Night Mother

Prana Productions presents ...
'Night, Mother
by Marsha Norman

Winner of the Pulitzer Prize and the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize, this eloquent, enthralling and ultimately shattering play explores the relationship between a mother and her adult daughter who has decided that life is no longer worth living.

Not your typical Prana Production, this is a serious adult show
and an opportunity to see two of Prana's adult creative staff in a riveting drama.

* For age 16 and up. Younger than 16 only admitted with a parent or guardian. Parents - please see below*

Directed by Jacqui Jursek
Starring Dawn Anderson and Julie Murphy
Produced by Roberta Weiner

"…honest, uncompromising, lucid, penetrating, well-written, dramatic, and
unmanipulatively moving…" —NY Magazine.

'Night, Mother was presented Friday, June 6, 2008 at at 8 p.m. and Saturday, June 7 at 8 p.m.

Winner of the 1983 Pulitzer Prize for drama.
Produced by Special Arrangement with the Dramatists Play Service

Julie Murphy (Jessie) just finished co-directing Inherit the Wind for Prana. She was Assistant Director for Little Women and directed the Little Women, Pirates of Penzance and Christmas Carol Workshops for Prana. Her other directing experience includes Stuart Little (Prana Productions) The Butleress and Fools (both Washington Street Players). A teacher at the Prana Center for seven years, Julie has appeared on stage in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, Charlotte's Web, Faith County, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, The Wedding from Hell, The Audition and many others. She is featured in the independent film Faux Pas. Julie has also worked behind the scenes on many productions and participated in many acting and theatre classes in college. Julie is married with two children, both of whom are active with Prana Productions.

Dawn Anderson (Thelma) is a well-known face at Prana, having served as Costume Director for a variety of shows and videographer for many productions and years of Summer Acting! As an actor, Dawn has played many roles, both comedic and dramatic. She is most proud of her work as Rita (Educating Rita) for Enter Stage Left Theater, Melissa (Love Letters) which she has played twice at Prana and often elsewhere over the past five years, and Ida (Cemetery Club) for Algonkuin Theater. She has performed in The Vagina Monologues and Stepping Out for the Washington Street Players, Selections from Spoon River Anthology, All My Sons for Enter Stage Left Theater, and Too Soon for Daisies for Millis Theater Group. She has done voice and acting work for private companies and television commercials. Dawn is a co-founder and current theater consultant of Enter Stage Left Theater. Dawn has taught many classes to school aged children and teens through ESL, Washington Street Players, The Prana Center, and Sunrise Actors' Studio, and has directed for ESL and Millis Theater Group. She specializes in improvisational acting, scene study, Shakespeare and acting for the camera. Dawn has a B.A. in Mass Communications and Advertising from Simmons College, and works in video production.

Jacqui Jursek (left, with Dawn and Julie) )has been directing for several years with Holliston’s Washington Street Players for such shows as: Sylvia, Central Park West, and The Tale of the Allergist’s Wife, as well as many short plays for Assemble an Ensemble Theatre - Summer Entertainment. Although she loves directing comedy, this piece is something Jacqui couldn't pass up when given the opportunity, and is so grateful for those who were as interested as she was to get this touching drama produced … Roberta, Julie and Dawn…thank you for the experience.

Prana Productions is thrilled to bring these three talented women together for 'Night, Mother.

Caution: spoiler alert - the following plot synopsis to be read by parents debating whether to allow their teens to attend. Also feel free to email the show's producer, Roberta Weiner, at WeinerDrct@aol.com with any questions.
The scene is the living room/kitchen of a small house on an isolated country road, which is shared by Jessie and her mother. Jessie's father is dead; her loveless marriage ended in divorce; her absent son is a petty thief and ne'er-do-well; her last job didn't work out and, in general, her life is stale and unprofitable. As the play begins Jessie asks for her father's service revolver and calmly announces that she intends to kill herself. At first her mother refuses to take her seriously, but as Jessie sets about tidying the house and making lists of things to be looked after, her sense of desperate helplessness begins to build. In the end, with the inexorability of genuine tragedy, she can only stand by, stunned and unbelieving, as Jessie quietly closes and locks her bedroom door and ends her profound unhappiness in one fatal, stunning and deeply disturbing moment—a moment never to be forgotten by those who have witnessed, and come to understand, her plight.