PYGmalion Theatre Company Continues 2023/2024 Season With LAST LISTS OF MY MAD MOTHER

PYGmalion Theatre Company is continuing its 2023/2024 season with "Last Lists of My Mad Mother," which features an all-female, all-local team of writer Julie Jensen, director Morag Shepherd, and actors Reb Fleming, Tamara Howell and Ariana Farber. The show runs from Feb. 9 to Feb. 24 at the Rose Wagner Center for Performing Arts located at 138 West Broadway in downtown Salt Lake City.

Shepherd and PYGmalion were just feted by Les Roka in the Utah Review, when he selected his Top Moment of Utah Enlightentment in 2023. Roka wrote: "This year's top moment is shared by two Utah playwrights because their respective works, when combined, articulate the epiphanies of conscience embedded in the historical and contemporary realities of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. They are Debora Threedy for 'Mountain Meadows,' an immensely satisfying play which received an excellent premiere in a PYGmalion Theatre Company production last winter, and Morag Shepherd's 'Worship,' which received an exceptional premiere, produced by Immigrant's Daughter Theatre." The show also follows the great success of PYGmalion's opening show of the season, "The Half-Life of Marie Curie" by Lauren Gunderson, in November. 

“Last Lists of My Mad Mother” delves into the complexities of the mother-daughter relationship amidst the challenges of aging and Alzheimer's disease. Premiered in 1998, the play navigates the intricacies of caring for an aging parent while exploring themes of love, loss, and the gradual erosion of memory.

The play revolves around Dot, who is grappling with her mother's progressive Alzheimer's. Not only is Dot the primary caregiver, she is provided ongoing and annoying advice by her sister -- from afar. The audience is invited into the intimate world of this mother and her daughters as they navigate the evolving dynamics of their relationship.

Jensen's masterful storytelling captures the raw vulnerability of these characters, portraying frustration, tenderness, unexpected humor, and inevitable conflicts that arise when a loved one's mind begins to slip away. Ma's struggle with memory loss serves as the focal point, highlighting the heartbreaking, and often bizarre, reality of losing one's connection to their past and loved ones. Commissioned by the Mark Taper Forum, this play was a winner of the Mill Mountain Theatre New Play Competition.

Director Shepherd spoke about what she loves about this show and Jensen's writing in general. 

"I love how this piece deals with the topic of Alzheimer's disease both in the subject matter, and also in the way that the language is used and essentially stripped from the story," she said. "It's such an interesting contrast that the more Ma's language is stripped from her, the more eloquent and elaborate Dot's function as the narrator becomes. It's really the give and take between the two main characters -- Dot and Ma -- that attracted me to this piece. Ma gives Dot this marvelous gift of the written word, and then hers deteriorates. Ma gives Dot life, and then, in a lot of ways, restricts and strips her life. 

"I honestly always admire how Julie is able to tell a complicated, multi-faceted story, in the simplest, most effective way possible. It's quite a difficult skill to write a play, and only leave the essentials, the characters, and their struggle." 

She also spoke about what she's excited about the show from a director's perspective.

"From a director's perspective I am most excited to delve into the ways that we can move and utilize the narrator," she said. "I have a suspicion that the narrator isn't as straightforward as she appears on the page, I guess we will see. I'm also excited to play with all this beautiful language that Julie has gifted us." 

Local legend Reb Fleming, who plays Ma, told us why the show appeals to her as an actor. 

"This show appealed to me first and foremost as a human being," she said.  "I have three beautiful and beloved friends, my age, who are now living their lives each with varying manifestations of Alzheimer's. I wanted to do the show in their honor, not as caricature or stereotype of 'an old lady who loses her marbles/mind,' but as authentic representation of aging and loss of memory. Our memories are the treasures of our life; I hold onto mine tenderly and tenaciously and grieve for those who look for but cannot find the words, the people, the experiences of their own lives within their own minds."

She also spoke about what she's looking forward to as she enters the rehearsal process and how she has prepared so far. 

"Working in a Julie Jensen show is a privilege I was afraid would not come my way," Fleming said. "Ms. Jensen's writing is insightful, intriguing, heartbreaking and often hilarious. She offers an audience an unabashed glimpse into the lives of ordinary human beings, living with challenging expectations, who most often rise to the occasion and sometimes fall short… as do we all… thus we see ourselves."

She added: "In preparation for this show I have studied research related to memory loss in aging, watched videos that respectfully portray the lives of those suffering from Alzheimer's and loss of memory, and have met with an hospice nurse for consultation and advice based upon her years of assisting and loving people through end stages of life." 

Fleming added that she has worked with both Howell and Farber before. 

"I have worked with both of the other actors before and hold each of them in high regard, respect, and with deep affection," she said. "Thus I enter rehearsals and production with eager anticipation and absolute confidence knowing in advance their commitment to ensemble art. This will be my first experience working with Morag; her reputation as a director promises possibilities of rehearsals dedicated to discovery and invention which allow actors opportunity to create and collaborate rather than each showing up with preconceived ideas/performance set in stone."

Farber, who plays Sis, also touched upon what appealed to her about the show as an actor. 

"It is so well written and compelling -- in addition to having such a great cast and production team, I couldn't pass up the opportunity to work on one of Julie Jensen's plays," she said. 

She also added about the rehearsal process: "I am really looking forward to getting into the rehearsal room again with Morag to see what she is able to pull out of this awesome script, and I am excited to work with Tam; we've crossed paths in so many ways in this theater community but have never acted side by side before. And I'm thrilled to work with Reb again after nearly 20 years -- we were both in 'The Sex Habits of American Women' that was produced 18 years ago when PYGamlion was in their second season at the Rose Wagner. I am so excited to work with her again!"

Shepherd also touched on why the show is important right now. 

"Almost everyone I know has had a loved one, or currently has a loved one, who has endured the plight of Alzheimer's," she said. "From what I've gathered so far, Alzheimer's is one of those cruel tricks of nature that afflicts a high percentage of our population. There's no cure. And there's not a lot that we know about it. So this is for sure still a topical and prevalent issue in society today. But, of course, like a lot of Julie's work, it isn't just a play about Alzheimer's, it is a brilliant comedy that has a lot of wit and punch. A play for anyone who has a mother." 

Pygmalion Productions Theatre Company
"Last Lists of My Mad Mother" by Julie Jensen
Feb. 9 to Feb. 24, Thursday, and Friday at 7:30 p.m., Saturday at 4 p.m. and Sunday at 2 p.m. 
Rose Wagner Performing Arts Center, Black Box Theatre, 138 W. 300 South
Tickets: $15-$22.50 from (801) 355.ARTS (2787) or saltlakeacountyarts.org

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