Fifth Of July at Madnani Theater

Set in 1977, the story deals with a group of old friends and the changes that have occurred in their lives and attitudes in the years since they were antiwar activists in Berkeley. Ken, who lost his legs in Vietnam, and is now considering abandoning his house, his career as a teacher and possibly his devoted lover, Jed Jenkins, for a life of isolating travel. Ken's sister, June Talley, has arrived in a state of high defensiveness, while heiress and aspiring rock star Gwen and her husband/manager, John Landis, simply seem high. Then there's Weston Hurley, the spacey, childlike composer, as well as Sally Friedman, Ken's aunt, and Shirley Talley, June's daughter, who respectively embody the foibles of advancing age and narcissistic youth. They have ostensibly gathered at Ken's rambling family homestead in Lebanon, Mo., for the Fourth of July, but as the play hurtles forward, questions about motives start to arise.