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Another Home Invasion by Joan MacLeod

Theatre 134 in the ArtSpace at Crestwood Court
St. Louis, MO

Eighty-year old Jean is living in the same house she and her husband Alec bought more than half a century ago. Now, her husband is ailing and the couple is waiting to get into a retirement residence. Jean has her heart set on a facility where the two can live together with a measure of independence, but his rapidly declining faculties are putting that prospect in jeopardy. Their adult children, busy with their own lives, are of little help. Jean is left to struggle bravely with health-care red tape and her husband's growing dementia, her vulnerability underscored by a meth addict who lurks mysteriously on her doorstep.

The play gives voice to a seldom dramatized subject: the way Western society treats the elderly. And just as uncommonly, it puts a senior front-and-center as a funny, angry heroine trying hard to cope in a harsh and indifferent world.

Like MacLeod's 2001 "The Shape of a Girl" ─ a powerful look at adolescent bullying ─ "Another Home Invasion" had its origins in a news story about an elderly couple who were separated after 60 years together because of health problems. They both died less than two weeks later.

Joan MacLeod has been handling thorny subjects since she began writing plays in the mid-1980s. Her first full-length work, "Toronto, Mississippi" concerned a mentally handicapped girl with a wayward Elvis-impersonator father. Her 1991 Governor General's Award winner, "Amigo's Blue Guitar," examined the experiences of war refugees. "Little Sister," which picked up a 1995 Chalmers Award, dealt with teenage anorexia.

Featuring Donna Weinsting as Jean. Directed by Eric Little.

Note: SPECIAL OPENING NIGHT RECEPTION ON FRIDAY, OCTOBER 8 IMMEDIATELY FOLLOWING THE SHOW

Kid Friendly: No

Dog Friendly: No

Non-Smoking: No

Wheelchair Accessible: No

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