Frank Cossa’s Apostrophe! Examines Three Intertwined Lives in Turmoil

Erin Blaney (Isabelle Garbani) could be the chairperson of the Tortured Artists Department.

Holding court in her apartment in an endless number of silken robes, she pounds booze and pontificates on life and her diminishing place in it. Her home is strewn with liquor bottles, old newspapers, and loose manuscript pages. Accompanying her on the road to either creative zenith or oblivion is her new assistant Todd (Sam Cruz). Todd—also a writer, and separated from his wife and son— is an unusually passionate fan of Erin’s work, who has volunteered to help her create again (even if it’s only as a typist). Todd sees this as his calling, but the cynical Erin is unmoved. “What happened, an epiphany?” she snarks. “Did an angel come down and whisper in your ear?” Despite her skepticism, she accepts his offer.

Todd suffers her irritability, sarcasm, hatred for humanity, and 24/7 drunkenness as he steadfastly attempts to help Erin re-ignite her previously successful writing career, which climaxed with the titular Apostrophe!  Todd gushes over the book, while Erin brushes it off.

“The people that praise your work the most get it the least,” she dismisses.

She treats Todd as a servant rather than an assistant. Deliberately testing how much he can take, she commands him to get her shawl, even though it’s draped over the chair she’s already sitting in. “Get it, or get out,” she commands.

Complicating matters is Erin’s severe fibromyalgia, which causes constant seizures and fainting spells; these are punctuated dramatically by stage blackouts and the sound of a pulsing, ominous heartbeat.

“I’ve been treated and mistreated, poked and prodded, pricked and kicked,” she observes, drawing on the wit that made her famous. “Drugged and mugged, massaged and triaged, nursed and cursed; drilled—and especially, billed.” Erin understands that her “healers” don’t want her to be well; as with all their patients, they want her to remain sick but not die, in order to keep them in business. The knowledge helps to fuel her bitterness.

And then, Amelia (Anita Moreno)—the daughter Erin abandoned as a baby—arrives, changing everything. Amelia has discovered the truth of her parentage after a long search.

“I don’t have a kid,” protests Erin. “I gave it away. I didn’t even look at it.”

“I am it.” counters Amelia. “I’ve been trying to find the person who writes such beautiful, but such icy prose. You gave me away and then you turned me into literature.” Amelia explains that she doesn’t want to see her mother; she wants her mother to see her.

Amelia’s sudden presence challenges Erin more than Todd or her demons ever could, and the stakes get ever higher for all three who now inhabit the physically and emotionally cluttered apartment.

Written by Frank Cossa, Apostrophe! is filled with insightful, quotable lines that will resonate with anyone who has danced in the dark with their creative muse, as well as everyone who has loved, lost, and found again. The three actors inhabit their distinct characters brilliantly and relish in their delivery of Cossa’s memorable dialogue.

Apostrophe! is brought to the stage with remarkable style by Amber Brookes, in her directorial debut.