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Truth Floats
At Detroit Rep.

V

anessa and Miss
Emma, the protagonists
in Alexandra Branyon's
Passed Over, are sur-
rounded by adversaries. Con-
fined to a small room in a
retirement home about to fall
to bulldozers, the two elderly
women (one black and one
white, and occasional adver-
saries themselves) join forces to
battle the world outside as well
as their own emotional demons.
"When I read this play, I
loved it," says Milfordean Lus-
ter, director darts in education
and audience development for
the Detroit Repertory Theatre,
and the first to have perused
Branyon's work after the play-
wright submitted it to the com-
pany. Luster says she found
"the process of the revelation (of
the two characters') relation-
ship" especially compelling, not
to mention the mysterious cir-
cumstances surrounding the
women's predicament.
The second show of the
Repertory's season (dubbed the
"Year of the Woman" for the un-
usually high number of roles for
women in the plays it will pro-

duce through June), Passed
Over won the Golden Gate Ac-
tors Playwrights Award in
1989. Branyon, originally from
Alabama, now resides in New
York City where she runs her
own play-wrighting workshop
and acts as theater correspon-
dent for the Tokyo Parco. Play-
bill.
J. Center, who starred in last
season's The Chancellor's Tale,
directs veteran performers Bar-
bara Busby and Sakunah De
Lancy in the drama, whose ul-
timate message, as spoken by
Miss Emma, rings true for all
generations:
"Truth floats," she says. "You
can submerge it all you like, but
it will come to the surface
again."

— Liz Stevens

P assed Over runs at
the Detroit Repertory The-
atre through March 17. Per-
formances are 8:30 p.m.
Thursday-Friday; 3 and 8:30
p.m. Saturday; 2 and 7:30
p.m. Sunday. Tickets are $14
general admission. Call (313)
868-1347.

It's "The Year of the Woman" at Detroit Repertory Theatre. Sakunah
De Lancy (top) and Barbara Busby star in Passed Over.

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eJN ENTERTAINMENT

VCR Alert — Mid-season TV Line-up.
page 66

It's all carved in clay. page 76

Screenwriter Ron Bass has a way •
with women. page 78

Reviews, Eye Spy, Calendar and more.

05