‘Night, Mother

By Marsha Norman

Directed by Hayley Finn+

Starring: Sally Wingert* (Thelma) and Sara Marsh* (Jessie)

Presented in production with Myron Frisch, in partnership with the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) Minnesota at Artspace’s Grain Belt Warehouse

Creative team: Rachael Rhoades* (Stage Manager), Mary Shabatura (Lighting Designer), Lisa Jones (Costume Designer), Sara Marsh (Set Designer), Andrew Lee Dolan (Sound Designer), Michael James (Technical Director), Michaela Johnson (Assistant Director)

Production Photos: Rich Ryan

"Sally Wingert and Sara Marsh's intertwined performances reveal a beautiful, upsetting play. [...] In addition to the spare excellence of her performance, Marsh designed the set [...] Director Hayley Finn and the actors have pitched the performance perfectly for Dark & Stormy's intimate space, where we can see Wingert's face express every one of the five stages of grief, and even a few new ones. […] It is so minutely detailed in the emotional shifts of its characters and so up-close and personal, that each audience member is asked to bring their own unique experiences of grief and loneliness to bear on it - and part of the enduring strength of the play is that there is so much room in it for all of us."
— Chris Hewitt, Star Tribune

"Every once in a while, a play is so perfectly cast that it would be hard to imagine, moving forward, ever seeing it with anyone else in the roles. [...] Put in the hands of the marvelously talented Sally Wingert and Sara Marsh, this sturdy play rises to a transcendent level. [...] Dark & Stormy Productions knows how to work with this kind of challenging material, giving 'Night, Mother a definitive staging that will long be remembered as an example of the excellence found on Twin Cities stages."
— Arthur Dorman, Talkin' Broadway

"Wingert, a consummate actor drawn to challenging roles, is heartbreakingly angry and confused as Thelma…Opposite Wingert, Marsh conveys an eerily upbeat resolution in the face of overwhelming sadness. [...] Marsh designed the set, with furniture suspended by wires to convey a sense of surreal drifting. Everything that Thelma thought she could rely on, from her daughter to the electric oven, seems poised to float away."
— Jay Gabler, City Pages

"'Night, Mother calls for actors who can handle the emotional demands and brutal honesty, who can convince us they've known each other forever and are standing together on an awful precipice. Wingert is, of course, Wingert, seen on Twin Cities stages everywhere because she's so damn good. Marsh steps into Jessie's shoes with fierce conviction. Both give tremendous and fearless performances."
— Pamela Espeland, MinnPost

"I often say that two-person plays are my favorite...This is one such play, and both Sally and Sara give among the best performances I've seen from either of them. [...] This is not the first time these two have worked together, or played mother and daughter, and that shows in their intertwined performances that are a beautiful dialogue."
- Jill Schafer, Cherry and Spoon

*Member, Actors’ Equity Association

+Member, Stage Directors’ and Choreographers’ Society