Playwright Paul Osborn has crafted a delightful play that flows from character to character, telling the continuing saga of four sisters from small-town USA in the twilight of their lives. The play is an interesting character study of the sisters and their families. The stage represents the back porches of neighboring sisters' houses.
In the yellow house on the left is sister Cora (Veronica Murphy) and her husband, Theodore Swanson (Todd Blakesley), as well as maiden sister Aaronetta Gibbs (Lynne Griffin). In the gray house on the right is sister Ida (Diane Sinor), her husband Carl Bolton (Jonathan McMurtry), and their 40-year-old son Homer (Sean Sullivan). Down the road a short piece, but in the hoity-toity part of town, is sister Ester (Dagmar Krause Fields) and her proper husband, David Crampton (Eric Poppick). Out-of-towner Myrtle Brown (Crystal Sershen), Homer's girl friend, rounds out the group of gentle people.
The story is told through dialogue, which constantly shifts from one group or couple to another. The play gives the audience an intimate look at the simpler life prior to World War II. Honest emotions are expressed without the gauze of contemporary society's masking.
Aaronetta's 50-plus years living with Cora and Theodore is finally more than Cora can take. Theodore, however, is shocked by Cora's attitude. Across the way, it seems that Carl is failing a bit and becoming a burden on his loving wife, Ida. Their son may finally be leaving home (or so it is hoped) with his lady love, Myrtle.
Ester's relationship with her stiff-necked husband is being tried severely. He's had the audacity to ban her from seeing her siblings. It seems men just don't understand this is not something you can tell your wife, no matter how long you've been married.
Director Tracy Williams captures the period with her cast as we become absorbed in the lives of the sisters.
Mornings at Seven reminds us that there were simpler times in a world that has turned so hectic. It was a time before television, before race riots, before an almost continuing period of war... a time when one could set a spell on the back porch and talk or just look up at the stars in the sky. Hmm. Does sound nice, doesn't it.
