Anne Kenney is hardly the first writer to tackle the issues confronting adult children of aging parents but her theatrical debut, Last Call, an Open Fist Theatre Company World Premiere, is as perceptive and powerful as family dramas get.

 A successful TV career not unlike producer/writer Kenney’s (Outlander, Switched At Birth, L.A. Law) has kept 40something Jill Vaughn (Laura Richardson) at a safe 2000-mile distance from octogenarian parents whose respective aliments—his physical and hers mental—have rendered them incapable of caring one for the other.

Hence today’s visit to an assisted living facility where the balance-challenged Walter’s (Ben Martin) propensity to tumble to the floor or the easily addled Frances’s (Lynn Milgrim) to forget what day of the week it is could be handled by skilled medical professionals, even if the move would mean selling the suburban Ohio residence they’ve called home these past fifty-five years.

 Jill’s younger brother Ricky (Art Hall) does have the advantage of proximity, but a recent repeat stint in rehab, however successful, has left his parents twice burned and Ricky locked out of the house when they’re away, though fortunately not homeless thanks to a convenient family patio.

 And if this weren’t already enough to make for a must-see episode of Jill’s reality-based hit TV series, leave it to Ricky to impregnate the recovering druggie he met in rehab, news that might sit better with his still grandchildless parents were Jade (Bronte Scoggins) not sixteen and black—though at least not jailbait in Ohio.

To give away any more of the surprise revelations Last Call has in store even before its bang-up pre-intermission cliffhanger would be criminal. Suffice it to say that Jill may not need to be back in L.A. quite as soon as her scheduled departure and that vertigo may be the least of Walter’s health worries.

 Playwright Kenney has a TV-honed gift for creating flawed, multifaceted, entirely human characters and dialog that never sounds written, and though Last Call may cut too close to home to be everyone’s cup of tea, it is as richly rewarding and thought-provoking as plays get … and one for which an advance supply of Kleenex might come in handy.

 Richardson and Hall do absolutely terrific work as a pair of siblings, one of who may not be as squeaky clean as she seems and the other a good deal less of a mess than the initial impression he gives, and the equally splendid Scoggins gives Jade a maturity far beyond her years.

 As for Walter and Frances, only actors as sharp as L.A. stage treasures Martin and Milgrim (both superb) can play characters as physically or mentally debilitated as these two.

Stephanie Crothers and Bryan Bertone complete the cast in an effective pair of cameos.

 Credit director Lane Allison not only for helping to shape Last Call’s five ovation-worthy lead performances but also for the production’s realistic, detailed rendering of a suburban Ohio home unchanged for decades.

Bruce Dickinson & Ina Shumaker and Dionna Veremisllen’s spot-on properties, Ellen Monocroussos’s nuanced lighting, sound designer Peter Carlstedt’s potpourri of background and between-scenes tunes, some just-right costumes, and Mark Harbeke’s emotion-packed eleventh-hour projections complete Last Call’s Grade-A production design.

Last Call is produced by Katie May Porter. Jennifer Palumbo is stage manager.

In an era in which more than one established playwright has found success in Hollywood while still writing for the stage, Anne Kenney’s reverse path makes the 25-year TV vet unique in L.A. theater. With luck, her emotionally potent stage debut won’t be Kenney’s last venture into theatrical waters.

Open Fist Theatre Company @ Atwater Village Theatre, 3269 Casitas Ave., Atwater Village.
www.openfist.org

–Steven Stanley
February 3, 2019
Photos: Darrett Sanders

Tags: Anne Kenney, Los Angeles Theater Review, Open Fist Theatre Company