Addiction is everywhere in America, in art and pop culture as much as in real life. Personal stories reveal the problem more vividly than statistics. Playwright Martha Pichey tells one such story in Ashes & Ink, now at the Off-Broadway AMT Theater for three weeks. Kathryn Erbe stars as Molly, a mother wrestling with chaos and guilt as her teenage son’s drug addiction threatens to drag down the new family she’s hoping to build.
Love in the Time of Addiction
In his late teens, Quinn (Julian Shatkin in a powerful performance that edges on dangerous) has already had some success as a movie actor. But his drug problem continues unabated even as he bounces between rehab and auditioning for a prestigious actors’ academy in London. Widowed Molly is trying to make ends meet – insurance has stopped paying for Quinn’s rehab – by selling the sound-library business that she has nurtured with her cancer-stricken sister Bree (Tamara Flannagan) but that is now threatened by digitization.
All the while, Molly is hoping to further a romance with widowed Leo (a winning Javier Molina), the father of almost-10-year-old Felix (a convincing Rhylee Watson), who in turn has bonded with Quinn. Molina heartwarmingly portrays Leo’s loving concern for his son and growing devotion to Molly. In fact the latter’s stress, and the sourness that results, makes her rather unlovable, making Leo’s patience and sweetness all the more admirable. These days it’s nice to see a male character display such dignity and integrity.
A Blended Family in the Making
The production is good at revealing the complexities of character. Patient Leo is almost too good to be true as a potential new mate for Molly. But when Quinn’s addiction nearly injures Felix, Leo’s paternal protectiveness threatens to overcome his romantic feelings. Meanwhile Molly, at her wit’s end, wavers between emotionally supporting Quinn and freezing him out. Mother and son reminisce together about his late father, whom both adored, but fight harshly over Quinn’s flakiness in rehab and the dangerous company he’s keeping. And all poor Felix wants is for Molly to become his new mom, with Quinn as a cool big brother.
The action progresses in many short scenes that take advantage of Tim McMath’s simple but cleverly changing sets. That’s fortunate because, particularly in the first half, some scenes don’t click as well as others. Short stretches of humdrum dialogue left me bored, and at one point I set down my note-taking pen with the thought, “I’m just not buying it” – even if I wasn’t quite sure what exactly I wasn’t buying.
Luckily, the pace and the writing do sharpen, and the powerful performances, especially from Shatkin, ultimately capture us. His Quinn is a multi-front forest fire of defiance and vulnerability, victim and terrorizer.
Addiction has touched too many of us. Pichey has written a bruising entry into the journal that continues to document this scourge in our collective psyche.
Ashes & Ink runs through November 3. Tickets and schedule are online.
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