Ventura’s Rubicon Theatre presents an exciting new work, an ambitious one-woman show by Sharon Scott Williams called Crazy Mama. Starring Linda Purl (Happy Days, Matlock, The Office, Homeland, True Blood) and directed by Anson Williams (Potsie in Happy Days and Melrose Place/Beverly Hills, 90210 as director), Crazy Mama is based on Scott Williams’s memoir of life with her beloved, mentally ill mother. Purl plays 16 roles in total, layering viewpoints from a multitude of characters to build the story of a young girl in small-town Virginia and the effect her mother’s “condition” had on family and community members alike.
Amid what Anson Williams describes as a lovely upbringing, young Scott Williams came home one day to witness her mother’s violent psychotic break from reality. “That was the day she lost her mother,” he says, “the day she lost normal.” Purl, who plays both child and adult Scott Williams, describes the play as being about coping, resilience, and collateral damage when there’s trauma inside a family. “[Scott Williams] has written a beautiful play. There’s so much music in it, and so much humor,” says Purl, who feels a special kinship with the material. “Our families are from the same area, so I feel like my ancestors are with me.”
Performer Will Huse is also featured throughout the production, providing musical transitions and functioning as a kind of Greek chorus.
Anson Williams describes the show as healing and rich with love. “It breaks open the door on mental illness, which one in four people deal with. It’s more than the flu! But no one brings it up. You think you’re alone.” The hope of the show’s creative team is that the play will give people increased permission, experience, or accessibility to join the conversation about mental illness. “All of the sudden, they’re not alone,” says Anson Williams. “They’re talking about it…. They’re facing it and embracing it.”
Crazy Mama makes its debut at the Rubicon Theatre (1006 E. Main St., Ventura) Friday, March 28, and runs through April 13. See rubicontheatre.org.
You must be logged in to post a comment.