Tag Archives: Mala

“Nobody Teaches You How To Do The Big Stuff”

Melinda Lopez In Mala
At The Huntington

Reviewed by Bobby Franklin

Melinda Lopez
Photo Credit: Paul Marotta

Watching the Huntington Theatre’s production of Mala, written and performed by Melinda Lopez, was a very emotionally stirring experience. The one actor play about Ms Lopez’s experiences dealing with the failing health and impending death of her 92 year old mother is an honest depiction of what many of us have, or will have to face with an aging parent. It is also a stark reminder of what awaits us as we age. It is not a pretty picture, and fortunately, this play does not romanticize dying. If this sounds pretty bleak it is, but the play is not.

Oh, it is tough stuff to have to think about, and as Ms Lopez points out so well throughout the play, we don’t pick up great wisdom from the dying. They are usually very angry and the caregivers are exhausted. The endless calls to 911, the verbal nastiness, the hard decisions, and feelings of guilt are all real and put in front of us. The play also has much humor in it. I wouldn’t call it gallows humor, but rather the laughter people break into at times when it seems all has gone wrong and helplessness has set in. You know, it is okay to laugh when bad things are happening. We are reminded of that while watching Mala.

Melinda Lopez is simply wonderful. Her work is wonderful. Her acting is wonderful.

The events in the play took place during the terrible Boston winter of 2015, the year of Snowmageddon. As her mother began to deteriorate physically and mentally Ms Lopez kept notes in an App on her iPhone. She did not do this with the thought of writing a play, but rather as a way to let off steam. When she later read the notes she was inspired to write this story. It is so good she did.

Mala is not Ms Lopez’s mother’s name, rather it is a Spanish word that means a person is bad. Not just bad but bad deep down in her soul. Her mother would shout that at her when she was upset. It is not uncommon for an ailing parent to lash out at a son or daughter when they are nearing the end. It is very unpleasant and hurtful, but understandable when you think about how helpless and hopeless we become at that stage in our existence. Never the less, it is awful to deal with.

Melinda Lopez
Photo Credit: Paul Marotta

Along the way Ms Lopez also touches on her father’s dying as well as sharing brief stories of other’s who have gone through similar experiences. As she moves about the stage relating her story I felt as if she was talking directly to me, and I am sure the other audience members felt the same way. Her honesty and straightforwardness come through clearly while never turning to self pity. The anger, the guilt, the second guessing are all brought out.

Near the end of the performance Ms Lopez talks about having her mother put under Hospice care. This touched me as it is a hard reality to face when you know the person you love is not going to get better. There is now a time frame. Of course, as Melinda Lopez points out, we have all started dying, but when you can begin to measure the time that is left it becomes very different.

In one very funny part of the play Ms Lopez talks about one of the times her nerves were frazzled from dealing with her mother. She started thinking about how she heard that Eskimos, or was it Inuits?, would set their elderly parents adrift on an iceberg to be rid of them. It is quite humorous as she tells it, but it also is a reminder of the terrible guilt a person can feel as the thought of wanting the suffering to end gets tied into the wish to see your parent die. Those thoughts are so painful.

I hope I haven’t painted too bleak a picture of this wonderful performance. You will not be sitting in the theater crying. In fact, you will spend quite a bit of time laughing. But, you will leave the theater thinking about what it means to get old and what lies ahead for many of us. It is something we should be as honest about as Melinda Lopez is.

It is so often I read about how courageously a person has faced illness and death, and we like to think of it happening that way. The reality is different. I know that as I was leaving the theater I was thinking of some of the words Ms Lopez spoke. She spoke of how dying does not make us wise. You don’t learn from the dying. They are angry, they can be mean. And most importantly “Nobody teaches you how to do the big stuff.”

Do not be afraid to see this play. Melinda Lopez is simply wonderful. Her work is wonderful. Her acting is wonderful. Her honesty and openness about this subject is welcomed and you will appreciate it. Mala touched me deeply. It stirred my emotions and brought back difficult memories, but I am so glad I got to experience this fine work. While it is true nobody teaches you the big stuff, it is nice to know we are not alone in going though such events. Thank you Melinda Lopez for sharing experiences.

Mala
Extended through February 4
The Huntington Theatre Company
At The Calderwood Pavillon
Boston’s South End
huntingtontheatre.org
617.266.0800

Mala Opens At Huntington Theatre January 6th

POWERFUL PERSONAL DRAMA MALA WRITTEN AND PERFORMED BY MELINDA LOPEZ, DIRECTED BY DAVID DOWER BEGINS SATURDAY, JANUARY 6

The Huntington Theatre Company is pleased to present the ArtsEmerson production of Mala. This moving drama is written and performed by Huntington Playwright-in-Residence Melinda Lopez (Sonia Flew, Becoming Cuba) and directed by David Dower (Mala and Mr. Joy, Breath & Imagination at ArtsEmerson). Performances run from January 6 through January 28, 2018 at the South End / Calderwood Pavilion.

Melinda Lopez
Photo Credit: Paul Marotta

Set during the epic winter of 2015, Mala is inspired by text messages frantically typed on an iPhone by Lopez, while she cared for her increasingly frail and consistently fierce mother. These short missives ultimately create a moving and generous portrait of the way taking care of family tests, deepens, and changes our bonds to the ones we love. Lopez, a regular on Boston stages, also performs the play.

Mala won the 2016 Elliot Norton Award for Best New Script, and it was named one of the best plays of 2016 by The Boston Globe, WBUR’s ARTery, and DigBoston. This return engagement of Mala, back by popular demand, is funny, brutally honest, and ultimately cathartic. Mala puts a sharp focus on what it means to put our loved ones first, right to the very end, and what happens when we strive to be good but don’t always succeed.

“When I saw the sold-out performances of Mala at ArtsEmerson last year, I knew we had to bring this homegrown hit to the Huntington,” says Artistic Director Peter DuBois. “Melinda Lopez has a frank and funny approach to writing about life and family that is a gift to audiences. In Mala, she’s captured something so honest about what it is to be a daughter. This is a show to share with someone you love.”

“I am thrilled to bring Mala back to Boston,” says Melinda Lopez. “The Huntington has provided me the time and space to continue to create new work as their playwright-in-residence, and I am grateful to them for remounting the original production, as this play is extremely close to my heart.”
“It was a true joy collaborating with Melinda on the premiere of her play Mala,” director David Dower says. “The humor, intelligence, and courage that Melinda brought to her writing immediately resonated and provided a great foundation to tell her important story, universal to so many.”

huntingtontheatre.org