Review: Heller Theater's SummerStage
offering is example of theatrical excellence
By MICHAEL SMITH World Scene Writer
7/31/2004

"Eleemosynary" (say ella-moss-in-airy) means charitable, the giving of alms. At the Tulsa Performing Arts Center's SummerStage festival, it means excellence on stage, an awesome example of the power of live theater. Lee Blessing's play "Eleemosynary" is a remarkable tapestry of life woven between three generations of exceptional women -- a superbly written affair. In the hands of Heller Theater director Julie Tattershall and three superb performers, it's a living, breathing work of art. This fact is more impressive considering that the production is as simple as it is sublime. The audience at Thursday night's preview

Dorothea (Rita Boyle, standing) haunts the dreams of her daughter Artie (Karen Evans) in Heller Theater’s production of “Eleemosynary.” A. CUERVO / Tulsa World

Their characters don't possess this same confidence and strength in Blessing's tale of women and their expectations, choices and compromises. They love one another, but they don't know how to relate. They want to please one another, but they miss the mark.

The story is deep, intricately connected and highly theatrical, yet Tattershall and her brilliant cast of three -- Rita Boyle, Karen Evans and Annie Ellicott -- make it easy to understand all the misunderstandings between an elderly woman, a daughter and a granddaughter.

Dorothea (Boyle) is a 75-year-old odd duck who long ago learned that "no one holds an eccentric responsible."

"Eccentricity saved my life. It became my life," said the woman who well remembers her father laughing at her idea of a college education, her arranged marriage to a successful man and her personal transformation after her husband suffered a cerebral hemorrhage.

"He didn't feel much," Dorothea said with regard to his death. "I know I didn't."

Dorothea is as intelligent as she is free-spirited, and she attempted to pass some of these qualities to her resistant daughter Artie (Evans) with little success. Instead she raised a woman who rebelled against maternal influences, embracing science and rationality in all things.

Artie even shuns her own child, abandoning Echo at age 2 to be raised by Dorothea. She feels trapped -- she has no idea how to be a good mother herself, and she wants to please her mother by using the education that Dorothea never got to further her career.

It's heartbreaking to see a mother make this choice, but it's easy to see that Echo from a young age gravitates to Dorothea's motherly instincts. It's equally easy to see that Artie has a long history of pushing away anything in which her mother takes great interest.

All three ladies are at turns caught between the two other women in this triangle. It falls to Echo (Ellicott) to narrate this tale, explaining characters' motives, recalling many mistakes made over decades of time and offering a glimpse of hope for the future.

The play itself is at turns poignant, comic, painful and healing. In the space of 65 crisp minutes, the audience is put through the emotional wringer and better for it in the end. Tattershall has a thorough understanding of this material and what she needs her performers to do with it.

Tulsa stage veteran Boyle's Dorothea is sensitive, blunt, caring and tough-loving. It is a complete performance, utterly believable despite all of the character's nuttiness.

Evans has arguably the most difficult role as a woman whose emotions are pulled in different directions, but she succeeds in making Artie's confusion real and gaining a bit of sympathy.

Ellicott is a revelation as the youngest member of this bloodline, serving as your guide for the evening and taking you inside her head and heart. Whether her portrayal is that of a child in a crib, an ultra-competitive spelling bee contestant or a young woman whose heart has been hurt too many times, Ellicott is amazing, creating a character to be cherished.

This production is one of this year's best community theater experiences, and it should not be missed.

Heller Theater's production of "Eleemosynary" for the Tulsa Performing Arts Center Trust's SummerStage 2004 festival continues with performances at 8 p.m. Saturday, 2 p.m. Sunday and 8 p.m. Thursday-Friday and Aug. 7. All performances are in the Norman Theater of the PAC, Second Street and Cincinnati Avenue. Tickets are $10, with discounts available for students and groups. Tickets may be reserved by calling 596-7111, online at www.tulsapac.com and at the PAC box office.

Michael Smith 581-8334
michael.smith@tulsaworld.com