The plot revolves around a group that targets high society open houses to rob. Suli Myrie shines as Maddy, the daughter of a former congressman, wife of a rich Georgetown daddy’s boy, mother, drug addict, and closet lesbian.
The audience meets Maddy as a patient at St. Elizabeth’s mental hospital in Ward 8. She refuses to talk to anyone. That leaves no defense for lawyers as a trial for grand theft and aggravated assault nears.
D. Scott Graham is outstanding as Mr. Summer Man, a character who may or may not be real, whom Maddy first met when he was leering into her bedroom window when she was eight and vacationing at a summer home in the Adirondacks. Maddy reported the incident to her parents and police, but the adults told her it was only a dream.
Melvin Smith is exceptional as a self-absorbed former Congressman turned lobbyist. Anna Gencarelli plays dual roles brilliantly. First, she is a frumpy shrink attempting to weave through the situations that brought Maddy to where she is. When Gencarelli appears as Charlotte, the partner in crime, she is a sexy, cocaine-wielding temptress who seduces Maddy into an alternative lifestyle that could be Maddy’s ruin.
All in all, Ezra Pound Couldn’t Sleep Here is a strong offering. See it while you can!
Running Time: 70 minutes, 60 minutes.
Ezra Pound Couldn’t Sleep Here plays on July 20 at 7:45 pm, July 22 at 8:45 pm, and July 23 at 1:00 pm presented by Valcour Island Productions at DCJCC – Cafritz Hall. Tickets are $15 and can be purchased online.
Genre: Drama
Playwright: John Harney
Director: Emily Dalton
Performers: Melvin Smith, D. Scott Graham, Anna Gencarelli, Suli Myrie
Age Appropriateness: Recommended for children 13+ older
Profanity: Yes
The complete 2023 Capital Fringe Festival guidebook is online here.
This play adds a new strange element to the DC insider scandal plot. St. Elizabeth’s is a real place I stumbled on to by accident. When I was a student in DC I went to the free clinic at St. Elizabeth’s when I was sick or needed a couple of stitches from a basketball court injury. The DC free clinic only occupied a small space in one building. The place was otherwise completely abandoned. The quietness of what was likely a scary place in its day made me think of the Broadmoor Hotel in the Shining. I tired to imagine what this place was like when it was a sanatorium was housing hundreds of involuntarily confined disabled people. If there is a way I can watch this on tape please advise.