Martin Moran's play, now having its world premiere run at Two River Theater through March 24, is an intimate look at a family seeking grace.
Actor/playwright Martin Moran‘s personal experiences infuse “Theo,” his new drama now having its world premiere run at Two River Theater through March 24.
Like Moran’s, the central family is Irish-Catholic and its elders revere the church and have specific ideas about gender roles.
The family matriarch is nearing the end of her life and Moran’s memories of his own mother’s death color the reactions of her children.
Moran has worked with asylum seekers and the idea of looking for a place to belong – not necessarily a physical location — is woven through the action.
“It’s a constellation of characters that grew out of my own wounds and history,” Moran said. “The play is a meditation disguised as a family play, a reflection on the large questions: Why do we suffer? Where do we go when we die? How do we heal? What does it take to authentically be who we are?”
A short synopsis of the show, directed by Carolyn Cantor and starring Zachary Booth, Jesse James Keitel, Jon-Michael Reese, Andrea Syglowski and Brenda Wehle: As Margaret nears death, her son, Theo, returns home after many years way. At the family home, he reconnects with his sister, Beth, who is struggling to single-handedly parenting a teenager who is questioning her identity, and Abe, a high school acquaintance who has become their mother’s caregiver.
While Moran took the play’s title from a single character, the playwright said that person is not the “main” character. Rather, Theo’s return triggers the action that follows.
“We’re witnessing five souls who are really trying to heal and do their best in life,” Moran said. “If the play works, we’re cheering for all of them. … It’s my hope we fall in love with them.”
Two River Artistic Director John Dias said the theater commissioned the original work a few years ago after Moran performed two of his one-man shows in Red Bank.
“The theater fell in love with him and Marty himself developed a big of a following from his shows here,” Dias said. “People in our audience have said to me since that they were surprised by the places Marty took them in his two works and they were eager to see where he would take them next.”
Moran turns “the lens on his own soul,” posing challenges some would rather avoid, Dias said.
“His characters reflect some thing that may look familiar to us but he does it in a way that surprises us and allows us to see things about ourselves that we don’t usually see,” Dias said. “Marty in his writing asks some of the harder questions, like what i means to be human, and he does it with human and truth.”
THEO
Two River Theater
21 Bridge Ave., Red Bank
Tickets: $ 23-73, available online at https://tworivertheater.org/ Feb. 23 – March 24.
Natalie Pompilio is a freelance writer based in Philadelphia. She can be reached at nataliepompilio@yahoo.com. Find her on Twitter @nataliepompilio. Find NJ.com/Entertainment on Facebook.