Lost in Yonkers

26-29 January 2011
What happens to children in the absence of love ? That is the question
that lies at the heart of this funny and heartrending play by one
of America’s most acclaimed playwrights. Lost in Yonkers is a
coming of age tale that focuses on brothers Arty and Jay, left in
the care of their Grandma Kurnitz and Aunt Bella in Yonkers, New
York. Their desperate father, Eddie, works as a traveling salesman
to pay off debts incurred following the death of his wife. Grandma
is a severe, frightfully intimidating immigrant who terrified her
children as they were growing up, damaging each of them to varying
degrees. Bella is a sweet but mentally slow and highly excitable
woman who longs to marry an usher at the local movie house so she
can escape the oppressive household and create a life and family of
her own. Her brother Louie is a small-time, tough-talking hoodlum
who is on the run, while her sister Gert suffers from a breathing
problem with causes more psychological than physical problems.
Missing much of the sentimentality of the plays comprising Simon’s
earlier Eugene trilogy, Lost in Yonkers climaxes with a dramatic
confrontation between embittered mother and lonely daughter that
creates a permanent fissure in this highly dysfunctional family.
Filled with laughter, tears and insight, this is yet another
heartwarming testament to Neil Simons talent.