Talking wiht my Dad is a one-act play set in a fictional hospital in the present day. But to bring you to that time and place, we’re renting the famed Piven Theater in Evanston for our six shows Nov. 15-16 and Nov. 22-23. Here’s what the empty stage looks like. As you can see, audience […]
Read MoreTalking with My Dad, a one-act play, takes place entirely in a hospital room at our fictional St. Francis Hospital. A hospital room can be one of the coldest, loneliest places on earth, especially for a patient wondering if he will live to see the next morning , as is our main character Frankie Casafranc. […]
Read MoreNurse James is a night nurse at our fictional St. Francis Hospital, the setting for Talking with my Dad. He has seen and heard it all during his many years at the hospital where he was himself born. Rather than become hardened by his experience, as have some of his colleagues, he has adapted a […]
Read MoreNurse Strickland is a veteran of the cardiac unit at our fictional St. Francis Hospital, the setting for Talking with My Dad. She has seen it all in her many years in healthcare, the good, the bad and the ugly. A bit world-weary from it all, she carries on out of a sense of duty […]
Read MoreDr. Edward Chasen is the head of cardiac surgery at our fictional St. Francis Hospital, the setting for Talking with My Dad. He’s been a surgeon for almost 40 years, a man widely respected in his field, known throughout the country for some of the heart surgery break-throughs he’s pioneered over the years. But hallway […]
Read MoreDad is Frankie’s dad, a man who came of age during the Great Depression and fought his way across the Pacific in World War II. Like much of his generation, he is not a father who could speak easily with his son, especially during the turbulent youth young Frankie had. The two were estranged during […]
Read MoreAlice married Frankie because she saw that spark of humanity in him that Frankie had worked so hard to hide from the rest of the world so that it couldn’t hurt him ever again. Alice has had her own share of sorrows, but bounced back and been incredibly successful in business and in life, finding […]
Read MoreFrankie sits at the center of Talking with My Dad. A relaxing Saturday afternoon he is spending with his family gets interrupted by an urgent call from his doctor. That call sets off a chain of events Frankie is finding it incredibly difficult to believe. But regardless of how he feels, his life is about […]
Read MoreWriting and work-shopping a play are only the first steps to bringing it to a stage. There’s an entire behind-the-scenes world that has to fall into place before the curtain can go up on opening night. For Talking with My Dad the behind-the-scenes work started with securing a theater space in which to perform, in […]
Read MoreMoving Talking with My Dad from concept to realty meant writing it. As a professional journalist for more than 38 years, writing is second nature to me. I tend to think in headlines and intro paragraphs even in my daily life. But writing a play is far different from writing a story about heart disease […]
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2ND ACT Players 