Jeanne Marie Beaumont’s New Play: Asylum Song

An ensemble of four playing multiple roles, along with a central, emerging puppet, move fluidly in time to depict the story of Anna K., a young Slovakian immigrant, whose fate has been kept secret by her family for eight decades. As her adult granddaughter begins to dig into historical records, she must defy the family code of silence to liberate her grandmother from obscurity and stigma and find a path toward empathic understanding. Focusing on Anna’s final days in a state mental asylum in 1927, this multi-media production presents the heartbreaking reality of being a non-English speaking woman confined to an institution after one traumatic episode. By interweaving stark clinical observations drawn from Anna’s actual case record with a poetic lyrical voice, flesh and blood are conjured back on to the family skeleton. As the mystery of Anna’s life is illuminated, the need to acknowledge sad, difficult truths is met with the capacity to finally love, mourn, and embrace her.

This limited engagement runs Tuesdays through Sundays from May 31st-June 15th.  All shows are at 7PM except for Saturdays, which have 2PM showings as well.