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Set in Brooklyn’s Park Slope, “Oblivion” takes a look at the gap that exists between parents and teenagers. The story follows Pam and Dixon, who take pride in their progressive approach to parenting their 16-year-old daughter, Julie. However, when Julie isn’t honest with her parents about where she spent a weekend, their open-mindedness falls apart, as they wonder what she could be hiding.
“I wanted to write a play about lying,” said Mensch, whose other theater credits include “Now Circa Then," “All Hail Hurricane Gordo” and “Len, Asleep in Vinyl.”
“I also wanted to write a play about the difficulty of parenting in the modern age," Mensch said. "I would hope that audience members leave questioning their own blind spots and prejudices, and examining whether they think they’re as open-minded as they say they are.”
Bringing “Oblivion” to life is Broadway director Mark Brokaw, whose credits include “Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Cinderella,” “The Lyons,” “After Miss Julie,” “The Constant Wife,” “Reckless,” and “Cry-Baby.”
Westport Country Playhouse Artistic Director Mark Lamos called the show “a stunning, thoughtful, gripping and even funny” must-see.
“It's about the attempts by parents to come to grips with who their children really are as they grow up and begin to explore worlds over which the parents have zero control,” said Lamos. “It's one of the smartest plays I've come across in a long time, and it will move you and make you think.”
“Oblivion” opens Tuesday at 8 p.m. and runs through Sept. 8. The show was commissioned by New York’s Playwrights Horizons and received a staged reading at Chicago’s Steppenwolf Theatre Company in late 2011.
The show is the second world premiere to be staged at the Playhouse in the past two seasons, and one of many throughout the Playhouse’s 83-year history.
“It’s one of the most important things we do—one of the things that keeps the Playhouse vital,” Lamos said about supporting new writers and plays.
Tickets for “Oblivion” start at $30 and can be purchased online, by phone at 203-227-4177 or at the Box Office, 25 Powers Court. The show is appropriate for audiences 13 and older.
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