Independence

Reviewed by Holly Bartges

Independence demands a price, a high price, testing moral integrity, courage, and determination. The struggle for Independence evidently is so ingrained in human nature, it returns again and again as a theme in stories, films and playwrights. No one delves into the subject any more succinctly than multi-award winner playwright Lee Blessing. Exploring independence with uncanny realism. Blessing opens a window with mysterious realism in his play Independence.

Jennifer Anne Forsyth as Jo and Terry Ann Watts as Evelyn in Independence at Germinal Stage.

Under the direction of Ed Baierlein, Germinal Stage Denver brings the play off the pages to breath-taking life with a cast that bounces off the wall with energy, genuine authenticity and chemistry that almost can be seen. They’re dynamite.

Terry Ann Watts wraps herself snugly in the role of domineering, off-the-wall controlling no matter what the cost, needy and hungry for attention Evelyn. Through out and out manipulation, she destroys the very thing she wants: love and attention. With deliberate hurt and anger she destroys a coveted family heirloom as she does her family simply because she can.

Her youngest, a mouthy, rebellious teenager, three weeks away from her high school graduation at the age of 19, has covered herself in a shawl of devil-may-care, attitude, saying what she pleases no matter who gets hurt. Her mouth runs freely and easily. Courtney Hays plays Sherry with stunning undaunted abandonment.

The play opens with the arrival of the older sister, Kess who moved away four years ago to live her own life. Rebecca Sage gives an independent woman performance, with vulnerability wrapped around her shoulders. Evelyn harbors anger toward this cut-away-from-the-family daughter; making it clear Kess is her favorite.

It is the middle girl, Jo, who has pleaded for Kess to come home for help. Played with tender, frustrated caring, Jennifer Anne Forsyth embroils Jo in honestly caring for her disturbed mother, while she watches Evelyn destroy a golden opportunity for marriage right before her eyes. Pregnant by the man she thinks she loves, Jo staunchly refuses to leave the house her mother grew up in to share the apartment with Kess and her roommate. Who’s going to take care of Evelyn? The longer Kess extends her stay, the more involved she gets, and when the breaking of dishes sends Jo’s Don away for good, Jo against all odds realizes she has to get away. Fear of becoming like her mother, fear of going insane, fear of losing all of her already low esteemed grip on life, feeds her with acute anxious trembling loosely wrapped in shaky determination.

The set designed by Baierlein leaves one feeling one is not watching a play, one is peeking through the window of the long-time family home observing reality unfold right there and then.

It certainly does not go unnoticed that Independence plays during the July 4th Celebration of our country’s Independence Day. Independence by any other name or reason still spells paying a price, courage, determination and knowing exactly what one wants, and what has to happen to gain that status.

For entertainment, the play Independence gives a knockout performance by an awesome talented cast. Thought-provoking, delightful down home humor that always comes out of crises situations, Blessing has a talented knack of looking at real life situations, with honest to the core resolutions, Baierlein is a genius with diving headfirst into a script making it his own, and the cast brings to life an exhaustive exploration wearing anxiety on their faces, and imaginative hope on their sleeve. This production is brilliant, and to miss it would be a tragedy for the heart.