Gillian Blake
From left: Liz Light, Katherine Mitchell and Annie Jay play siblings who reunite at their mother’s grave.
Sometimes even during life’s most serious moments, it’s possible to find humor.
That is what award-winning, Wisconsin-based playwright Marcia Jablonski implies in her tragicomedy Rumors of Truth, which premieres at the Bartell Theatre on Jan. 29. The show is the 2016 opener for Kathie Rasmussen Women’s Theatre (KRASS), a company that strives to give a voice to modern female writers and directors.
Directed by theater veteran Sarah Whelan, the play revolves around three sisters — Brooklyn, Madison and Savannah — who come together after five years apart to visit their mother’s gravesite on what would have been her 50th birthday. “The three believe very different ‘truths’ about themselves, one another, their parents and what exactly happened the last time they saw one another,” says Jablonski. “They must decide to either let go of their version of the truth to resolve their differences or part forever.”
Gillian Welch
Sarah Whelan, director of "Rumors of Truth."
Jablonski says stories about memory initially sparked her interest in writing the play. “On NPR, I’ve been listening to a lot of discussions about memory and about how memories aren’t like tape recorders,” Jablonski says. “I just find it intriguing because people — like family members and friends — remember things so specifically, but it’s really unreliable.”
Jablonski says she began to examine what she’s been holding onto in her own memories. After all, if you can’t be certain about what you remember, it’s hard to hold people accountable for things they may or may not have done.
When asked if the concept of the play stems from personal experiences, Jablonski says with a laugh: “I don’t remember.”
As it turns out, the idea for the play did come from real life. “My sisters and I were to meet at my mother’s grave, and I was late,” Jablonski says. “As I approached, they were comfortably waiting for me as if they were having a picnic. That’s when I thought, ‘Hmm, might make a good setting for a play.’”
Jablonski, who lives in Mineral Point and works as a copy manager at Lands’ End in Dodgeville, has no formal education in playwriting, but she has written a number of plays that have been produced over the years, including The Front Steps and The Great Jimmy Boyle. In 2009, Rumors of Truth was awarded a reading in the Wisconsin Wrights New Play Development Project, a biennial competition sponsored by Forward Theater.
Jan Levine Thal, artistic director for KRASS, says she was struck by how funny yet emotionally charged Rumors of Truth is. “It’s one of those plays that sneaks up on you in terms of its depth, because it’s about family relations, but it’s also about families coming to terms with somebody important that died and how that sets up a lot of dynamics,” Thal says.
Jablonski and Thal say they hope the play will spark audience discussions about their own families. In particular, they are hoping that “Sisters’ Night” on Feb. 4 will bring a large crowd of sisters — both biological and chosen — to see the show at a discounted price.
“What we really want to encourage is that sisters come and have a chance to talk about sisterhood,” says Thal. Jablonski says those discussions may lead to deeper revelations: “I hope they embrace the concept of forgiveness and think about their relationships with their own family members.”
