Eleemosynary, my dear!
By Christine Foster, Aug 4, 2006

Eleemosynary by Lee Blessing Wednesday-Saturday, August 9-12, 8pm & Sunday, August 13, 5pm Teatro Santa Ana, Reloj 50, 50/100 pesos

Three extraordinary actresses are about to take the stage in a study of three extraordinary women. Mark your calendars for the Players Workshop's compelling production of Eleemosynary by Lee Blessing, directed by Lola Smith, opening August 9.

Eleemosynary is a memory play of flowing events and thoughts that provoke and entertain as they build a complete and fascinating portrait of the three women as both individuals and as a family.

Dorothea (Amy Chankin) is a delightful but deliberate eccentric. Denied a traditional education herself, she has energetically raised her only grandchild, drilling her in a wide range of intellectual pursuits. She has even named her Echo, to encourage her to reflect the very best of human accomplishment.

But Echo (Gwenneth Holmes) is much more than just anyone's reflection. She is a gifted, driven youngster who, although she adores her grandmother, still yearns for a mother whose absence has left her unable to bloom emotionally the way she has intellectually. 

That mother, Artemis (Joanna Bryne), is the critical link between them. As a child she was the long-suffering guinea pig in her mother's madcap ventures, which ranged from winged flight to astral projection.

She finally stood up to Dorothea's zany and dangerous flamboyance and fled home to become a reclusive research scientist. Widowed, confused and too afraid to even try to mother her only child, she abandoned her to Dorothea, neglecting her until Echo was a teen and it's almost too late.

As the play begins, Echo has regained tentative contact with her mother through uneasy telephone conversations focusing mostly on Echo's obsessive domination of every available spelling bee ("eleemosynary" is a word from the climactic national contest). But it is only as Dorothea's life ebbs that Artie and Echo finally stumble toward a life together, despite their years of misunderstanding and estrangement. 

Chankin (Dorothea) has appeared in many productions across the United States (including leads in Hello Dolly, The Miser and Blithe Spirit) and has recently decided to make San Miguel her full-time home. Bryne (Artemis) studied theater in college and worked extensively on stage in Sarasota, Florida (including playing opposite Pee Wee Herman).

Since coming to San Miguel four years ago, she has been seen in both Players Workshop and Playreaders productions. Holmes (Echo), 15, is originally from Toronto, where she was involved in local theater from an early age. In San Miguel she has appeared in two Playreaders presentations.

The cast includes three women, but the play transcends gender. Most importantly, they are a parent, a child and a grandchild. All of us have been one or the other, and many of us all three. Family life is a perilous journey. Blessing shows us many new twists in the road but makes it clear that the road can always be traveled in two directions: away and back home again.

Eleemosynary is a one-act play, and therefore there is no intermission. The cast and crew will be in the Santa Ana Café after each performance for a cup of something and a snack, and will look forward to meeting with any audience members who'd like to stay.

Tickets are 100 pesos (50 pesos for the first row) and are now on sale in the Biblioteca patio from 10:30am to 1:30pm and at the Teatro Santa Ana from 4 to 7pm every day except Sunday.