'Dreaming' offers glimpse into family memories

Nell Weatherwax's improvisational autobiographical show "Dreaming on Your Feet" received echoing applause Friday in the Bloomington Playwrights Project's Lora Shiner Studio. Weatherwax explored memories of family through storytelling, mime and dance to create an engaging theatrical experience. On this particular night, her memories returned to themes of home and the fragility of relationships.\nBefore Weatherwax even took stage, the scenery created the mood. Though cramped, the BPP's Lora Shiner Studio is an intimate space, and a few couches were added to the seating to enhance this intimacy. On stage, a beige area rug and a scarlet curtain stretched asymmetrically across the back, while popping out against the all-black stage. Bobby McFerrin's music relaxed the audience, preparing them for a show that could go anywhere. \nIn her pre-show talk, Weatherwax told the audience that the headlights from passing cars would be part of the lighting design; she pointed out the two exits, the one up front and the one backstage, which she said, "I dare you to find." But no fear: she reassured her audience she would show them the way. "Follow me. I'll be screaming, 'AAAAAAGGHH!'"\nWeatherwax's show had no improvisational structure besides her use of family memories. She began the show by moving around the stage, floating through the air like a sail while making whoosing sounds or shaping her body like a boomerang on the floor to suggest being cradled. Weatherwax didn't have to move for long before she would find a memory and began to tell a story. The recollections included finding peace in a ravine, two friends whose relationship is challenged by the disproportion of puberty, a woman trying to make people understand her mother doesn't have Alzheimer's and a young woman fresh out of the Midwest living in San Francisco, looking for a place to call home. This episodic structure of remembering and telling reflected the episodic nature of memory, and it was excellent. \nWeatherwax committed to every story and to every moment, creating distinct characters. At one point, she became an 11-year-old going through puberty. The memory consisted of the character being bombarded with bras, which she described as a "hideous piñata from hell." She also included being told by her mother how to properly fasten Kotex from the other side of a dressing room door. Then, minutes later she was a distraught woman throttling her mother's inept nurse ranting, "I'm going to have to kill you, bitch." These emotional extremes were proof of Weatherwax's skills in transition, crisis and realization that too many actors lack.\nBecause the emotion in the play was intense, her stories hit notes that were alternately sad and uplifting. One example of this was when she described being a fresh face in San Francisco and saw downtrodden homeless people lean against buildings beneath bright lights. Through it all, Weatherwax never self-pitied and she never played the ending until she got there. In her stories, she favored irony over sarcasm; a testament to the humility of her experience.