Directed by MultiStages artistic director Lorca Peress, the limited engagement will continue through Nov. 18.
The work, which is part of the League of Professional Theatre Women's "30 Plays Celebrate 30 Years Series," will feature Richarda Abrams, Jen Anaya, Debra Cardona (Mary Poppins national tour), Pedro Carmo ("Pan Am"), Veronica Cruz (Widows at 59 E 59 St. Theatres), Alexis Lauren Kinney, Lina Sarrello and Alexis Sweeney.
Here's how it's billed: "Taking place on a fictional island off the coast of Argentina, the story unfolds with the birth of the infant Esperanza whose mother dies in childbirth. When doctors replace the child’s damaged heart with an artificial one her father, Don Hilardo, seeks to make his daughter’s life as comfortable and insulated as possible, while at the same time separating himself from her to guard against the pain of her expected, imminent death. He charges his housekeeper and sometime lover, Maria, with the task of finding a bevy of voluptuous nursing mothers, demanding that they supply his daughter with enough milk to keep her content and replace the banality of the spoken word by communicating with her only in song. Defying the odds, Esperanza grows into a beautiful but stunted young woman who senses her deprivation. Then one fateful day Don Hilardo finds himself confronted by the choices he has made."
Gael's plays have been developed and produced at Sundance Playwrights Lab, New Jersey Repertory, Abingdon Theatre Company, Collaborative Arts Project 21, Flux Theatre Ensemble and MultiStages, among others. She is a recipient of the Playwrights First Award as well as the Craig Noel Award.
Other members of the creative team include Anika Paris and Nancy Binns Reed (original music), Jan Hartley (projection design), Joyce Liao (lighting design), Mark Richard Caswell and Jessa-Raye Court (costume design), Theresa Burns (choreography) and Bruce Baumer (musical direction). The Interart Theatre is located at 500 W. 52nd Street, 2nd floor. For more information and tickets, call (212) 868-4444 or visit SmartTix.com.
