthea, a free spirit who seriously believes in the freedom of eccentricity, believing people can fly.

Her daughter, Artemis, delectably played by Trina Magness, believes otherwise. Artie reacts as strongly to her mother’s eccentricity as Dorthea did to becoming a non-entity in an arranged marriage. Figel and Magness through warmth, tenderness, struggle, independence, confusion, and separation highlight the struggle between mothers and daughters everywhere.

Then there’s Barbara, so named by Artie, but renamed Echo by Dorthea, caught between the two, played close to the heart with genuine comprehension by Posner herself. Raised by her grandmother, estranged from her mother, Echo becomes a grand champion speller. Words and their meaning empower her with strength, understanding, and a deep desire to gain attention from her mother, and reconcile differences so deeply embedded between Artie and Dorthea. Posner attacks Echo with sympathy, simplicity, and an innate comprehension of what makes this young girl tick.

On a near blank stage, except for platforms of difference levels, the production defies time and space as it appropriately zeroes in on specific moments in their three lives whether Artie is 13 obeying her mother’s insistence of flying off a hill wearing oversized wings, or whether Echo is three-months-old being encouraged by her grandmother to learn Greek, or aged Dorthea incapacitated by a stroke.

In the beginning, the lighting, designed by Natalie Mills, appeared slightly off, highlighting the object of attention, leaving the speaker shimmering in the dark. As the play progressed, the technique worked wonders, a brilliant conception.

The striving for forgiveness and reconciliation do not come easy. Sometimes it takes a lifetime to come close for that brush of breath to emerge. The play delicately explores what’s behind the wanting and the need for forgiveness and reconciliation throughout the one-act 90-minute play. Running the gambit of emotion, within themselves and each other. Echo struggles to find her rightful place within her world. Tempered throughout a universal humor shines even in the hardest times.

Posner fed her passion to produce and act in this play ever since she first became aware of it. Payne has wanted to direct Eleemosynary for ten years keeping an eye out for the right place, right cast and right time. Little wonder Posner should approach him at 18 after he taught her when she was six-years-old. Astonishing on one hand maybe, but not so astonishing when one realizes that’s the way the Universe works.

Posner has been asked several times why engage in such an ambitious project during her senior year in high school. After experiencing the production, the answer is simple: she and Payne set the stage a long time ago for it to happen. The time was right, the passion in tow, the time was now. It could be no other way. Of course, she had no idea how much actually went into producing a play of this magnitude. No one does until the process unravels. And yes, The Spirituals Project benefit is no accident. It’s another of Posner’s passions.

Dorthea knew people could fly. It just took Artie and Echo a while to figure out the truth. There’s more to flying than attaching oversized wings to one’s arms. Posner understands this. She’s learned to fly. There will be no stopping her now.

Eleemosynary means charitable. It’s written across Posner’s wings. Oh, yes, indeed. This show deserves a much longer run.