It’s a play that is somewhat familiar territory for Comprehensive Mental Health Services educator Mary Espinosa.
As the story’s protagonists, four mentally disabled men living in a communal residence in New England, along with their young social worker, Jack, provide the story line for Tom Griffin’s “The Boys Next Door,” which opens the City Theatre of Independence’s 31st season tonight.
Underneath the five main characters are supporting roles like Espinosa’s. Espinosa is one of two actors who each portray three smaller, fill-in characters; the other actor is Blue Springs resident Stephen C. Howard. Espinosa portrays Mrs. Fremus, Mrs. Warren and Clara, while Howard portrays Mr. Hedges, Mr. Corbin and Senator Clarke.
The show marks Espinosa’s City Theatre of Independence full production debut; she participated in several short plays during this summer’s second annual City Theatre playwriting festival, marking her first time on stage as an actor.
“The play is just endearing, tender, poignant and extremely funny,” says Espinosa, a lifelong Independence resident. “There are moments when I am reminded of clients and some of the personal challenges they might go through. It’s just the reality of life that people face who have challenges. There’s real people inside all of those issues that you fall in love with, and I think you fall in love genuinely with a lot of these characters.”
Espinosa laughs in recollection of her childhood memories of writing at-home skits in which the neighborhood children acted. During her high school and college years, she worked on production stage crews, though she still shied away from acting.
“I had, like, really bad social anxiety, which I’ve worked on overcoming,” Espinosa says. “This is my very first. I’m, like, 52 years old, and this is my first full production.”
With Howard’s characters, he describes Mr. Hedges is unsympathetic and irritated toward the mentally disabled men, while Mr. Corbin – in just five lines – is more empathetic toward dealing with a mentally disabled person.
Senator Clarke is simply an off-stage role where the audience only hears Howard’s voice, calling Senator Clarke “one of the politicians you want to have around who actually cares about the person he is dealing with and really just wants to understand.”
“There’s that old saying, ‘There’s no small parts, only small actors.’ I think that’s true,” Howard says. “If you can deliver 5, 7, 9 lines in a way that engages the audience just for that moment, it’s a rich experience.”
