MSITH Opening Night

Opening night for My Sister in This House was fantastic! Deaf West sure knows how to throw a shindig, held in their neat-o, books-stacked-up-to-the-ceiling library.

Reaction to the show was great, and the buzz and energy was good all night. Hopefully that means we have a sold-out run ahead of us.

The whole reason I'm in this show - the beautiful and talented Jen Losi! She got me in the audition room in the first place, and the rest is SIStory. ;)

Above - most of the cast as well as our director Michael Unger (in white), Deaf West Artistic Director Ed Waterstreet (on the stairs) and next to him the playwright, Wendy Kesselman.

We also had a big time celebrity at our opening! Marlee Matlin attended the show and after-party, and though I did not get to meet her I heard she loved the play - and yes, she is even more gorgeous in person than she is on the silver screen.

We've had several articles come out this week, including an interview with Deanne Bray (who plays Christine) and the LA Weekly review below (we got a "GO"!):

...Stockpiled with the minutiae of the maids' daily routine, it explores the increasingly bizarre psychological dynamics between the perpetrators - the fastidiously capable Christine (Deanne Bray, voiced by Darrin Revitz) and her clumsier dependent sister, Lea (Amber Zion, voiced by Lindsay Evans), as well as their relationship with their mean "Madame" (Casey Kramer) and her docile daughter, Isabelle (Jennifer Losi). Bray and Zion are lovely and expressive in communicating the sisters' bond, forged ever more tightly in response to Madame's nitpicking cruelty, though Christine's dark side could be underscored more emphatically. Kramer's villainess is so fulsomely drawn as to border on caricature; this apparent directorial choice, made to emphasize the melodrama, is handled by this performer with considerable skill. And Losi projects an effective foil as the petulant Isabelle, whose impulses towards kindness are ultimately annihilated by her mother.

An auspicious start to what's shaping up to be a fantastic run!