Random Harvest
By Richard Willett
Directed by Scott Albert Bennett
Aaron is a struggling young playwright who fact-checks magazine articles to pay the bills. Unusual things are going on in his life. He has been nominated for a Drama Desk Award, which is causing conflict with his boyfriend. He is developing a strange telephone relationship with the mother of a boy who committed suicide, the subject of an article he worked on recently. And his apartment is being haunted by Greer Garson and Susan Peters, who starred together in ''Random Harvest,'' a 1942 film about an amnesiac and the two women in his life.
Aaron has never heard of Peters, but with the help of his boyfriend, Jimmy, he is soon an expert on her short, tragic life. He learns she was nominated for an Oscar for ''Random Harvest,'' was paralyzed in a hunting accident in 1945, made films and a television series playing characters in wheelchairs and died in 1952 at 31 from ''pneumonia, chronic kidney problems and starvation,'' which strikes him as odd. All that Aaron and Peters seem to have in common is being nominated for awards, but one exchange finally spells out their shared fear of success. Aaron: ''But what if everything changes?'' Peters: ''Everything changes anyway.''
Produced by StageQ at Bartell Theatre, The Bartell Theatre, 113 E. Mifflin Street,Madison
Performances: December 31, 2009 - January 16, 2010
Performance Times:
Thursday, 12/31/09, 7:30
Friday, 1/1/10, 8:00 pm
Saturday, 1/2/10, 8:00 pm
Thursday, 1/7/10, 7:30 pm
Friday, 1/8/10, 8:00 pm
Saturday, 1/9/10, 8:00 pm
Sunday, 1/10/10, 2:00 pm
Thursday, 1/14/10, 7:30 pm
Friday, 1/15/10, 8:00 pm
Saturday, 1/16/10, 8:00 pmTicket Prices: $10 Thursday and Sunday, $15 Friday and Saturday.
Call 608-661-9696 for reservations or more information.
