Commissioned and first produced by California Theatre Center in Sunnyvale, CA under the name Mixed Blessings.
The idea for Blessings happened before I knew I was a playwright. During my first summer with California Theatre Centre (CTC), I taught a creative writing class as part of our summer youth conservatory. The mother of one of my students, a doe-eyed eight year-
old named Whitney, told me, “Just don’t ask Whitney to read anything out loud in front of the group. Otherwise, she’s fine.” This child with learning and processing differences was more than fine. She was one of the most imaginative, funny, and spontaneous kids in the bunch. I loved her.
One day, we were writing poems inspired by images from Shakespeare. (Whitney was one of Titania’s most memorable fairies.) The energy in the room was high. The kids were excited by the task and reveled in the new word play. When it was time to share,
hands shot in the air. After a few poems were read, I noticed Whitney’s hand go up, “Good for me, I thought. I’ve created a space in which she’s willing to try!” Her older brother, also in the class, looked strangely panicked. I’m thinking, “She wrote this. So
surely she can read it.” But as the first few words slipped tentatively, then tortuously from her lips, I realized how wrong I was. I stammer, “It’s OK, Whitney.” But she won’t quit. Any giggles from the room disappear as she struggles, cries, struggles. Her brother, at her side like a shot, helps her get through it, arm around her, sounding out the words. The memory of my inability to both understand and manage the moment still stings.
Five years later, when Whitney had grown into a fine young actress, one of the few young people used in our professional productions, her mother approached me. “You’ve got to write a play about her. People have to understand.” That was the beginning of Blessings. When the play opened in 1990, Rene was played by – you can guess – Whitney. Another long-time student that also fascinated me played Katie. How could
“Katie” be so bright, so accomplished, so knowledged, and yet so often seem deeply unhappy? What were the blessings and the curses that each of these young women carried?
Blessings explores being lost and found all in one weekend in California’s Santa Cruz mountains. Rene, who lives with severe dyslexia and auditory perception deficit, invites us to consider what we carry and what we project onto ourselves and others, both as young people and adults. May this play shine new light on how we perceive and are perceived.
--Mary Hall Surface
