And Baby Makes Seven

February 24-25, March 2-3, 8-10 at 8:00pm and March 4 at 3:00pm

Written by Paula Vogel – Directed by Linda Haston

Starring Tony Bingham, Tressa Glover, and Robyne Parrish

Move way over, Brady Bunch.

Anna’s baby is a week late.  Ruth, her longtime partner, is jealous that Anna’s gay friend Peter fathered the child in a very conventional way.  And, oh yes, the three imaginary children Anna and Ruth have created (and embody), not to mention impending fatherhood, are totally freaking Peter out.  What’s a non-traditional family to do?  Simple: kill off the imaginary kids to make room for the real one.

As it turns out, that’s easier said than done.  Paula Vogel’s outrageous comedy, And Baby Makes Seven, celebrates a family in which members freely materialize and dematerialize, offering love, comfort, and the occasional kick in the ass if needed.  Devising ways to do away with the fictional children becomes problematic. The very sane Anna and Ruth have invented the illusory Cecil, Henri, and Orphan not only for “releasing anxieties,” but also as a means of expressing the often unpleasant truths that adults find difficult to express.  Out of the mouths of babes, indeed.

Vogel convincingly makes the case that, traditional or alternative, there is no kind of love and no kind of family we should ever turn our back on.  There are an awful lot of people to love in this world - not only do you have the opportunity to love them, but you’re better off loving them, even if your history with them is contentious, even if they piss you off, even if they're imaginary.