SHE is a new play by Kimberly Demmary about four women living in the same San Francisco Victorian house over the years of 1962 until "present day," assuming 2024. While they never meet each other, their stories are tied to the state of the house, a character itself (or herself) represented by a narrator who walks in and out between each era.
We start with a colorful, well-loved home in 1962. The house has only ever been owned by one couple for close to 50 years. The husband has just died, and while the wife is having a hard time moving on, and even wants to close the emporium they opened together, she is supported by two employees who help her get back on her feet. She helps them back by making them aware (rather brazenly) of their feelings for each other, and makes them promise to get together before she'll keep the emporium open.
Jumping forward to 1993, a reclusive, introverted, and perhaps autistic young woman now inhabits the house, though it has been divided from a single-family dwelling to multi now. The narrator, well-dressed and colorful before, is now in a hoodie with fading tie-dye colors, reflecting the state of the Victorian house. This young lady, Adora, has also gone through death recently; her parents died young, and the grandparents that raised her are now gone. Her grandmother stays on stage however as the spirit (or conscience or even second personality) of our new main character, talking to her throughout. Adora is also struggling in love, like the two employees of the 60s, but she has an extra crutch, being that she's gay and incredibly awkward from her years of sheltering by the grandparents in the country. She comes close to saying yes to being with her date, but ultimately decides she must work on herself first, including forcing the grandma to leave her head.
Now in 2002, the house is incredibly bad-off, in disrepair, and lived in by men who do not take care of her at all. Nadine, the fiancee of one of the men, comes over to clean it up. In the process, we learn how hard a time she's had with him being in Iraq, having lost a baby (to the point of cutting herself), and this connects her to the past characters - again, death and trying to move forward in love. Her love story ends up being towards herself though, as we find out the guy wasn't decent enough to tell her he's marrying another soldier.
Finally in the "present day," the part that really kind of jumped the shark for me, there are actual centuries-old vampires living in the house. While the house is restored to its Victorian design, it is painted black on the outside. Weirdly enough, this causes people to actually pay attention to her, and she feels loved a bit more. The new main character, Victoria, talks about how she's had enough of her master's abuse every night and how she even has less freedom and rights now than she did as a woman 200 years ago, a powerful line. In the end, she shines sunlight on him to kill him, believing it will kill her too (it doesn't). Another case of loving oneself.
So we go from a wife whose long-time husband died, learning to move on with the help of two young friends -> a young lady whose ghostly grandmother helps her move on from her death, yet holds her back (someone causing their own problems having to fight through them) -> a lady dealing with the loss of her baby and her fiance being away, already working on herself with plans of night school, now taking up the reins of her own life and choosing herself over him -> a vampire taking back her own life after too much abuse, killing her master/husband.
As for the stories of love, we go from a woman who had a great marriage receiving support from her two friends, but also making them aware of their own love for each other -> the girl whose grandma tells her to love but also holds her back, struggling on a third date, but finally coming to the conclusion she must move forward alone without the grandma -> a woman who is fairly alone learning to love herself even more because of the struggles she's been through -> a similar story with the vampire, a woman standing up for herself finally after centuries.
Overall a very reflective and empowering piece, though again the vampire bit kind of ruined it for me. If you have a chance to see it or already did, let me know what you think or thought.
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