‘NIGHT, MOTHER
by Marsha Norman
ILLINOIS THEATRE @ The COLWELL PLAYHOUSE
Online Event
The KRANNERT CENTER for the PERFORMING ARTS
The University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
2021
In the last hour of her life, Jessie gets affairs in order, does domestic tasks, and dissects years of pain, leaving her mother Thelma in the throes of trying to keep her alive.
This was a mid-COVID sharing of scenes from 4 American plays, 4 American kitchens, with 4 American directors: August Wilson’s The Piano Lesson, directed by Latrelle Bright; Sam Shepherd’s Curse of the Starving Class, directed by Genesee Spridco; Marsha Norman’s ‘Night, Mother, directed by Jordan Coughtry, and José Rivera’s References to Salvador Dalí Make Me Hot, directed by Nisi Sturgis.
CREATIVES
DIRECTOR | Jordan Coughtry*
SCENIC DESIGNER | Blaine Fuson
COSTUME DESIGNER | Hannah Haverkamp
LIGHTING DESIGNER | Gillian Frame
SOUND DESIGNER | Dakota Erickson
ASSOCIATE SOUND DESIGNER | Walter Koonce
MEDIA DESIGNER | M Ospina-López
DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY | Leojae Payton
PROPERTIES MASTER | Timothy Swift
STAGE MANAGER | Jenna Keefer
DRAMATURG | Mariana Sed
CAST
THELMA | Charlee Amacher
JESSIE | Alex George
u/s Thelma | Dominique E. Allen
*Member of Actors’ Equity Association (AEA)
DIRECTOR’SNOTE
If it will happen, it will happen here.
If it will happen, it will happen now.
A mother and a daughter at the end,
In a kitchen in mid-America.
The mingled yarn that knits a family.
The ravel of unspoken sentiment,
The tying and untying of a knot
To claim a jot of truth before goodnight.
Cancel the subscriptions, wind the clocks,
Stock the fridge and wipe the counter down.
Maybe we live for others, or, perhaps
We cling to life because it’s all we know.
Tonight, two little lives in a kitchen.
A teapot’s tempest is no less a storm.
