By Barbara Zaferos
Playwright and actress Heidi Armbruster’s “brings it” in the Wisconsin premiere of her one-woman show, “Scarecrow.”
Funny and poignant, her storytelling of a deeply personal experience in her life is fueled by her recollections and yearnings projected on stage with sustained vocal and physical energy throughout the 90-minute production. Her words and inflections are vivid and physicality clear as she commands the stage.
Whether standing still with arms outstretched or moving at an agitated pace around the spare stage set, her thoughts take on meaning and she treats the audience to a witty, emotional ride.
At the heart of the story is a pivotal time which comes with the passing of her father and demonstrates how she navigates through internal upheaval and even fear, possibly opening a new door for herself to walk through.
For this professional, big-city actress coming home to Wisconsin — amid her father’s illness and again after her father’s death — reconciles her sense of loss as she takes time to grieve on the farm where her dad lived.
Armbruster skillfully traverses this uncertain territory with delightful flashes of humor, daydream glimpses of things she didn’t say — but possibly wished she had — mingled with a deeper contemplation that had her struggling over what it meant that her dad was her “most important person.”
To depict the Wisconsin dairy farm, she first had to “travel” there driving from the big city three months after her dad’s funeral “passing through one unincorporated town, with one church and three bars, after another.”
The farm’s essence comes into sharp focus as she revisits it for a period of time. It is a place where her dad thrived, We see her feelings evolve through the process as she readies herself to take on a fresh mindset.
As Armbruster tells her story, she appears small on the wide expanse of stage, which brings to mind her sense of being alone in a wider world at that moment. She weaves the tale of her loss as she finds comfort in the touch of a small kitty, the sounds of the open spaces, the sights of her dad‘s belongings, and the feel of the earth between her hands in a garden of wild chives.
It is easy to see moments of our own lives reflected in her journey of self-discovery. The show’s connective thread of charming authenticity was well served.
“Scarecrow,” directed by Laura Gordon, runs through March 17 at Next Act Theatre, Milwaukee.