Friday, November 13, 2009 at 8:00pm to Sunday, December 13, 2009 at 5:00pm
Son of Semele Theatre
3301 Beverly Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA

LA Weekly: “GO – Molly Sweeney”

"It's so nice to see a show that is truly solid."
-Christopher Taylor, frequent Ovation Voter Companion

"It's a beautiful play and very well told, I thought... thank you!"
-Bernadette Sullivan

"Molly Sweeney is such a beautifully constructed play, but very tricky; director Randee Trabitz and stand out performers made it it all look effortless."
- Jennie Webb

“I went to see it last Sunday and I was very impressed by the whole show. What a nice story, I had no idea of this writer and I was very pleased to see how well the story is told. The actors are amazing … I recommend it!!!! go see it!”
- Chico Burner

Drawing from Oliver Sack’s case history entitled, “To See and Not See,” Molly Sweeney by Brian Friel examines questions of sight and what it really means to see. Although considered one of Friel’s best plays, Molly Sweeney is seldom produced.

At the center of the play is Molly Sweeney, blind since 10 months of age. Her passionate and impulsive husband of two years is determined that she should again see and seeks out a world-renown ophthalmologist. These three characters take turns at telling the tale of the startling surgery to restore Molly's sight. Their individual tales interweave to create a single thread of narrative. The simplicity of the story and unembellished way in which it is related gives rise to complex issues of the philosophical differences between seeing and understanding.

“Ultimately, the audience sits in judgment of the 3 characters and their very specific decision to operate and restore Molly's sight, declares Director Randee Trabitz (St. Joan and the Dancing Sickness, Happy End, The Mystery of Irma Vep). They each tell the story from their own perspective, revealing their own need for Molly's operation, without much consideration of her very full and satisfying life as a blind woman. The play becomes thematically universal and extremely provocative as it presents human nature and its inability to let well enough alone.

The cast includes three veterans of the Los Angeles Theatre Scene. Melina Bielefelt (Theatre Movement Bazaar, LA Poverty Department), in the title role, is joined by Matthew McCallum (NCIS, Will Geer Theatricum Botanicum) as her husband, Frank, and John Ross Clark (Heroes, Odyssey Theatre) as her doctor, Mr. Rice.

Production Team: Set: Sibyl Wickersheimer, Costumes: Laura Wong, Lighting: Jaqueline Reid, Sound: John Zalewski, Dramaturg: James F. Boyle, Ph.D. Dialect Coach: Caroline Morahan, Stage Mgr: Jessica Amezuca, Postcard/Production Photos: Don Raber www.donraber.com

http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/86716