In a Blue Moon
June 23rd, 2016
Everyone grieves differently, and in Lucia Frangione’s play In a Blue Moon (Talonbooks, $17.95), we follow three characters in a combination of dance, recollection, and photography as each of the trio find peace with their new realities. After the death of Ava’s husband, she moves to the only asset they have left: a farmhouse far from the city. With her daughter Frankie, Ava begins an Ayurveda clinic but there is a problem. Her long-estranged brother-in-law Will, who has been living rent free on the farm refuses to leave. A tender love story unfolds as Frankie finds in Will someone to trust and look up to, while Ava discovers in him a companion who pushes her to grow as a person. 978-1-77201-035-0
**
Described as a post-feminist playwright, Frangione is also an actor who has been associated with Ruby Slippers Theatre in Vancouver. Her production of Espresso was nominated for a Jessie Richardson Theatre Award in 2003, as was her preceding play Cariboo Magi.
Hyped as ‘sexy, provocative and challenging’, Espresso (Talonbooks, 2004) is one of the author’s ‘blasphemy plays’ that inverts Catholic stereotypes of feminine sexuality. When the patriarch of an immigrant Italian family is hospitalized after a near-fatal car accident, the women of the clan converge into one actor and present their stories. The workshop and world premiere were directed by Morris Ertman and produced by Scott Campbell under the artistic direction of Ron Reed at the Pacific Theatre in Vancouver in January/February of 2003 with Lucia Frangione as Rosa and Todd Thomson in the other role of Amante.
Her play Cariboo Magi (Talonbooks, 2005) concerns a makeshift troupe of would-be theatricals who attempt to mount a Christmas Pageant for the Theatre Royal in Barkerville during the Cariboo gold rush. They consist of a pregnant child star, an inept and drunken Anglican preacher, a cunning Madame named Fanny and a mixed-blood poet who claims he’s the last of the Mohicans.
Leave a Reply