FEATURE STORY
TRAVEL
Rosina Reynolds and Kate Rose Reynolds
IRON A DEEPLY MOVING PSYCHOLOGICAL DRAMA BY RONA MUNRO BY DEBORAH VIETOR
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mprisonment can mean many things, not only in the physical sense, yet emotionally and metaphorically as well. Iron focuses on a fractured family, criminal justice and the mother/daughter bond. Audiences remained stunned and transfixed as Fay, serving 25 years in prison for a savage murder has not received a single visitor. Fay’s daughter Josie, visits one day and with no memory of the murder, has more questions than answers as she was only 10 when her mother brutally killed her father. Josie’s questions surround a profound tragedy Fay would rather forget. The mother/daughter actors are real mother and daughter team Rosina Reynolds and Kate Rose Reynolds. Director Jacole Kitchen, who for years was a top theater talent agent in Los Angeles and now the Director for Arts Engagement and In-House Casting Director for the La Jolla Playhouse works closely with our military and veteran communities, leading a Veterans Playwriting Workshop, available for veterans, active-duty military and military spouses with an interest in writing plays. She produces workshops and site-specific productions for and with the military/ veteran community. Directing credits include the Playhouse’s Performance Outreach Program, (POP) Tour production of Light Years Away, Cardboard Piano (Diversionary Theatre), An Iliad (New Village Arts), among others. Also an acting coach and producer, Kitchen’s enthusiasm is 22
L’CHAIM SAN DIEGO MAGAZINE • MAY 2022
refreshing and contagious regarding the arts and life in general. She expressed how she enjoys wearing many hats and some of her most rewarding experiences are in the rehearsal room. She experiences “Breathing life into the balloon which becomes the play.” As a director she believes it is vital to “keep your eye on everything.” She has found Iron to be very emotional as the entire piece takes place in prison. Kitchen relates how Josie getting to know her mother in prison is “heart wrenching, heartwarming and heart breaking.” Discoveries are made relating to the power balance of mother daughter relationships, involving even the prison guard. She considers the arts “A beautiful intersection of connection.” She loves sitting in the audience, hearing the gasps and the laughter, referring to her position with the cast and others pure collaboration. FIRST PERFORMED AT THE TRAVERSE THEATRE, EDINBURGH, THEN EXTENDED INTO A SELL-OUT RUN AT THE ROYAL COURT IN LONDON, IRON WILL RUN JUNE 5-JUNE 25 AT THE ROUSTABOUTS THEATRE, 6663 EL CAJON BLVD, SUITE N, SAN DIEGO 92115. FOR MORE INFORMATION, VISIT WWW.THEROUSTABOUTS.ORG.
