Pay no mind to its frustratingly cryptic and even off-putting title. Catherine Butterfield’s alternately sidesplitting/heartstrings-tugging To The Bone is not only one of the year’s best new plays, like David Lindsay-Abaire’s similarly set Good People, the Open Fist Theatre Company World Premiere will keep you guessing—and keep surprising you—from its hilarious start to its unexpected, laughter-through-tears finish.

40ish waitress (and lifelong “hard girl”) Kelly Moran (Tisha Terrasini-Banker) has called South Boston home her entire life as has her year-younger social worker sister Maureen (Amanda Weier) and Kelly’s 19-year-old son Sean (Jack David Sharpe).

Not so Geneva Gibbs (Alice Kors), the daughter Kelly gave up for adoption twenty-two years ago before marrying Geneva’s birth father Scotty, who died in a sea squall before Sean was born.

Instead, Geneva grew up privileged in Evanston, Illinois, and despite her efforts to get in touch with Kelly two years ago, it’s only now that Geneva is finally getting to meet the woman who gave her birth, accompanied by her Emerson College roommate Darcy (Kacey Mayeda), who’s brought her camera along to video the joyful reunion for a school project.

Perhaps not surprisingly, things quickly go south despite the finger sandwiches Kelly has prepared, despite her promise to Maureen to be on her best behavior.

Younger sis can’t help putting her foot in her mouth, whether it’s remarking that Geneva was named after a city just like Orlando Bloom, or opining that the word “Oriental” isn’t offensive “if it’s on a menu.”

And things go from bad to worse when Kelly’s surly teenaged son finally emerges from his room to bitch about Mom, badmouth his late stepfather Stu, and express dismay that though Geneva first contacted Kelly two years ago, it’s only now that her birth mother has agreed to a meeting.

As to why the long delay, well it’s here that playwright Butterfield drops a bombshell that changes everything and has Geneva screaming out “You’re evil! You’re an evil horrible woman!” and exiting with no intention ever to return.

As to what that bombshell was, well you’ll just have to trust me that it’s a doozy, and just one reason what started out as the most laugh-packed of comedies transitions seamlessly into a family drama of life-altering proportions, though with characters like Maureen (eager to spout the wisdom she’s gleaned in her community college ethics class) and Sean (who turns out to have a wicked sense of humor) around, the laughs remain as plentiful as the dramatic fireworks.

If all of the above is not even barely suggested by the title Butterfield has chosen (“chilled to the bone” would seem to be the most common uses of the idiom, and no one gets chilled here), that’s just one reason I’d recommend a name change. (“Hard Girls Don’t Cry” has a nice ring to it.)

What Butterfield need not change is even a single word of her endlessly captivating, rib-ticklingly funny, profoundly moving dramedy, one she has cast to perfection and directed to razor-sharp effect.

Terrasini-Banker is a veritable force of nature as the fiery, foul-mouthed Kelly and Weier is an endlessly ditzy delight as Maureen, and their scenes together snap, crackle, and pops with the familiarity that only siblings, or lifelong friends, can exhibit.

The fabulous Sharpe is so darned churlish and button-pushing in his initial appearance that the discovery of Sean’s utterly endearing qualities comes as a genuine surprise; the lovely Kors captures Geneva’s unconscious sense of entitlement, her anger and resentment, and the heart she keeps carefully hidden; and Mayeda is simply magical as a young woman who starts out a seemingly vapid kook, then transitions into the conscience of the play.

The production benefits too from Jan Munroe’s multi-locale scenic design (enhanced by Stephanie Crothers’ exquisite scenic artistry), Mylette Nora’s just-right costumes, Gavan Wyrick’s expert lighting, Marc Antonio Pritchett’s fine between-scenes underscoring, and Ina Shumaker and Bruce Dickinson’s myriad properties.

Amy Moorman and Elle Engelman are understudies. Jennifer Palumbo is production stage manager. Lucy Pollak is publicist.

I had a good feeling about To The Bone from the moment I read its press release, but that only began to suggest just how fine a play Catherine Butterfield has written. Add to that the most unexpectedly perfect ending possible and I can guarantee that you too will want to stand up and cheer.

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

–Steven Stanley
October 8, 2022
Photos: Frank Ishman, Catherine Butterfield

Tags: Atwater Village Theatre, Catherine Butterfield, Los Angeles Theater Review, Open Fist Theatre Company