PORT ANGELES — The Port Angeles Community Players will present “Branching Out” by Jayne Morgan in a series of four online Zoom performances beginning Thursday.
The performances will be at 7 p.m. Thursday, Friday and Saturday with a 2 p.m. matinee Sunday that will feature an audience talkback with special guest, Jayne Morgan, the author of the play.
Tickets to the show are $8 each, with an additional small processing fee. They can be purchased online at www.pacommunityplayers.org.
Performances are on Zoom. Viewers must register in advance. Information for how to activate a Zoom account are included when a person buys tickets.
“Branching Out” is an original work of the Flying Anvil Theater Company and is performed in Port Angeles with its permission.
“Branching Out,” described as “a one act Zoom play that redefines what it means to be a family in the time of pandemic” tells the story of PB and Arnell, two sisters in present-day Tennessee, who are meeting on Zoom with PB’s daughter, Red.
They are joined by their ne’er-do-well brother, Scoop, in a family meeting as they prepare to meet a young woman who claims to be their unknown, long-lost sister.
How they come to understand and accept and enlarge the circle of the family — if they do so — is the rest of the story.
Says actress Mahina Hawley, who plays the youngest member of the Cameron family: “I hope people will not only be entertained by the big personalities of the Cameron clan, but also might leave feeling more connected to one another, and that it might help to open some dialogue about the race and gender issues we’re facing in our country right now.
“I really relate to Red because while she’s more progressive and is trying to bring her family into the 21st century, she still makes some mistakes. And it’s OK, because she’s only human and we all make mistakes sometimes, but it’s never too late to make a different decision and become a better person.”
“Branching Out” is a comedy specifically written for the Zoom format.
“Even with the ever present reminder of technology and shared screens, there is intimacy and genuine human emotion,” according to a press release. “The characters have to navigate their own prejudice and biases and grapple with what does it mean to be family.”
The production is directed by Mark Valentine and stars Lynne Murphy as Arnell, Mary Kaye O’Brien as PB, and Pat Owens as Scoop, while Hawley plays Red, PB’s daughter. The possible new branch to the Cameron family tree is Lydia DeLong as Jazmin.
