A Family Affair

Years ago, when I covered Roxbury Township in Morris County, the municipal building was a sprawling structure on Horseshoe Lake.
Recently,  I covered a meeting at the "new" Roxbury Township Municipal Building. Which, to me, was the old telephone company building. You know, when it was THE TELEPHONE COMPANY. When AT&T ruled the world. What was that movie from the 60s, "In Like Flint?" Where the phone company did rule the world? Somewhere is the phone I got from that building when I moved into an apartment in Hackettstown. There was a phone there and I asked them to turn it on. They said they couldn't. They said I had to get a phone. When I got to THE TELEPHONE COMPANY, they said I had to take a phone and plug it in. I said the building was built in about 1880 and you couldn't plug it it. The gal said, "It's an apartment?" "Right." "So you plug it in." 
Ok. So, I went home and called the service people and made an appointment for someone to hard wire the phone. Except he didn't show up. Then he called. I told him the situation and he had the phone company turn on the phone. Did I return the phone they gave me? No. It was a gift.
But, I digress.
I went back to Horseshoe Lake with my friend Sheila last week. The municipal building now has a gym and, more significantly, a little theater.
We were there because a friend, Wayne Thorp, wrote a play and invited us, well, Sheila really, to see it. 
It was a one-act play, featuring four women.
Sheila and I discussed how difficult it must be for a man to write dialogue for four women. Especially four women of a different generation. But Wayne pulled it off. These were educated women and he didn't make the mistake of making them sound less so the more they drank.
The plot of The Price of Illusion revolves around relationships.
In the beginning, I kept thinking the gals sounded amazingly like my cousins and I last fall discussing the dynamics of our lives and our moms over quite a bit of wine on the anniversary of their father's death. 
Then things turned.
The friend of on sister, Helen, reveals a secret that changes the girls' idea of "family."
Helen, you see, who is from the other side of the tracks, is the illegitimate daughter of the girls' father. They don't believe her when she tells them, but another friend in on the action, Nicole, tells them their father routinely hit on their friends. 
Ok, the plot was a bit contrived. What are the chances Helen would find out who her father was, would get a job at the same place as her half-sister, Cassie, and befriend her? But, if you could suspend your disbelief on that and just listen to the women, you see a more universal story underneath. A story about illusions shattered. How many of us have discovered a secret we had trouble believing about someone in our family. Maybe not a secret so terrible, but still.
There is also a class-warfare dynamic int he story since the sisters, Cassie and Tina, grew up affluent and Helen grew up in the projects. To a New Jersey audience, all Wayne needed was the word "Camden," and that said it all. 
Common wisdom says you need two things to travel to Camden, Rosary beads and a Smith & Wesson.
Helen is also Latina, bringing a racial note to the story.
While most of us don't have family secrets that devolve into class and race stories, we can related to many of the issues discussed.
The production was Cabaret-style and wine and soft drinks and goodies provided by the Roxbury Arts Alliance, a venerable group that has done many events in the sprawling township for many years.
I believe that is the best setting for this play because the comfortable tables and chairs ambiance brought home the domesticity of the story.
Matt McCarthy directed. He kept Helen standing for the entire hour and a half -- or most of it. Sheila noted her shoes look uncomfortable, but I've worn shoes like that for hours, it's possible. The trick of making her sort of off-balance was well played. 
The acting was superb. 
Claire Bochenek as the prodigal sister, Cassie, expertly dissolved into drunkenness. Gianna Esposito as the "perfect" sister, Tina, deftly allowed her facade to crumble. Janine Lee Papio as Helen was tough and vulnerable. Jillian Petrie as Nicole, carried off a character that could be peripheral but was really pivotal. 
I really hope The Price of Illusion gets another shot, especially in dinner-theater (or munchie-theater) format.