Taking Care

TAKING CARE chronicles the last years of an elderly woman and the mentally ill adult son who has lived with her for almost three decades. Stuck in a cramped, one-bedroom apartment, Ma and Benny have spent much of the past thirty years pretending the other wasn't there. Now that the old woman is more or less house-bound, she foists conversation upon her unwilling son and threatens to institutionalize him if he doesn't clean up his act and start behaving more responsibly. When she breaks her hip, Ma convinces her alienated daughters that their brother is well enough to look after her in her "recovery." Realizing that failure to do so could result in institutionalization for both them, Benny tries to rise to the occasion and care for his mother, even as she begins a quick decent into dementia. His new responsibilities test his limited capabilities and force mother and son to forge new bonds in the waning days of her life. "... with this new play McCullough proves she is indeed as much of an artist as she indicated she might be in CHAGRIN FALLS ... as an act of play writing and theater it is remarkable, if not brilliant. McCullough gives us a slice of life that is so lifelike and dialogue so realistic, it could pass for a transcript from life. To achieve this level of naturalism, a writer must have keen powers of observation, a strong sense of purpose and the ability to translate her observations into compelling, believable dialogue. McCullough excels in all three categories ... TAKING CARE may not make for great commercial theater, but it is something much more important. It is an artistic success, one that plumbs a writer's depth and reveals her range as a writer. There is more to this woman than meets the eye in any one of her works." -Jack Helbig, Daily Herald "... Mia McCullough's quietly devastating TAKING CARE ... scenes that are full of the suppressed rage and tedium that infuse the characters' lives, and that are scraped clean of any hint of sentimentality ... a series of many short, seemingly simple scenes that ultimately build to make a powerful statement about human existence. Her play is as lean as a screenplay ... TAKING CARE offers something less than a pretty picture, but it is a true one, all around." -Hedy Weiss, Chicago Sun-Times