BREADCRUMBS by Carol Kaufman Segal
Breadcrumbs is a play written by
Jennifer Haley playing at the Second Floor Lonny Chapman Theatre in North
Hollywood. At times it is very touching,
other times it is emotional, and there are moments when it can be inexplicable
while embracing a situation that is timely today.
Alida
(Lareen Faye) is a reclusive aging writer who lives alone. While in the midst of writing her
autobiography, she is diagnosed with dementia, and is having difficulty
remembering words to write. She goes to
a clinic where she is given a memory test by an inept nurse’s aide named Beth
(Lisa McGee Mann) who messes up the files and calls Alida by someone else’s
name.
A few days
later, Beth shows up at Alida’s home, offering to become her assistant. Alida is reticent to give her the job since it
is obvious to her that the two of them have nothing in common, but Alida
recognizes she is need of help. Beth has
worked as a bartender, a stripper, has had many men in her life, and is
obviously looking for something to better herself. How will two such opposites manage to work
together?
As the days
pass, Alida finds much to complain about while working with Beth. But as her mental condition worsens, she
relies more and more on her to find the words to help her recall her childhood
memories. While they follow the
breadcrumbs toward her past, they discern a commonality between them which
brings them towards a more understanding of one another. Who would have thought that Alida had lived
her life with a mother just like Beth?!
Lareen Faye
and Lisa McGee Mann give sterling performances in this well directed play by
Bert Emmett. Breadcrumbs continues Saturdays at 2 PM, and Sundays at 7 PM,
through Oct. 14. Tickets are available
online at www.thegrouprep.com, or by phone at (818) 763-5990. The Second Floor Lonny Chapman Theater is
located 10900 Burbank Blvd, North Hollywood.
The theater is not handicapped accessible.
80 minutes, no intermission
Appropiate for adult audiences
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