Sky...Diamonds

Her son, Tom, is a widower, whose experiences growing up without a father (he was killed in Vietnam), an eccentric mother, and the death of his wife when his daughter was very young, have made him careful, reserved and emotionally withdrawn. He deals in antiquities less as objects of beauty more as artifacts of monetary value. It is a source of continual disagreement between them, and features in an hallucination she has.

Monique and her granddaughter Sallie are very close. They dance on the table to Janis Joplin, make pots of tea and look at family photo albums. Monique encourages Tom to tell Sallie the family stories, including about her mother.

Monique, who attended Woodstock, is as fascinating to Sallie as she is embarrassing to Tom. Her memories of her 60's hippie lifestyle plays out as her illness progresses in ways that are both funny and awkward. Monique’s childhood friend Sue used to care for Monique’s mother who had Alzheimer’s, is the only one she can talk with. Monique is aware she has the disease, Tom struggles to come to terms with it.

Monique is argumentative, stubborn and brave. From hitching a ride with nothing with a toothbrush, demanding the doctor comes up with a better metaphor to explain the disease, to fighting for the importance of knowing our stories in our bones, she is a force to be reckoned with.

Music of the era plays throughout enhancing the time and scene shifts and highlighting a scene to come or capping a scene that has happened.

In the 2nd last scene, full of life, she celebrates her 60th year looking forward to all the things she is going to do. By this time the audience knows what really happens, through scenes that often did not make complete sense, as in Monique’s mind itself.

The first scene is repeated at the very end but this time we, the audience can see and hear what she cannot - Tom, telling her he loves her. Until this point the action has been solely from Monique’s point of view, with odd jumps and pieces missing. Now at the very end, she is isolated even from the audience who had been inside her head.

Her son, Tom, is a widower, whose experiences growing up without a father (he was killed in Vietnam), an eccentric mother, and the death of his wife when his daughter was very young, have made him careful, reserved and emotionally withdrawn. He deals in antiquities less as objects of beauty more as artifacts of monetary value. It is a source of continual disagreement between them, and features in an hallucination she has.

Monique and her granddaughter Sallie are very close. They dance on the table to Janis Joplin, make pots of tea and look at family photo albums. Monique encourages Tom to tell Sallie the family stories, including about her mother.

Monique, who attended Woodstock, is as fascinating to Sallie as she is embarrassing to Tom. Her memories of her 60's hippie lifestyle plays out as her illness progresses in ways that are both funny and awkward. Monique’s childhood friend Sue used to care for Monique’s mother who had Alzheimer’s, is the only one she can talk with. Monique is aware she has the disease, Tom struggles to come to terms with it.

Monique is argumentative, stubborn and brave. From hitching a ride with nothing with a toothbrush, demanding the doctor comes up with a better metaphor to explain the disease, to fighting for the importance of knowing our stories in our bones, she is a force to be reckoned with.

Music of the era plays throughout enhancing the time and scene shifts and highlighting a scene to come or capping a scene that has happened.

In the 2nd last scene, full of life, she celebrates her 60th year looking forward to all the things she is going to do. By this time the audience knows what really happens, through scenes that often did not make complete sense, as in Monique’s mind itself.

The first scene is repeated at the very end but this time we, the audience can see and hear what she cannot - Tom, telling her he loves her. Until this point the action has been solely from Monique’s point of view, with odd jumps and pieces missing. Now at the very end, she is isolated even from the audience who had been inside her head.