RAHWAY, NJ — Kim invites her daughter, Sachi, over for a special dinner – her last dinner.
With her mental acuity less than she wants it to be, Kim has lost her desire to live. And she wants Sachi to help her end her life. With the mother being Japanese, there’s the particular angle for their older generation, how they view suicide. Daughter Sachi is Japanese and Jewish.
Pandora Scooter will direct the reading of “Mother’s Day” on Monday, Jan. 13, at 7 p.m., at Hamilton Stage, 360 Hamilton St., Rahway. Scooter is a respected playwright, actor, script analyst and instructor. She leads American Theater Group’s PlayLab program for straight and queer BIPOC playwrights.
“It is pretty relatable, as the large boomer generation gets older and their kids have to take care of them,” said Scooter. “End-of-life issues in this country are sensitive and we don’t talk about it much.”
Scooter’s mom is Japanese. Growing up, she was raised with the acknowledgement that people die and it’s a part of life. “Death and dying is much more integrated into living,” she said. “I was raised with my mother talking about her death when I was very little.”
While Scooter has not lived through this type of circumstance, the relationship between mother and daughter is personal to her. She said, “It’s in between two cultures.”
Scooter has been doing theater since she was a child and has directed professionally for a decade. She’s been performing for more than 20 years. The last eight years were spent focusing more on being a playwright and helping other playwrights develop their plays.
She has taught at Drew, Rider and Rutgers universities, for the Dramatists Guild Institute, Marymount Manhattan College and New York University. She’s also worked in the literary departments of Arena Stage, Goodman Theatre, Delaware Theatre Company, Playwrights Theatre of New Jersey, George Street Playhouse and New York Theatre Workshop. Her other original works include “Canceled,” “#UsToo” and “Annotation” and “The Gay Anthem.”
Scooter grew up with a lot of performing in her family. She had an uncle who was an actor for a period of time and a great-grandfather, Alexander Schoenberg, who was an actor in Hollywood. She never met him, but knew about him. She said she saw his movies and found them to be inspiring.
Scooter’s mother was a classical violinist before she got into computer programming. Her father is a historian and also a blues guitar player. And her Japanese grandmother was a Japanese drum player.
Scooter recently had a bout with breast cancer and is now cancer-free. “It took 13 months to get through,” she said. “Now I’m starting to move beyond that. During that period of time, I was very aware of how fortunate and lucky and grateful I have been for my life, being able to dedicate it to theater and social justice issues.”
Now, she’s full of optimism and excitement to keep going on her journey, which she’s been on for 40 years. The challenge she faces is the constant balance between writing what she wants and what she thinks producers and audiences want to experience. “It’s a double-edged sword,” she said. “‘Mother’s Day,’ it’s so heavy. There’s a lot of light parts. There’s a lovely relationship between mother and daughter. It’s not really dark. I’m very interested in what people have to say. It’s going to be a really good, cozy, intimate experiment.”
“Mother’s Day” is 75 minutes long. It will be followed by a question-and-answer discussion, with Scooter and the cast. While the event is free, donations will be gratefully accepted. Hamilton Stage is independently operated through the governance of Union County Performing Arts Center.
Photo Courtesy of M. Picurro