Daughters and Other Mentors

LIFE LESSONS FROM UNEXPECTED TEACHERS

In November, RTR examines family, friends and the lessons only tough love can teach. Wendy Wilcox directs Rosie by David Berkson and Help by Neena Beber, two stories of late awakening, care of some surprising teachers.

In Rosie, A long summer day heats up as a mother and her thirteen-year old daughter argue over whether or not to visit a dying relative. Heartbreaking, compassionate, and brutally honest, Rosie gives audiences a ride down the torn up road of family life, aging, mortality, and growing up.

In Help, Gina is fraught with upper class guilt, and volunteers at a soup kitchen to alleviate it. But Beverly, who runs the place, seems to be cooking up more than just chicken for eleven.

“As a mom, I’m astonished at what my son has to teach me,” says director Wilcox. “And in everyday life, lessons abound – whether courtesy of an old friend or a taxi driver.” November, with Thanksgiving at its heart, is about connection, Wilcox says. She says these plays are about “the pain and grace of relationship with family, strangers… all the teachers in our lives.”

The cast includes Hadley Boyd and Grace Ettinger.