Sarah's Daughters

Last Friday, Saturday, and Wednesday there was a play called Sarah's Daughter's. It is about a woman whose grandmother and mother died from breast cancer. Later she learns that she has the BRCA gene and is diagnosed with breast cancer as well. She worries that her two daughters will get breast cancer as well.

The play is a one-woman show, with senior Kelly Hanahan as Joanne, and another student, Emma Strong, played the cello throughout the performance. (The play is Kelly's "Senior Capstone Experience"). The show was very good, and the ending is simply amazing. I can't imagine memorizing almost 90 minutes' worth of lines!

I saw the opening and closing night performances. On closing night, the Canadian playwright, Jeff Nisker, was there, and we got the opportunity to talk with him and ask him questions afterward, which was very interesting. Also, this was actually the American Premier of Sarah's Daughters! A US premier, here at Hiram!

Sarah's Daughters is part of a series that Hiram is putting on this year called "Cancer and the Arts." So far we've had the play Sarah's Daughters and a discussion with the creators of a musical called Unbeatable, A Musical Journey. The next play will be W;t by Margaret Edson (I'm playing one of the lab technicians in the hospital, an English student, and a rehearsal assistant). Also, the artist of the local comic strip Funky Winkerbean will be visiting campus as part of the "Cancer and the Arts" series (Linda, a character in the strip, dies of cancer -- today, I believe).