The Civilians, the downtown documentary theater troupe, have tackled such socially and politically charged topics as the evangelical movement and Brooklyn’s controversial Atlantic Yards project.
But in “You Better Sit Down: Tales From My Parents’ Divorce,” the Civilians get personal. For this confessional piece, several of the performers interviewed their parents about their marriages and breakups, and actually play them onstage.
It’s risky emotional terrain. As one subject tellingly says, “I hope this doesn’t send you to the psychiatrist.”
Maybe it did, and maybe it didn’t. But for the audience, at least, the results are both entertaining and moving. Anyone who’s gone through a similar situation — and statistics suggest you probably have — will find much to relate to here.
Structured as a series of responses to queries both trivial (“Was there an object you fought over?”) and important (“How they broke up”), the show features performers Caitlin Miller, Robbie Collier Sublett and Jennifer R. Morris playing their mothers and Matthew Maher as both his parents.
Seated on chairs facing the audience, the actors expertly mine the material for all its pathos and humor.
One mother, asked if she was physically attracted to her ex, dryly replies, “The word ‘hot’ and your father don’t belong in the same sentence.”
Another, asked about giving birth, says, “I was so drugged up I thought you were a football.”
Not surprisingly, guilt rears its ugly head. “I have a beautiful collection of antique pins . . . which I guess I should sell because you don’t want to wear them,” one mother chides.
Now and then, the proceedings turn serious, with accounts of angry confrontations between exes and a father jailed for financial scams.
As staged by Anne Kauffman, the piece plays out casually, as the performers wander offstage to pour themselves a cup of coffee. At the end, we hear snippets of the actual conversations they’ve had with their parents — a haunting reminder of the real-life heartache behind the humor.