Unanswerable questions in social work at the Aurora

by Lily Janiak, August 28, 2017


Image

When social worker Caroline (Jamie Jones) first meets new parents Karlie (Alix Cuadra) and Peter (Devin S. O’Brien) in Aurora Theatre’s “Luna Gale,” her case seems open and shut. Their infant, Luna, has been very sick, and the troubled teenage parents have a hard time holding it together (or just staying awake) for a few minutes in a hospital waiting room. Karlie’s mom Cindy (Laura Jane Bailey), who works as a nurse, has a crib, a day care plan and enthusiasm for her granddaughter; her home seems a much better option than foster care.

 

But things don’t stay clear cut for long in Rebecca Gilman’s play, whose Bay Area premiere is directed by Tom Ross. Each apparently established fact has myriad questions behind it, and no one — not Caroline, not the system in which she works — seems able to say for sure what’s right for this innocent baby.

— Lily Janiak

“Luna Gale”: 8 p.m. Friday-Saturday, Sept. 1-2; 2 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 3. Through Oct. 1. $33-$65. Aurora Theatre Company, 2081 Addison St., Berkeley. (510) 843-4822. www.auroratheatre.org

Link to original article