Reading Melinda Lopez's MALA

     This is not a review.  So it's a departure from the kind of posts that usually find their way here.  

     This is where the writing overtakes the reading; catches, by surprise.  It is "The Beginning," though, so "Denial" still holds sway.  "Coming Home" is always "Tough;" much like a "Blizzard" can "Suddenly" force redress of "The Big Stuff," Melinda Lopez's Mala offers a "Great Nutritional Supplement" for anyone who has ever served as the primary caretaker of a loved one.


     Now that word play out of the way, so many questions remain.  Most significantly, who Lopez names, and who she chooses to define only in relation to the main character.   who we know only as "Mala."

    The first reading?  While it obviously framed seeing the play, reading it as part of ArtsEmerson's Play-reading Book Club added layers lost otherwise. (And the added surprise of getting to sing "Happy Birthday" to Ms. Lopez on the day our group went to see the play?  Priceless.)
     
     There still time to see Melinda Lopez's Mala before this run ends on November 20th.  See The Boston Globe's review.