TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Drama Helps Define Family Dysfunction

ADVERTISEMENT

By KATHY L. GREENBERG Tribune correspondent

Published: January 8, 2008

TAMPA - Jobsite Theater's production of "Eleemosynary" is like an episode of the "Ricki Lake" show: "Girl Handles Baggage for Emotionally Crippled Family."

As with so many familial stories, the characters dodge and parry complicated feelings of worthlessness, casting blame blindly without resolving the causes of their dysfunction. It's the kind of tired tale that a little pop psychology can explain.

Matriarch Dorothea Westbrook (Caroline Jett) is a product of a misogynistic era. Her father won't let her attend college because he figures a woman's function is to marry and breed, not get educated. She becomes an eccentric when she realizes that unconventional behavior is the perfect foil for living the life that she wants; no one's going to criticize the way she talks to the dead or telemutates.

Dorothea transfers her unrealized ambitions onto her daughter, Artemis (Leah LoSchiavo). Since Dorothea wasn't allowed to "fly," she wants her daughter to - even making homemade wings to bring the metaphor to life.

Big surprise: Artemis flies, but not in the direction her mother intends. Instead, she leaves home and becomes a successful scientist; research is one area of life where she can control and prove her worth. Later, she has a daughter she names Barbara, only to watch helplessly as her mother renames the child Echo (Molly Jacobson) and shows every sign of repeating the parenting tactics that had alienated Artemis.

Echo is the sanest of the bunch. Smart as a whip, she can spell and define every word in the dictionary, including eleemosynary, which scored her first place in the National Spelling Bee competition.

For whatever reason, Echo thrived under Dorothea's tutelage and fulfilled the expectations that Artemis could not. Her self-esteem is higher than that of her mother and grandmother, which empowers her enough to avoid the same emotional pitfalls and affirm Artemis' importance.

Under the smooth direction of Kari Goetz and Jaime Giangrande-Holcom, Jett, LoSchiavo and Jacobson mostly realize the complexity of their characters' relationships.

Jacobson stands out for her integrity and believability as the wise 13-year-old. Especially impressive is her ability to rattle off 10-dollar words.

Jett is too refined to portray the eccentric Dorothea. She seems awkward in the character's weird world. Her strongest moment is during a monologue about Dorothea's father. She emotes like a powerhouse, which came as a surprise in light of the rest of her too-controlled performance. Though this contrast may have been intentional, Jett looks uncomfortable trying to balance the different sides of her role.
LoSchiavo plays Artemis as the capable child trapped in an adult's body. After taking a while to warm up, she eventually finds the character's voice. She conveys Artemis' longing for unconditional acceptance behind a defensive stance, and she strikes the right notes as the hurt daughter and guilty parent.

Probably the best quality about Lee Blessing's play is that it isolates a dynamic that defines so many relationships. This production is for anyone left shattered after recent family get-togethers and needing some support. Being an audience member provides the objective distance of a good therapist, only cheaper.

THEATER REVIEW
Eleemosynary
WHEN: Through Jan. 20; 8 p.m. Thursday through Saturday, 4 p.m. Sunday

WHERE: Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center, Shimberg Playhouse, 1010 N. MacInnes Place, Tampa

TICKETS: $24.50; (813) 222-1001;

www.tbpac.org

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT