LA WEEKLY PICKS INDEPENDENCE!!!

Independence

“Seven Shows to See at 2014 Hollywood Fringe Festival”

This year, L.A. Weekly has partnered with theater website Stage Raw to review shows at the Hollywood Fringe Festival, running through June 29. Here are some of our favorites. For tickets, go to hollywoodfringe.org.

Independence: This is a striking revival of Lee Blessing’s 1984 drama about a family caught in the swirls of crisis and change in a small Iowa town. At the heart of the play is Evelyn Briggs (Shelley Phillips), the mother of three daughters, who is emotionally unstable, manipulative and grasping.

The fuse is lit when the eldest, Kess (Kat Muldoon), a lesbian and college professor, returns home after four years to find her youngest sister, Jo (Jenny Simpson), pregnant and wearing a neck brace due to an attack by her mother. Middle sister Sherry (Lauren Benge), a wild child and loose-panty who is into “meaningless relationships,” and is an aspiring sculptor, is never short of hurtful words or droll mockery. Evelyn is a master at tossing the apple of discord among her children, engaging in her destructive ritual of attraction and repulsion.

The play is pegged as a coming-of-age story, but it’s really about breaking free of bonds, even at the expense of those we love. The performances are outstanding under Vernée Watson’s exacting direction. —Lovell Estell III

Tickets/Info — https://www.hollywoodfringe.org/projects/1588