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Scarecrow
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Scarecrow
By Angie Jones

Don Nigro's captivating play Scarecrow graces the Noho Arts District with an intense performance that both challenges and touches the mind frame with electrifying emotion.
On a secluded, Little House on the Prairie meets Children of the Corn decorative set ward robed in 1950's era inspired clothing, exists ill-minded mother and dream felt daughter, Rose and Cally.

Creaky, dust absorbed wooden floors, old clocks and a rocking chair amongst other things reside with endless bickering and sorrow between the two (Rose and Cally) with accusations of having ruined one another's lives.

These ladies have a strange, love/hate relationship where like most mother and daughters they argue, but possess a deep, un-denying love for each other. Mother Rose is co-dependant on her daughter to do everything from cooking to cleaning, but always paranoid that she is bound to escape the farm house and run off to become a model, all to leave Rose alone to grow old and sick … and claims of always wanting to die.

Cally often glimpses out of the kitchen window, daydreaming about acting and leaving her mother behind, forever. After the regular morning brawls Cally finds herself called to the cornfields where she spends the remainder of her afternoons and evenings unwinding, being free, and…very much in love and in connection with an attractive, dark mystery.

Tender 18 year old, memories and a mysterious corn field creeper are her only friends. Besides her mother, he is the only person she is in contact with most days. As her mom becomes curious and very aware of the outings her daughter takes on a daily basis in the fields, her past unravels to muster a disturbing past reality, wherein mother and daughter switch roles - repeating the cycle.

Scarecrow will leave its viewers experiencing a range of emotions and passion when touching on controversial life issues such as repeating versus breaking cycles, experiencing sex and the illusion of love, and most importantly - adult decisions. With descriptive narrative such as "the cold night touches my flesh" this play about hate, love, and lust will have one gasping all the while your heart pounding while witnessing several descriptions of life connecting as one with the human body.

A starved, sickly Rose rants, raves and blabbers about Polar Bears, escaping so far South that its warm, and her tremendous collection of National Geographic's Magazines while planning in the back of her mind ways to manipulate the love that the often barefooted Cally has found - or so she thinks.

Together mama Rose and Cally shut the world out to exist only with one another and no one else besides …the Scarecrow.

With Rose's dramatic, single-mother meets paranoid views on life, offering "don't go into town," "everyone uses you in town …a scorned woman forced to raise her daughter alone after being impregnated by what she thought to be love.

This phenomenal cast and performance exude such an array of feelings in their performance, several repetitions of intensity followed by ultimate silence.

This play provides a good example of how easy it is for an illusion to captivate your mind. Cally resents her mother's negativity towards Cally wanting to run off, travel to fulfill her long-term dream of becoming a model.

If you are open to experiencing real life feelings of confusion, passion, being a rebellious teenager, new found love, but most importantly, inspiration and a celebration of raw, in-your-face talent, no matter the age or stature anyone is sure to leave this play feeling inspired at the very least, but coming out with a different outlook on most things relating to life.

What an exceptional masterpiece to touch on so many topics of relevance in this day and age of nobody cares.

Delivering one of the most powerful messages of all - Regardless of what you'd like to believe is true, the body footprints the heart.

Runs September 11-October 17
Show Times: Friday and Saturday, 8p.m. Price $20. Students/Seniors $15
Avery Schreiber Theatre
11050 Magnolia Blvd.
North Hollywood, CA 91601
(818) 766-9100
www.ice2sandproductions.com

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