“Blood, blood blood!” is foretold to young Graziella by a fortune teller she seeks out in a time of romantic crises. She and her twin brother Micky have just been cheated on by their respective partners. Each seek comfort and redemption within the cacophony of their mutual heartbreak. However, rumors and their own superstitions provoke them further and further into taking revenge.
Dixon Place, Workshop Production; Access Theatre, Production (2016) Directed by Emilyn Kowaleski
The cast (in order of appearance): Caitlin Zoz, Chris Dunlop, Vanessa Koppel, Chinaza Uche, Nathaniel Peart, Nicole Pursell, and Enzo Ferrante.
Brian Pollock (Assistant Director), Kate Mcgee (Lighting Design), Brooke Van Hensbergen (Scenic Design), Lizzie Donelan (Costume Design), Ali Tritto (Makeup & Hair), Lea Maurer (Additional Makeup and Hair), Caitlin Kellermeyer (Stage Manager), Aaron Watson (Tech Director), Wolfpack Theatrics (Producer), Jordan Bean (Producer), Patrick Taylor (Associate Producer). Photography by Bryan Berrios
“Written by Joey Merlo, the play brings to life an Italian-American family in the 1980’s. With their bold outer borough accents, rampant drama, and wacky superstitions that you’d be too afraid to entirely disbelieve, this family is at once crazy and all too real. The Witch on St. Elmora Street begins with the backstory of the family, whose surname is never given. That backstory comes from the deceased patriarch, who speaks to the audience from beyond the grave in the form of a tomato plant. It sounds ridiculous but is later explained by the children – after their father died, a tomato plant grew in his garden that they took to be a sign of him watching over them. So from the very beginning, the roots of this play are founded in a deeply ingrained, almost religious superstition that borders on magical realism.”
- Austin Fimmano, Plays To See
“Merlo effortlessly writes extreme scenarios that seem normal in a house of “clowns"; and makes their peculiar ways of communication seem convincing enough that you’d think this could happen in your neighbor’s backyard. The utterly heightened and deliciously ridiculous style of storytelling sets the tone perfectly, like dressing up a deep wound in a fabulous, extravagant costume. With its twists and turns, Merlo's script will surely keep folks on the edge of their seats, eager to figure out whether the mysteries in the focal Sicilian family’s life are caused by wizardry or the trickery of human hearts. The Witch of St. Elmora Street is a comedy that has the power to tear your heart apart before you have a chance to escape its charm.”
-Ran Xia, Theatre Is Easy
“What I think is most powerful in this piece is its almost electric current of energy. The current I felt walking into the house, and the current I discovered that winds throughout the whole show. This piece believes in magic. There is more to this than family drama, lovers’ quarrel and crimes of passion. There is an underlying electricity of magic that influences the story, it lives in the history of these characters and in the way we roll along this narrative. The family believes in myth, believes in magic, starting from the constant father-son-holy-ghost-hand-to-God action they make after anything mundane happens that sparks their superstition. But I’m not sure it’s really God they are praying to, I think it is this magic they’ve built: I think they are praying to the magic of their family, the gods of their culture. Family is everything. And ultimately magic proves to become very real: present and influential. Daddy, their patriarch, is embodied through many forms, speaking to Mickey as a big lush moon at the climax while everything is falling apart. He also takes the form of a tomato plant, a puppet who begins the show telling the story of his immigration and how he created this family and world. Tomatoes are everywhere: thrown out of nowhere onto stage at big pivotal moments, characters reborn into tomato plants, still communicating in death. Even metaphorically, tomatoes are present in all the dialogue: their words, like vines, twist around one another. It brought me to an emotional place, past all the laughter and foolishness. It’s their belief system, it’s their myth, and it made me feel such a curious inclusion and deep respect for their world.”
- Elizabeth McGuire, Culturebot