“My mind is like an open meadow” is a play, which captures the life and memories of Sarah Braveman– an experienced actress from Boston, Mass.
The play was created by Erin Leddy– Braveman’s granddaughter– who was inspired and captivated by her grandmother’s acting stories after living together in 2001.
This production is a one-woman-show, featuring Leddy, which aims to depict her grandmother’s soul and spirit through her memories in show business.
The play opens with a scene: Leddy is a radio talk-show host and her grandmother, Braveman, is her interviewee.
While the conversation between Leddy and her grandmother moves back and forth about the beauty of life and age, the play opens with a profound statement by Braveman. “We are each a great metropolis made up of intricate pathways. Physical, emotional, mental, spiritual. We can never truly know another’s experience; we can never truly navigate another’s environment. But we dig and we dig.”
Leddy responds with a beautiful ballad entitled “Drops in the ocean” which symbolizes the breathtaking wonders in the balance between humanity and the profoundness of individuality.
As the play continues, Leddy employs a use of original ballads, poetic narrations, interpretive dances and eloquent metaphors to capture her grandmother’s take on the journey we know to be life.
The play’s appeal to pathos exposes the compassion inside each of us ultimately revealing the truths of life in it’s most vulnerable stages.
While Beckman’s memories unfold, the performance begins to capture some of humanity’s most fundamental themes such as love, courage, memory, and loss.
“My mind is like an open meadow” is a play , which reveals the sensitive soul inside man.
Braveman’s personal stories and Leddy’s dramatic techniques work together to bond the audience to their intimate grandmother-granddaughter relationship which provokes a tender, heart-warming feeling by viewers.
In sharing her grandmother’s memories, Leddy is able to connect with the crowd by taking her innate, loving relationship with her grandma and paralleling it to the personal relationships viewers have in their lives. This play about a grandmother and granddaughter relationship reminds viewers of the purity and hope for mankind.
The show, “My mind is like an open meadow,” truly captures the creative spirit. It depicts the complexities of life and maturity while expressing the innocence of growing old and enjoying life. The play is a refreshing look on life, age and love.
Casie Gaza / For the Review
Casie Gaza can be reached at
[email protected]
