“Downer subject, don’t you think?”
When 22 year-old Mitzi (Natalie Cutcher) becomes pregnant, she welcomes the adventure despite some unsettling doubts. While things are hard enough with a tight budget, a deployed fiancé named Chuck (Christian Campbell), a crass, babbling mother named Vera (a riotous Elizabeth Richards Bailey). and hallucinations of centuries-old religious figures, the situation becomes unbearable when she is given some tragic news that is coupled with frustratingly cruel bureaucracy. Arguments about topics (such as, at what time does a fetus gain the moral status of a human being?) are posed at Mitzi from every angle, including views from an expert (also Christian Campbell) and her redneck Uncle Tub (a fine performance by John Kevin Boggs, who has a couple of other roles as well). A heartbreaking decision must be made…but how?
Directed by Ryan S. Taylor, this production is full of talented actors and emotional, interesting material. However, I could do without the religious martyrs that only Mitzi can see (John C. Bailey as Aquinas and Louise Schlegel as Reckless Mary), which gives the otherwise thought-provoking play a fumbling, awkward vibe.
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