Observer Online | Players to Present 'Memory of Water'

Edition of March 21, 2008

Players to Present 'Memory of Water'

By Rebecca Plevin

Observer Staff Writer

In the first act of the Elden Street Player's production of "The Memory of Water," three sisters gather in their mother's home. Their mother has recently died from Alzheimer's disease and the three women bicker, joke and reminisce as they prepare for their mother's funeral and come to grips with their grief.

Director Melody Fetske said she first read the play after her mother died, and she felt a close connection to the play, since she is one of four sisters. Fetske said she remembers thinking, "I can bring something to this play," since it covers "such familiar territory."

Fetske is not the only one who feels a personal connection to the play, which opens Friday at the Industrial Strength Theatre. The actresses in the play said they have developed their characters based on past life experiences, and the result, they said, is a show to which every audience member should be able to relate.

"I think everyone will have a personal connection to one of these characters, if not all of them," actress Tracy Mullencosker said. The characters, she said, are "unique," but "the feelings and emotions are universal."

To authentically portray the sister dynamic, the cast spent a significant amount of time developing the individual characters and working to better understand each sister's history and motivations, Mullencosker said. This work, she said, "helped solidify our history" as a family and was necessary to "make sure we all have the same memories."

The character development activities were helpful for Mullencosker, who has one brother and said she does not have "any personal frame of reference" for the relationship between sisters. But actress Cassie Lee, who plays the middle daughter, Mary, said that having two sisters gave her clear insight into her role.

Lee said she is extremely close to her sisters and her mother and, "Those are the most important relationships in my life." It has been "fun in a way to put them to life on stage," she said.

The humor in the show, Lee said, "stems from the relationships the sisters have with each other" and the memories that they shareor remember differently.

Susan d.Garvey, who plays Vi, the deceased mother who comes back in Mary's memories, said that in developing her character, she has pulled on her own experiences as the mother of two daughters, ages 17 and 21. "They flash through my mind when I say certain things," she said.

A theme of the show, Fetske said, is how character traits and mannerisms are passed down genetically from generation to generation. "You never lose the elements of your antecedents," she said. "You have that sort of thing flow through you."

The actresses collaborated to develop similar movements and shared speech patterns, d.Garvey said. She said it was particularly challenging to find "the right speech pattern and temperament to have a little touch of all three, but not be like any" of the daughters.

The production has been "a labor of love," Fetske said. She said she has dedicated the show to her sisters because, "In the end, all you have left is family."