"Taking Care of Baby" is a play by Dennis Kelly. A mother is convicted of killing her infant son, shortly after her infant daughter died from SIDS. It would seem a heinous subject with a macabre appeal. However, this is a perceptive & thought provoking play that questions deciphering & dissemenating truthfulness. An annoucement is made at the start "the words are taken from transcripts and correspondences." Actors are 1st shown all seated on stage. The production of "The Exonerated" '07 from the Innocence Project had actors reading court transcripts from cases of wrongly convicted individuals. "Taking" is not a reading. It is a play that blurs the boundaries between a factual case (where names are changed) and fiction. The young mother, Donna, is released from prison after 14 months for the murder of her infant. Her sentence is overturned due to insufficient evidence. Donna moves back in with her mother, Lynn, who is running for congressional office. Veracity is put on trial. Did Donna kill her children? Her husband believes she did. Her mother tells her daughter she believes her innocent - but is the mother being honet? Is there a disease that explains/excuses people's behaviors? The play exposes: the chicanery of politicians, self-promoting charlatan psychiatrists & journalists and the public's frenzy with tragedy as entertainment. This absorbing play questions you to think how we interpret what's presented. "To set the record straight, people often don't know what to think, it's what people see that makes the difference." "Taking Care of Baby," is the play to see. Having seen it, you may judge things differently.
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