the cell in association with Thursday Productions, presents

PILLOW ON THE STAIRS

By Brona Crehan

Featuring
BRONA CREHAN, JAQUELINE KEALY, JOHN McCONNELL

Directed by JOHN KEATING
Stage Manager: MACKENZIE MEEKS
Lighting Designer: GERTJAN HOUBEN
Sound Designer: M. FLORIAN STAAB
Photography: CAROL ROSEGG
Graphic Design: AMY McLERAN
Pre-show music: The Chieftans, and "Sweet Ellen" composed by Mary Crehan, arranged and performed by Daniel Angioli

the cell
338 West 23rd Street (between Eighth & Ninth Avenues)
www.thecelltheatre.org
February 11-28, 2015; Opening Night -02/11/15

Brona Crehan's PILLOW ON THE STAIRS is a play about love, innocence, denial, and betrayal. A slice of life in Dublin, Ireland that connects three people for a lifetime but all is not rosy. The starting point of the story revolves around the question--what would your life have been like if you made one decision differently.

A minimalist stage setting. Three chairs. Three actors. It was like a stage reading but their unique point of views expressed poignantly one at a time, the others not knowing their counterpoints side of the story. This format deeply engaged the audience one character at a time.

Annie (Brona Crehan) jilted her boyfriend, Jim (John McConnell), who wanted to marry her. His rebound lover, Margaret (Jaqueline Kealy) ends up getting pregnant and is coerced by Jim to what would be the right thing to do morally, or so they both thought. Haunted by this one decision for the rest of their lives and the consequences on their subsequent partners, they delve into the world of secrets, denials, and betrayal of trust.

This story gives insight into the realities of everyday relationships and ends up leaving the audience in suspense as another twist to the intrigue has been revealed. The plays ends and the audience stays thinking there is another act after the intermission but no this is where the story ends leaving it up to the audience's imagination as to how the characters continue their lives. I'd recommend seeing Pillow on the Stairs in the quaint theatre setting of the cell.

- Laura Thompson -
http://www.loralia.com @LORALIA