The Heath

Lauren turns her storytelling on herself as she wrestles with how you make peace with a beloved relative who seems unlike you in every way. This beautiful, funny mediation on her South Carolinian grandfather's life draws on everything from Shakespeare's KING LEAR to Bluegrass banjo in a soul-stirring story of legacy, family, Alzheimers, World War 2, redemption, love, madness, and the science of memory...
Lauren turns her storytelling on herself as she wrestles with how you make peace with a beloved relative who seems unlike you in every way. This beautiful, funny mediation on her South Carolinian grandfather's life draws on everything from Shakespeare's KING LEAR to Bluegrass banjo in a soul-stirring story of legacy, family, Alzheimers, World War 2, redemption, love, madness, and the science of memory.

For scores for original music contact the author.
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The Heath

Recommended by

  • Tabitha Ray:
    26 Feb. 2024
    My grandfather's bluegrass songbook is filled with down-tempo ballads about lonely graves and long-lost loves. Bluegrass, like Gunderson's Heath, refashions the small, the personal, into matters of great weight; operatic emotions coursing through a down-home tune. What a gift to give your grandfather– Lear's language to meet the feeling of the moment! I lost my grandmother to an aggressive form of dementia. Bluegrass hasn't made my grandfather feel "better", but, to borrow from the canon, it must "give a very echo to the seat where love is throned". Gunderson, Shakespeare, and bluegrass know that feeling better isn't always the point.
  • Jillian Blevins:
    1 Dec. 2022
    Banjo + Shakespeare = perfection. I was lucky enough to see this piece performed at MRT in 2018. Gunderson’s metatheatrical autobiography invites us into her very real struggle to reconcile her conflicting feelings about her grandfather, with whom she shared a deep connection but differed from in many important ways (his holy text is the Bible; hers is Shakespeare). The storm of Lear’s madness is a powerful metaphor for her grandfather’s Alzheimer’s, and Gunderson’s transformation into first Cordelia and then The Fool allows her to try to enter his world and get answers about their relationship.
  • Samantha Marchant:
    1 Dec. 2022
    Resonated on many levels, this script reaches for connection.

Character Information

  • Lauren
    30s,
    any female identifying
  • KD
    70s, 80s, 90s,
    White
    ,
    Male

Development History

  • Workshop
    ,
    Berkeley Rep
    ,
    2014

Production History

  • Professional
    ,
    The Warehouse Theatre
    ,
    2019
  • Professional
    ,
    Merrimack Rep
    ,
    2018