A WRENCHING Christmas reunion tests the resolve of Brooke (Julie Hatfield) whose revealing family memoir puts her at odds with her family. Cast members include Tom Burns, left, and Joe Garoutte at right.
A WRENCHING Christmas reunion tests the resolve of Brooke (Julie Hatfield) whose revealing family memoir puts her at odds with her family. Cast members include Tom Burns, left, and Joe Garoutte at right.
“Other Desert Cities,” a staged play reading closing this weekend, seems simple enough: adult daughter returns home to Palm Springs, a successful author with a new book about to be published. Her parents, brother and aunt are all there to greet her, and between game night and the newness of Brooke’s presence, matters start off friendly enough.
But the clouds of memory and family artifice gather and, as director Judie Hanel writes, “Jon Robin Baitz has written a play that resonates for those of us who lived through the travails of the ‘60s and ‘70s, and it echoes many of the arguments that plague and define our partisan divided nation today.”
Brooke Wyeth returns home to Palm Springs after a six-year absence to celebrate Christmas. Brooke announces that she is about to publish a memoir dredging up a pivotal and tragic event in the family’s history — a wound they don’t want reopened. “In effect, she draws a line in the sand and dares them all to cross it,” according to Hanel.
Cast members are Julie Hatfield as Brooke, Joe Garoutte as Trip, Sharon Laughlin as Silda, Irene Fields as Polly, and Tom Burns as Lyman.
Note that the final weekend will be staged at two locations: performances will be March 25, 7:30 p.m.at Columbia Center for the Arts, and March 26 at 7:30 p.m. at Rockford Grange. Ticket are $20 for adults, $15 for students and seniors 62 and over, and $15 for groups of 10 or more. For group tickets, come into the CCA Gallery or purchase via telephone at 541-387-8877 ext. 115. Tickets are available at Waucoma Bookstore and at the Center, 215 Cascade Ave. in downtown Hood River. The drama runs two hours and is not suitable for children under 12; no late-seating will be allowed.
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