LENORA MAY'S SOLO SHOW REVEALS TRUTH BEHIND BEAUTY.Byline: Julio Martinez Correspondent THE ONE-PERSON PLAY, ``Eli's Birthday,'' is actress/writer Lenora May's cathartic cathartic (kəthär`tĭk): see laxative. exploration of her life as the daughter of monumentally dysfunctional former beauty queen, Bernice, and the older sister to emotionally disturbed sibling Brenda. Following in the Theatre of Hope tradition of presenting works that ``educate the public and facilitate the healing process for survivors of violence and abuse,'' the production at the Bitter Truth Playhouse certainly explores May's colorful, multifaceted journey to maturity, overcoming the trauma of a chaotic childhood with a morality-challenged mother who spent her life being victimized by an endless parade of deadbeat dead·beat 1 Slang n. 1. One who does not pay one's debts. 2. A lazy person; a loafer. adj. Not fulfilling one's obligations or paying one's debts: a deadbeat dad. slobs. There is such an abundance of factual exposition that the essence of May's tale often gets buried in the details and the explanations. Some judicious editing by May and director Paul Kreppel is necessary for this work to eventually live up to its promise. As personified by May, Bernice is a very interesting personality. First runner up to Bess Myerson (who eventually was crowned Miss America) in the 1942 New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of State Beauty Pageant, Bernice is a leggy leggy said of animals that appear to have legs longer than normal for the species, breed and age. beauty who works as a figure model in New York's garment industry when she isn't ``trolling (1) Surfing, or browsing, the Web. (2) Posting derogatory messages about sensitive subjects on newsgroups and chat rooms to bait users into responding. (3) Hanging around in a chat room without saying anything, like a "peeping tom." the single bars'' in search of her next husband. During the course of May's youth growing up in Queens, Bernice acquires five legitimate husbands and a vast menagerie of gentlemen friends. Quite often the husbands and friends would overlap, causing a never-ending insecurity to her marital status marital status, n the legal standing of a person in regard to his or her marriage state. . Though she is quite facile in her interpretations, May spends too much time dwelling on each of many men who entered her life during these formative years. Less would certainly have been more in the presentation of Bernice's husbands and beaus. What does work is May's re-creation of her childhood reactions to the emotional and social trauma of her early life. She presents a painfully poignant portrait of a 6-year-old girl attempting to care for her baby sister while her mother is cruising the bars. Probably the highlight of the production is May's hilarious description of Bernice's life in Florida as the wife of John, a peg-legged alcoholic with an indecipherably thick Southern drawl drawl v. drawled, drawl·ing, drawls v.intr. To speak with lengthened or drawn-out vowels. v.tr. . She creates an awe-inspiring montage of folks residing in the household, including mentally impaired Brenda, a schizophrenic halrother who has just been released from prison and John's doddering dod·der·ing adj. Infirm, feeble, and often senile. Adj. 1. doddering - mentally or physically infirm with age; "his mother was doddering and frail" doddery, gaga, senile , aged mother. May actually exudes amazement that through it all she is able to be an excellent student who eventually graduates from the University of Miami This article is about the university in Coral Gables, Florida. For the university in Oxford, Ohio, see Miami University. The University of Miami (also known as Miami of Florida,[2] UM,[3] or just The U with honors. Summing up her life as a professional actress who eventually moves to Los Angeles and marries happily, May expresses her fear at having a child of her own. It is a satisfying conclusion to this work that she realizes her own survival has given her the strength to be the nurturing mother to her newborn son, Eli. ELI'S BIRTHDAY - Two and one half stars Where: Bitter Truth Playhouse, 11050 Magnolia Blvd., North Hollywood. When: 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday; through Aug. 17. Tickets: $15. Call (818) 766-9702, Ext. 4. |
|
||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion