Anatomy of a Hug
Description
When Amelia’s mother receives Compassionate Release from her prison sentence, Amelia’s carefully constructed world is threatened. Twenty-six years of living vicariously through her beloved TV characters doesn’t prepare her for the actual drama of her mother’s return or the advances of a charming co-worker. The ticking clock of her mother’s illness means Amelia must decide if her fictional life is safer than the possibility of her own story.
Production Info
Full Length Drama (about 90 minutes)
Multiple Sets
Contemporary Costumes
Press Quotes
“… This is the story of Amelia, the heartbroken but idealistic daughter, and Sonia, the dying mother who murdered her husband, Amelia’s father, when Amelia was a child. With the aide of a social worker, Amelia agrees to take in her mother as Sonia is suffering from ovarian cancer and has been given Compassionate Release from prison because of her terminal illness … The beautiful writing by Ramsburg makes every moment fresh and new and marks a tense standoff between mother and daughter. The language flows like a crystal stream and forces us, the audience, into the fragmented life of Amelia who has a job selling memberships to a charity that rescues children in overseas countries and watches television to soothe the scars she perceives as caused by her mother and the rest of humanity. These are the words of a master playwright: specific, detailed, wrapped in imagery and covered in lush reality. Let us be honest. There are raw and naked scars here. But they are presented with such nobility and grace that we genuinely understand their beginnings and sincerely hope for their ends … The O’Neill Theater Conference Semi-Finalist is a masterwork moving and crisscrossing the four characters into and out of each other’s prism and purpose like good soldiers. The hug in the title refers to the human warmth and love that Amelia has been desperately yearning for since her childhood when she attended foster home after foster home, and is contemplating sharing with Ben, a co-worker who has shown great interest in her. Her journey to that acceptance, self-love and understanding is brilliantly chronicled by Ramsburg …” —atthetheatrewithradomirluza.com
Author
Kat RamsburgKat Ramsburg is a Los Angeles based playwright. Plays include Anatomy of a Hug, Stupid Hope, Wendy Unwritten, Drive You Happy and Love Cloud. Her plays have been produced, commissioned and developed by Primary Stages: ESPA Drills, The Great Plains Theatre Conference, Trustus Theatre, The Road Theatre, Northern Writer's Project, Acadiana Repertory Theatre, The Bechdel Group, New Origins Theatre, The Bridge Initiative: Women in Arizona Theatre, The Evergreen School, Ugly Rhino Theatre Company, Rising Sun Theatre Company, Exit 7, and The Little Theatre.
Book Information
| Publisher | BPPI |
|---|---|
| Publication Date | 11/10/2020 |
| Pages | 74 |
| ISBN | 9780881458831 |
Special Notes
by special arrangement with Broadway Play Publishing Inc, NYC
www.broadwayplaypublishing.com
