A symphony for one voice in TAM’s ‘Year of Magical Thinking’

MONMOUTH — Rounding out Theater at Monmouth’s 2013 summer fare is Joan Didion’s “The Year of Magical Thinking” opening at 7:30 p.m. Friday, July 26. In this adaptation of her best-selling memoir of the same name, Didion presents a life-affirming approach to the grief experienced after the death of a loved one. Told with eloquent language, humor, and the searing candor Didion is known for, this one-woman tour de force paints an insightful portrait of a lifetime of love and a moment of loss.

“I was at the table making a salad,” Didion recalled. “John was talking about either World War I or the Scotch he was drinking when he suddenly slumped over.” She thought he was making a joke about being dead-tired after their difficult day, but he was having a fatal heart attack.

Didion’s script is poetic in its bluntness, its seeming detachment, and its unavoidable truth as she reflects on the year following the deaths of her husband, writer John Gregory Dunne, and their daughter, Quintana Dunne Michael.

Filled with often surprising insights and sharp, often self-deprecating, humor, it is the story of Didion’s search for clues, for relief, and above all for the chance to accept the changing flow of life.

For additional performance dates and reservations, call 207-933-9999 or visit www.theateratmonmouth.org.

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