Lucinda Papia (Photo by Zoë Papia)
Reviewed by Dana Martin
A Hollywood Fringe Production at the Zephyr Theater
Through June 26th
RECOMMENDED
Lucinda Papia’s one woman show, Shadows of a Girl, is a memory play that examines wisps and fragments of Papia’s childhood memories as she prepares to say goodbye to her dying mother.
In the final weeks of her mother’s life, Lucinda Papia exists in a liminal space as she takes stock of the long history their relationship. Papia fashions a mosaic of a complicated mother/daughter history as she transitions back and forth from past to present, adding context and purpose to her despair as she helps her mother transition.
It’s a very personal story and Papia has a clear emotional connection, though she often keeps the audience at a distance. Still she has a warm, likeable presence and a smooth delivery. Occasionally she’s curt and dry, with an attitude, and the play’s dreamlike state is momentarily disrupted, adding a different flavor and dynamic to the storytelling.
Director Zoë Papia’s clean staging keeps the fragmented story fluid and makes good use of the space. The set is appropriately imple: just a large armchair center stage. There are several transitions throughout the play, punctuated by many shifts in lighting.
Shadows of a Girl is a quiet, dreamlike play; distant, fragmented and full of symbolism and meaning, though rarely anchored in time or place. The text is mainly prose and the play reads like a novel and revisits sweet, difficult, and sometimes painful memories of the past in order to make sense of the present. Papia has made peace with her sadness in the years following her mother’s passing, yet some residual grief will always remain after such a tremendous loss. Papia has learned to live with it.
Zephyr Theatre, 7456 Melrose Avenue, Hollywood; through June 26. Check the website for schedule. https://www.hollywoodfringe.org/projects/10694. Running time: one hour without an intermission.
