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align=center><STRONG><SPAN
style="BORDER-TOP: windowtext 1pt; BORDER-RIGHT: windowtext 1pt; BORDER-BOTTOM: windowtext 1pt; COLOR: ; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0in; PADDING-TOP: 0in; PADDING-LEFT: 0in; BORDER-LEFT: windowtext 1pt; PADDING-RIGHT: 0in; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in"><FONT
face="Times New Roman">‘Mothers and Sons’ explores the ties that bind too tight
and not tight enough</FONT></SPAN></STRONG></P>
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style="VERTICAL-ALIGN: baseline; BACKGROUND: white; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><STRONG><SPAN
style="BORDER-TOP: windowtext 1pt; BORDER-RIGHT: windowtext 1pt; BORDER-BOTTOM: windowtext 1pt; COLOR: ; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0in; PADDING-TOP: 0in; PADDING-LEFT: 0in; BORDER-LEFT: windowtext 1pt; PADDING-RIGHT: 0in; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in"><FONT
face="Times New Roman"></FONT></SPAN></STRONG> </P>
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align=center><SPAN
style='FONT-FAMILY: ; COLOR: ; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"'><FONT
face="Times New Roman">Bob Abelman</FONT></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal"
align=center><I style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal"><SPAN
style='FONT-FAMILY: ; COLOR: ; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"'><FONT
face="Times New Roman">Cleveland Jewish News, The News Herald, The Morning
Journal</FONT></SPAN></I><SPAN
style='FONT-FAMILY: ; COLOR: ; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"'></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal"
align=center><SPAN
style='FONT-FAMILY: ; COLOR: ; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"'><FONT
face="Times New Roman">Member, International Association of Theatre
Critics</FONT></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal"><SPAN
style='FONT-FAMILY: ; COLOR: ; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"'><FONT
face="Times New Roman"> </FONT></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal"><FONT
face="Times New Roman"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: ; BACKGROUND-IMAGE: none; BACKGROUND-REPEAT: repeat; BACKGROUND-ATTACHMENT: scroll; BACKGROUND-POSITION: 0% 0%">A
</SPAN><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: ">new breed of plays about life in the gay
community is starting to replace the political and exclusively tragic plot
points found in such groundbreaking 1980s and 1990s dramas as Larry Kramer’s
“The Normal Heart” and Terrance McNally’s “<SPAN
style="BACKGROUND-IMAGE: none; BACKGROUND-REPEAT: repeat; BACKGROUND-ATTACHMENT: scroll; BACKGROUND-POSITION: 0% 0%; COLOR: ; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold"><FONT
color=#252525>Lips Together, Teeth Apart</FONT></SPAN>.”<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN></SPAN></FONT></P>
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style="FONT-FAMILY: "><FONT face="Times New Roman"></FONT></SPAN> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: "><FONT face="Times New Roman">One such play, McNally’s
“Mothers and Sons” – which enjoyed 104 performances on Broadway in 2014 – is now
on stage in the intimate Studio Theater at the Beck Center for the Arts.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN><SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN></FONT></SPAN></P>
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style="VERTICAL-ALIGN: baseline; BACKGROUND: white; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><STRONG><SPAN
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face="Times New Roman"></FONT></SPAN></STRONG> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: "><FONT face="Times New Roman">Bucking the thematic
tradition of portraying explicitly or presumably gay characters as self-hating,
suicidal, and suffering from or under the constant threat of the AIDS pandemic,
“Mothers and Sons” examines the life of the survivors now that the dust has
settled and the political climate has changed.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN></FONT></SPAN></P>
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style="FONT-FAMILY: "><FONT face="Times New Roman"></FONT></SPAN> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: "><FONT face="Times New Roman">The walking wounded include
Katharine (Catherine Albers), the long-suffering, self-hating and suicidal
mother of Andre – a young actor who died of AIDS 20 years ago – and Andre’s
thoughtful and reflective former partner, Cal (David Bugher).<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Now in his fifties, Cal is married to
the younger Will (Scott Esposito) and the two are raising a six-year-old son
(Ian McLaughlin) in their Upper West Side apartment in Manhattan.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN><SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN></FONT></SPAN></P>
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style="FONT-FAMILY: "><FONT face="Times New Roman"></FONT></SPAN> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal"><FONT
face="Times New Roman"><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: ">At the heart of this play is
McNally’s determination to portray the new normal in the American family
unit.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>He does this by
unceremoniously inviting the audience – by way of Katherine’s unexpected visit –
into Cal and Will’s well lived-in home so we can witness for ourselves their
ordinary lives on a typical day during little Bud’s regularly scheduled bath
time.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>And McNally succeeds, for
this play effectively </SPAN><SPAN
style='FONT-FAMILY: ; COLOR: ; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"'><FONT
color=#333333>puts dramatic and seemingly rapid social change into a perfectly
casual and comfortable context</FONT></SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: ">.</SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: "><FONT face="Times New Roman"></FONT></SPAN> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="BACKGROUND: white; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal"><FONT
face="Times New Roman"><SPAN
style='FONT-FAMILY: ; COLOR: ; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"'>For
more of this review, go to </SPAN><SPAN
style='FONT-FAMILY: ; COLOR: ; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"'><FONT
color=#0563c1>www.clevelandjewishnews.com/columnists/</FONT></SPAN><SPAN
style='FONT-FAMILY: ; COLOR: ; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"'>.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes">
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