La MaMa (Mia Yoo, Artistic Director), the multiple Obie, Drama Desk and Bessie Award-winning Off-Broadway theater, is thrilled to announce the world premiere of The Pill, conceived by Marla Mase and written by The Family. A family memoir featuring original music by composer and producer Tomás Doncker of True Groove, performances of The Pill will begin Thursday, January 25. This strictly limited engagement will play through Sunday, February 4.

 

When Sylvia accidentally takes her anorexic daughter’s antidepressant, panic and pandemonium ensue. A story about the cataclysms of depression, fear, and anxiety, and their dynamic intersections with eating disorder and suicidal ideation, The Pill is a true story written by 5 members of THE FAMILY – a comic and tragic mash-up of three generations take on living and dying in a post-truth dysfunctional world.

 

“Like Sylvia, I made the mistake of accidentally taking my daughter’s medication,” says musician, playwright and conceiver of the play, Marla Mase. “I freaked out. I had these irrational fears about medications – not for other people but for myself – so when I realized what I had done, I screamed and begged my daughter to help me throw it up. In the midst of all this chaos, Marla had the presence of mind to see that what was happening was both absurdly ridiculous and supremely funny.

 

“Here I am,” Marla continues, “begging my anorexic/bulimic daughter to show me how to throw up. I told my kids, ‘this is going into a play one day.’” Eight years later, her son Yanai Feldman heeded the call and retold the story of the event in teleplay form. After reading her son’s teleplay Marla wrote her version and then asked her daughter and parents to write their own versions of what happened. Out of those five pieces a singular play emerged.

 

"During the spring semester of my freshman year of college I was obsessed with television.” says Yanai Feldman, “Having just taken a course on Mad Men, I constantly imagined myself doing what Matthew Weiner, David Chase and David Simon do. In the midst of this televisual frame of reference, I began to see images of my family crowded around the bathroom and shower in my old TriBeCa loft, introducing themselves to the sound of my mother trying to regurgitate. It was all so comical. I didn't so much decide but  rather fell into the writing this as teleplay.”

 

After reading her son’s teleplay Marla decided to write the same story, but from her perspective. “It fascinated me to see how we both lived the same events, yet experienced them so differently. After I wrote my version, I thought, ‘Let’s ask the rest of the family to write their version.’ So I asked my daughter and parents to write their own versions of what happened and out of the mash-up of those five pieces a singular play emerged.  A lot has happened in these two years—readings, workshops, life events— and then on July 26 our run at La Mama was confirmed.  Later that night, my daughter killed herself (no connection to the show).  She couldn’t beat it, the depression. Her last words of her suicide note were ‘Mommy, Yanai, finish The Pill, big things are going to happen.’ So my family and I could not be more honored for it to make its world premiere with La MaMa.”

 

The Pill will be directed by Randolph Curtis Rand, and will feature an ensemble cast of actors led by 2017 NYMF Award-winner for Outstanding Performance Zoe Wilson (Play Like A Winner, “Orange Is the New Black”) as the teenaged Leni and Obie Award-winner Winsome Brown as her mother, Sylvia Salk. The pair will be joined on stage by rising star Joshua Turchin (TrevorLive 2017, A Christmas Story), Broadway veteran Roger Rathburn (No, No, Nanette), Drama Desk Award-winner Graham Stevens (In Transit) Adam Patterson (CasablancaBox) and Marina Re (Irrational Man, dir Woody Allen.)

 

Tickets for the world premiere of The Pill are $25 for Adults and $20 for Students and Seniors (plus a $1 facility fee) and are available at www.lamama.org or by phone via OvationTix at 212-352-3101.

 

 

ABOUT LA MAMA

La MaMa is dedicated to the artist and all aspects of the theatre. The organization has a worldwide reputation for producing daring performance works that defy form and transcend barriers of ethnic and cultural identity. Founded in 1961 by award-winning theatre pioneer Ellen Stewart, La MaMa has presented more than 5,000 productions by 150,000 artists from more than 70 nations. A recipient of more than 30 Obie Awards and dozens of Drama Desk, Bessie, and Villager Awards, La MaMa has helped launch the careers of countless artists, many of whom have made important contributions to American and international arts milieus.

 

La MaMa’s 56th season highlights artists of different generations, gender identities, and cultural backgrounds, who question social mores and confront stereotypes, corruption, bigotry, racism, and xenophobia in their work. Our stages embrace diversity in every form and present artists that persevere with bold self-expression despite social, economic, and political struggle and the 56th season reflects the urgency of reaffirming human interconnectedness.