Last weekend, when "Forget Me Not" opened at the Upstream Theater, it had just been announced that Missouri senator Claire McCaskill proposed introducing a resolution to urge Ireland to open the records for adoptees in that country. Presumably given impetus by the movie "Philomena" which is based on an Irish woman's search for her relinquished child, such a resolution would, of course, have no legal effect on the laws of another sovereign nation.
It was sheer coincidence that "Forget Me Not" is about an Australian man who was taken from his mother, in this case in England, and shipped off to Australia. And not to a welcoming home but to a large farm with barracks for the kids who were brought in en masse to labor. Now a man in late middle age, Jerry Vogel's Gerry Connor is a volatile, frequently angry alcoholic who lives with his grown daughter, Sally, who's played by Maggie Conroy. She's found an agency that might reconnect him with whatever birth family remains. To say he resists the patient conversations of Terry Meddows' social worker is to understate things.
And his mother is not dead, despite what he thinks he was told. Mum is Donna Weinsting. That completes the cast, and if you have any doubt about the depth of the local pool of actors, come see this show. Vogel's talent has been growing ever since I first saw him more than a decade ago. Terry Meddows, a superb chameleon, is always hard to take one's eyes off of. Donna Weinsting's comedic talents are so good that it's always a pleasant shock to see her grab a serious role like this and absolutely own it. And Maggie Conroy more than holds her own in this crowd – you can almost see her arms shake as she resists the urge to have at her argumentative, foul-mouthed father.
I should reveal some personal perspective here: I was adopted as an infant. I've known many adoptees, including one who was one of the Irish babies. I also worked at a home for unwed mothers, as the phrase went back then. I am not convinced the play is more powerful for us than for other folks, though – one of the great gifts of theater is that it has folks walking a mile in someone else's shoes.
Part of that here is the unspoken message about how our views of extramarital pregnancy have changed in the last sixty years or so. I wondered if the young in the audience understood why children were taken from their mothers or why young women were whisked off to "boarding school" or "her aunt in Birmingham" or even more dangerous consequences, whether by purple-faced parents or their own sense of shame.
Playwright Tom Holloway doesn't do any direct finger-pointing, but it would be superfluous. This pain multiplied literally thousands of time is quite sufficient – although the program note with a quote from a bishop clearly indicating the desire to continue the white supremacy in the nation is, alas, deeply relevant as to motive.
A remarkable ensemble working together seamlessly, a strong script – it's a good evening of theater. And Senator McCaskill? Could you please put your weight behind legislation in the state of Missouri to open the tighter-than-nearly-any-other-state regulations here?
Forget Me Not
Upstream Theater
The Kranzberg Arts Center
501 N. Grand Ave.
314-863-4999
through Feb. 16