Overview
Archer (still Angela to his family) doesn’t want to move back to his childhood home in eastern Oregon when his father falls ill. But at night under the oldest Ponderosa Pine, he meets a stranger who knows the history of the forests and the sadness of losing endangered things. As Archer accepts big changes in his family he discovers the power of names and the histories they make and mask.
Casting & Production
Casting
ARCHER — Genderqueer; Archer to himself, Angela to his family. 29.
POPS — Archer’s Dad. 60’s.
GRANDMA — She doesn’t hear very well. 80’s
OWEN — Semester intern at the nature conservancy. 29.
MOM — Archer’s Mom. 60’s.
PETERSON (the puppet) — Cute pot-bellied puppet, manipulated by POPS.
Reviews
The play…is about mutability and the cycle of life, coming-of-age and coming into oneself, the roots that sustain us and the need for new growth. It’s about the importance of naming things, and the necessity of telling the people we love who we are.”
—The New York Times
“MJ Kaufman’s play—receiving its Chicago premiere at Redtwist Theatre under James Fleming’s direction—is note-perfect in showing how often people talk past each other, speaking only of their own desires and hearing only what they want to hear without ever truly listening.”
—The Chicago Reader
