PUTNEY — How do you interest people in a play whose title is a word hardly anyone knows or can pronounce?
That's the challenge the Apron Theater Company & Next Stage Arts Project have set for themselves in presenting “Eleemosynary,” the final production in the 2014 season.
Hallie Flower, the production's director, says the title, “though intimidating, is a real English word.” (Merriam-Webster defines eleemosynary as an adjective meaning “of, relating to, or dependent on charity; charitable.”)
“I myself only now have learned how to pronounce the word correctly. Yet however strange it may be giving a play such an off-putting title, it is an apt title since the word … plays a significant part in the plot of the drama.”
In that drama, three women - Artie; her mother, Dorothea; and her daughter Echo - are forced to re-evaluate their changing familial equation in the face of Dorothea's stroke. Flower says that each must get past the needs of the self to the possibility of finding something connected.
“Eleemosynary” was written by Pulitzer Prize-nominated playwright Lee Blessing, author of more than 30 plays and perhaps best known for his 1988 work, “A Walk in the Woods.” “Eleemosynary” premiered in St. Paul, Minn., in 1985 and had its New York debut in 1989.
Flower says the play explores the hopes and fears of mothers and daughters as it follows the relationships among three generations of women.
Apron Theater's production of “Eleemosynary” stars three regional actors: Adrienne Major from Massachusetts; Jean Koester, who played Linda Loman in Apron's 2013 “Death of a Salesman”; and Maeve Campman, a student from The Putney School.
Although the play has only three characters, according to Flower they're all singular women.
“The grandmother, Dorothea Wesbrook, has sought to assert her independence through strong-willed eccentricity,” she explains. “Her brilliant daughter, Artie, has fled the stifling domination of her mother and Artie's daughter, Echo, whom Artie has abandoned to an upbringing by Dorothea, is a child of exceptional intellect and sensitivity.”
As the play begins, Dorothea has suffered a stroke. While Echo has reestablished contact with her mother, it is only through extended telephone conversations, during which meaningful issues are skirted and talk centers mostly on the precocious Echo's single-minded domination of a national spelling contest.
In the end, following Dorothea's death, Artie and Echo come to accept their mutual need and summon the courage to try, at last, to build a life together - despite the risks and terrors that this holds for both of them after so many years of alienation.
This non-linear drama moves back and forth in time as events are seen from the point of view of the characters.
“While not exactly what I would call an edgy piece of theater, 'Eleemosynary' is definitely drawn from the vocabulary of experimental theater. In many ways it is a traditional drama but one that has been blown up on steroids,” Flower says.
In keeping with such a drama, Apron's set is non-realistic, made up of many layers of books.
“This theatrical landscape indicates the inner turmoil of these women,” Flower explains. “The original production was more spare than ours, with no props. We have added a few because props help an actor anchor her performance, and make the theatrical experience more enjoyable for the audience.”
At an hour and 20 minutes, “Eleemosynary” will be performed without intermission. As Flower explains, “there was no way to gracefully stop the narration without losing the momentum of this powerful drama.”
“Eleemosynary” is the company's seventh production as the Next Stage Arts Project's “theater company in residence.”
Apron Theater Company was founded in 2013 by Flower, Karla Baldwin, and Carrie Kidd. Baldwin and Flower had been involved in an earlier version of the company for a couple of seasons about a decade ago, but Apron had been defunct until it began its relationship with Next Stage Arts.
“We feel that we have wowed audiences each time with outstanding casts, direction, sets, and technical production values,” Flower says.
Flower adds that the plays of Apron's second season have turned out to have a common theme: an exploration of family.
“We didn't begin with this theme,” she says. “The way we chose the plays to present this year was structured by the wonderful group of actors who wanted to work with us. Because of that resource, we are now doing bigger and more complex works.”
Although this has be an adventurous season for Apron, Flower says the company aims to do “even better” in its third season: “It has been a thrilling ride, but we believe the best is yet to come.”