Snapshots, is an evening of theatre comprised of three one-act plays, each relevant to the concerns and lives of today’s women, of all generations. All three are deftly directed by Gregory Simmons, as evidenced by the natural and committed performances in each play.

Shirley Bodtke (as Colleen Ireland) and Larisa Polonsky (photo credit: Carlo Damocles)

The first piece is Colleen Ireland by Stuart Harris, and is concerned with the dilemma facing many seniors and their caregivers: when it’s time to stop driving. Colleen Ireland (Shirley Bodtke) is a 97-year old assisted living resident, whose great granddaughter, Jill (Larisa Polonsky) comes to visit, and request the car keys…again. Evidently, Colleen gives up the keys, only to purchase yet another car, and so it goes. But the real story is about real independence of spirit, not just physical mobility. As Colleen tells her granddaughter about how empowering it was to be the first American woman to pilot an airplane, after marrying her WW1 pilot husband, Jill is continually answering the cell phone calls from her boyfriend who wants her to agree to an “open” relationship. Colleen’s spunk and self esteem inform her grand-motherly advice to Jill, that it’s the woman in the relationship that should call the shots, and not the other way around. Ms. Bodtke and Ms. Polonsky give lovely performances that end with Colleen agreeing to take one last trip to the market in the driver’s seat, with Jill as her co-pilot.

Antwan Ward (left) and Melanie Nicholls-King (right) in Linda Faigao-Hall's
THE A WORD (photo credit: Carlo Damocles)

The A-Word by Linda Faigao-Hall is a family interaction of a very different kind.

Beth (Melanie Nicholls-King) is alone, enjoying the birthday gift from her fiancé of a photo album of her life, when through the door walks a familiar young man (Antwan Ward). He taunts her about why his picture isn’ t in the album, and we assume that he’s perhaps her son, given up for adoption. As their exchange brinks on violence, it becomes apparent that indeed he is her son, not adopted but aborted. Ms. Nicholls-King gives an excellent performance as the guilt-ridden Beth, trying for years to push the memory of her never born son away. The final confrontation of her decision, finally embracing and naming her son’s spirit, David, truly touches the audience’s heart. Ms. Hall has written an amazingly complex play, succeeding in twenty three minutes, what other playwrights can’t accomplish in two and a half hours. There is a sense of resolution of one of life’s most difficult choices that leaves the audience sad yet satisfied.

Meg Myles (left) and Maxine Prescott (right) in End of Civilization (photo
credit: Carlo Damocles)

The final play of the evening, The End of Civilization as We Know It by Lydia Stryk is a look at love and family through yet another lense. The play’s title, refers to the Right Wing fear, that if gay marriage is legalized, it will be The End of Civilization as We Know It . Here, in the church waiting room of their grandson’s wedding, two grandmothers recount and relive their 50-year relationship. Edith (Maxine Prescott) and Bea (Meg Myles) started out as young housewives and mothers together, fell in love with each other, and ultimately ended up “ married” to each other. Of a generation that was not nearly as open in the 1950's, the two women give fine performances defining and declaring their deep and still passionate love for each other. That they have never formally married still stings whenever they attend weddings of friends and family, and they promise each other, that this will be the last wedding they attend. Their kiss in public as they enter the church at the plays end seals their promise.

The simple set and lighting design by Maruti Evans works beautifully for all three plays, as do the costumes by Arnulfo Maldonado, and sound design by Elizabeth Rhodes. Diverse City Theater believes that “Art Is Essential, Diversity In The Arts Is Imperative”, and Snapshots is an evening in the theatre that fulfills that belief.