The Past Is Pliable in Nashville Story Garden’s If You Forget Me

From Joan Didion to Gabriel García Márquez, William Faulkner and Toni Morrison, literature is often preoccupied with memory, a theme that Nashville Story Garden takes on in If You Forget Me. Written by Chicago-based playwright Nora Leahy — who is also managing director of that city’s Jackalope Theatre Company — the script offers a dark, funny portrait of modern love with some unexpected twists.

Alicia Haymer is establishing herself as a triple threat — actor, director and playwright. She’s in the director’s chair for If You Forget Me, and the play shows off her growing confidence in that role. The play is staged in Actors Bridge Studio — a small black-box-style space that presents some challenges — and Haymer smartly uses as much of the space as possible, extending the stage back to the studio’s kitchen, where the characters buzz around making coffee and preparing meals. 

The play tells the story of Kate (Tamara Todres), a 20-something woman who has returned home after a bad breakup — an unusually devastating one, in fact, but I won’t spoil the reason why. Breakup stories are as common as, well, breakups themselves. But almost everyone knows how it feels to be dumped, which makes If You Forget Me so relatable. 

If You Forget Me’s first 30 minutes see Todres miserably flopping around on the couch in her undies quite a lot, her emotional discomfort made apparent by her flailing limbs. But the script soon gives her more to sink her teeth into. Kate’s interactions with her mother Joann — Cheryl White in a role that feels meant for her — are some of the best moments in the play. Joann is a caretaker, and while her daughter’s plight is tragic, it allows her to do what she does best: hover nervously over someone she loves, offering endless Diet Pepsis and self-help books. Kate treats everyone around her with disdain, not least of all her cheerful, overprotective mom. We’re to believe that this is a symptom of her grief. In the first half of the play, it comes off more as childish impetuousness than mourning, and I’m still not sure Todres’ exaggerated defensiveness serves the character well. But as the play progresses, Todres plumbs the depths of the role and proves her acting chops as Kate comes to terms with her reality.  

Kate’s sister Rachel — played by a terrific Lauren Berst — has sent her husband and child off on other adventures, freeing her up to play fixer. Rachel is not like Kate. She sleeps in a bed and wears pants all the time. Berst embraces the character’s sardonic, type-A personality and provides the perfect balance to Todres’ malaise. At the same time, it’s clear she loves her family fiercely. Berst manages the character’s contradictions with ease. 

The fourth and final character is Kate’s high school boyfriend Matt, who is played by Ted Welch, an area native who appeared in 2011’s The Help and last year’s Nashville-made horror flick The Dead Center. Matt doesn’t exactly come to the rescue, but he does provide Kate with a flirty distraction, and his role moves the story along and reveals more about the protagonist. 

While a few notes in the script ring as too predictable — a couple of rom-com clichés play out — Leahy’s script gives the characters plenty of opportunities to have fun. My favorite scenes have the family arguing and joking around, taking turns being sarcastic and defensive. The quick, clever dialogue employs a specific family language that rings true, facilitating a sense of intimacy between the characters and the audience. 

I found myself recalling The Glass Menagerie, Tennessee Williams’ beloved, dreamlike play about the unrelenting power of memory. Much like the family in that work, Kate’s family was abandoned by its patriarch long ago, and Joann recalls the past selectively, as if to erase the harm her husband caused her and her daughters. Rachel, on the other hand, is on good terms with reality, and she wields it like a weapon. 

In The Glass Menagerie, the past is predatory, pursuing Tom Wingfield like he’s a fugitive. Leahy’s play is more concerned with her characters’ agency. It’s up to Kate to decide how she’ll remember her relationship — and how she’ll move on from it. It poses a rich set of questions for the audience. How do we choose to remember the past? What moments do we cling to for solace and understanding? If You Forget Me further establishes Nashville Story Garden as one of the most innovative and exciting companies in town.