Kathleen Tolan's "Memory House" is a play about a mother, Maggie and her daughter, Katia. Maggie and Katia are the only two characters and the whole play takes place in Maggie's apartment (Katia's parents are separated). One very unique aspect of this play is that there is a pie put in an oven at the beginning of the play, and by the end, the pie is done baking. The pie bakes in real time onstage. On the surface, "Memory House" is about Katia trying to finish her college essay before the deadline only a few hours away. On a deeper level, however, Katia is grappling with negative suppressed feelings about her adoption from Russia.
There is one very good teenage female monologue in this play. The monologue takes place towards the end of the play. It is Katia breaking down to her Mother about her views on America, Russia and her friends freaking out about college when there are much more important things going on in the world.
I liked this play; I didn't love it. It was entertaining, but I wasn't really able to connect with Katia. Perhaps this is because I'm not adopted. I also might not have enjoyed it as much because it wasn't very dramatic. I might enjoy it more if I were to see it performed onstage.
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