Talking Blues: Two One-Acts by Cecilia Fairchild

The first of playwright and actor Cecilia Fairchild’s two one-act plays is Family Tradition. The piece centers on Joan (Claudia Elmore) – an Oklahoma native living in LA – and her relationship with her dead father whose spirit keeps haunting her. It’s a darkly poetic tale of alcohol and abuse, and how blood binds us – sometimes against our will. Darrett Sanders deftly portrays the alcoholic father Leon with such pain and anguish that it’s difficult not to sympathize with this irredeemable man. Likewise, Elmore gives a nuanced performance as Joan, the daughter who hates her father for what he’s done to her, and yet cannot cast out his spirit. Overall the piece could be tightened, and could use to incorporate comic relief as it’s a bit too ... full review