Dog Sees God
And Baby Makes Seven
By Paula Vogel
Directed by Karla Hartley
Sep. 24 – Oct. 11, 2009
Thu. – Sat. 8pm, Sun. 4pm
Tickets: $24.50
Shimberg Playhouse, Straz Center for the Performing Arts
Featuring the work of these 2009 Creative Loafing Best of the Bay Award winners:
Jobsite Theater – Best Theater Company
Karla Hartley – Best Director
Scott Cooper – Best Scenic Designer
Anna, Ruth and Peter await the arrival of their newborn child, but first they must rid the crowded apartment of their three imaginary children. Hilariously startling and brilliantly funny, Paula Vogel (The Mineola Twins, How I Learned to Drive) redefines the meaning of family and completely blurs the lines between illusion and reality, power and subjection, friendship and love, female and male.
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“Filled with outrageous touches, And Baby Makes Seven is one of those rare theatergoing opportunities where everything comes together in a string of magical moments. Be prepared to be enchanted seven times!” – Austin American Statesman” – Star-Ledger.
“And Baby Makes Seven hints at serious themes – questioning whether we ever really do grow up, detailing the ways in which Anna, Peter and Ruth must change and accommodate to become a family. But for the most part, it's a comic fairy tale and, despite some scary Brothers Grimm-style currents, a celebration at heart, sweet-natured and affirmative.” – Denver Westword
In order to move forward in their newly-found adult responsibilities as parents-to-be, Ruth and Anna (a lesbian couple) and Peter (the live-in gay father of their unborn child) struggle with killing off the imaginary children who are dominating their lives.
There's Henri, the little impish French boy from the movie The Red Balloon; Cecil, the nine-year old child genius; and Orphan, the feral wild-child raised by dogs at the Port Authority. When the children begin to clash with one another and the adults, all bets are off.
And Baby Makes Seven transcends the GLBT subject matter to raise a more universal question that's extremely relevant in today's me-first, ultra-technological society – at what point do we put away childish things and accept responsibility for our lives and our relationships?
The results are a laugh-laden and poignant piece of theater that borrows plot points and dialogue from a hodgepodge of literary and cinematic sources, including Shakespeare, Peter Pan and The Exorcist that's sure to provoke discussion and furrow the brows of more literal-minded observers. Is the excessive role-playing merely pet games or genuine psychotic breaks? What's the real relationship between Peter, Anna and Ruth? Will the imaginary children be exorcised, or will they find a way to stay?
And Baby Makes Seven contains adult language and subject matter and is intended for mature audiences only.
About the Artists
And Baby Makes Seven is directed by Karla Hartley (The Little Dog Laughed, Blackbird), who also provides the lighting design. The design is rounded out with a scenic design by Scott Cooper (Doubt, Boston Marriage) and costumes from Katrina Stevenson (Pericles, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead) who have both won multiple Best of the Bay Awards from Creative Loafing.
The cast features Alison Burns (Boston Marriage, RESPECT) as Anna, Jessica Rothert (making her professional Bay area debut) as Ruth and David M. Jenkins (Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead, The March of the Kitefliers) as Peter.
See more about the cast and crew.
And Baby Makes Seven | Night of the Living Dead | What the Butler Saw
