Displaying items by tag: Kayla Kennedy
The Tin Woman, A Moving Play About the Value of Having a Heart
Playwright Sean Grennan’s latest work is based on a true story about a successful heart transplant that occurs between two very different people who meet briefly and then go on to complete each other's lives without meeting in this world again.
Joy, played realistically and with dry humor by the playwright's sister, Erin Noel Grennan, has just received a heart transplant and is struggling with depression about why she is still alive and what happiness she can find by continuing to work, make money, spend money and work some more. Joy is a cynical loner, abandoned by her parents with one great friend named Dara, played with great humor by Jeri Marshall.
Joy finds out from her nurse, also played by Marshall (who is great at character studies), that she can write a thank you note to the donors family and does so with wonderful but challenging emotional consequences.
It turns out her donor, Jack, played with sensitivity by Doogan Brown, a 36-year-old aspiring photographer that she once met in a coffee shop and flirted with, still has a family of three that miss him very much and are devastated by his sudden death caused by a car accident.
Jacks' mother, father and sister - Hank (Steve Pickering), Alice (Annabel Armouray) and Sammy (Kayla Kennedy) are all characters brought to life with precision and care. Outside of a reluctant Hank, the family welcomes Joy into their home, hoping to find some answers or comfort for their loss in this stranger who is carrying the heart of their child in her chest.
One of the most touching and poignant moments in the play is when each family member listens to Joy's chest and realize that there is their son and brother, his heart still beating out his particular rhythm into this world.
Jack is shown in flashbacks and as a spirit who is sticking around in this world to oversee the healing process begun by the family meeting and bonding with his donor.
The Tin Woman is directed with great ease into a thoughtful yet quickly moving pace by Linda Fortunato and is complimented with an all-female tech crew including a great set by Sarah Ross. The play includes set lighting by Shelley Strasser-Holland, sound by Victorio Deiorio (who also composed the original music) and costumes by Brenda Winstead, along with props by Brittney O’Keefe. The Tin Woman is a fabulous example of the success that comes with employing women at every level of theater and allowing them free reign to do their jobs.
Although I have come to expect the fun and excitement of the large, musical theater type productions from Theatre at the Center, this serious, yet darkly funny play was a refreshing offering.
The simplicity and universality of the story regarding surviving life after the death of a loved one fell on the audience like a soft, summer rain.
Grennan's writing combined with his own sister's excellent portrayal of a cynical single woman at a crossroads in her life, cleanses the mind and soul with both tears and laughter so that the hope of emotional healing comes shining through the rain.
The Tin Woman is being performed at Theatre at the Center in Munster, IN through August 13th. For more show information or to purchase tickets, visit www.theatreatthecenter.com.
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Written by Buzz Center StageNeed something better than old reruns of Hallmark Movies this holiday season? Want to see some real nut-crackers? Then dash on through the snow to catch The Second City’s Nut-Cracking Holiday Revue, November 20-December 23 at Paramount’s Copley Theatre, 8… -
Mary, A Holiday Dansical Returns for one performance only at Logan Center December 13th
Written by Buzz Center StageBlack Girls Dance®, which centers Black and Brown girls in joyful community, presents its sixth annual production of Mary, A Holiday Dansical, choreographed, written, and directed by Founder Erin Barnett. This fundraiser returns for one night only Sunday, December 13…
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Written by Wesley DavidThere are funerals where grief brings a family together, and then there are funerals where grief opens the door to everything a family has spent years trying to keep buried. In Hayward, playwright Netta Walker turns a father’s funeral into… -
JK Entertainment presents WHEN WE WERE YOUNG AND UNAFRAID at Greenhouse Theater Center November 12 – 29, 2026
Written by Buzz Center StageJK Entertainment has released first look rehearsal photos for WHEN WE WERE YOUNG AND UNAFRAID, the first production of the company's second season. JK Entertainment's production brings this story to Chicago audiences November 12–29, inviting audiences to consider how far…
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