The Definition of Family

The Definition of Family ****1/2
The success of this show lies not in the presentation as a whole, but on the superb parts. For starters, Emma gets top marks for writing the most sensitive and mature dialogue I’ve heard from a teenager in years. Emma did what I thought was not possible for a teenager: write intelligent and sympathetic dialogue for both teenagers AND adults/parents. I cannot stress how impressed I was with this achievement. And it must be added that good character/dialogue only works in the hands of good performers. Caitlin and Alison were riveting as the mother/daughter combo and not one line was ever a throwaway. Lauren must be given full credit for creating the strongest ensemble cast in the festival. The show would have been amazing if only for Caitlin and Alison, but they were ably supported by great and emotionally balanced performances from Sasha, Jesse, Marina, and Eliza. That said, not everything was perfect. The script was too episodic – it should have had fewer, longer scenes instead of several short scenes. This resulted in too many blackouts which contained NO music to bridge the transitions. The lack of transitional music was Lauren’s one major flaw as a director. And although Emma succeeded in having strong dialogue, she occasionally drifted into melodrama – but given the fact that she had demonstrated she was capable of more, I have little doubt that she could edit something stronger in future drafts. Caitlin’s set was functional enough, but the chairs were a detail that should have been looked into. With such a polished production, the brown chairs just didn’t cut it. On the other hand, Sasha’s costume design was very appropriate and complemented the characters very well without distracting too much (i.e. Eliza’s wig).