When life hands you lemons, Heather Litteer makes lemonade – and she knows just how you like it! This Southern belle-gone-bad isn’t really a hooker, but she plays one on TV, and Lemonade, her memorable one-woman show at La MaMa, is sure to quench your thirst.
The vibe on entering the theater is one of fun and frivolity, with disco lights, nightclub music, and friendly staff on hand to offer you “spiked” lemonade. As the smoke clears we find ourselves sitting as quiet observers in the boudoir of Ms. Litteer; she charms us with her accent and her legs, and we get to know her story of just how the New York actress got here.
One warms to Litteer instantly: she’s real, she’s raw, she’s sassy. Casually elegant, she has a relaxed and confident demeanor which puts the audience at ease instantly. Through entertaining flashbacks, we are shown what it’s really like to play a less-than-glamorous character on a not-so-successful film. In the show's most tragic and downtrodden memory, Litteer reminisces about her role in a graphic sex scene as a drugged out junkie opposite Jennifer Connelly in the successful feature film Requiem for a Dream and the hopes she had that this would catapult her career and lead to bigger things, then to only have it haunt her for 17 years and contribute to getting typecast in certain types of roles. We also become privy to Litteer's privileged childhood, getting to know her neighbors and family -- especially her mother, Nancy, a true steel magnolia and loving parent. As Litteer tries to make her "mark" in the downtown world of New York theater, she is in constant contact with her mother back home -- and while Litteer often chooses to ignore her mother’s old-fashioned sage advice and southern expressions of wisdom, you can nevertheless see that Nancy has left an impact on her daughter. Litteer transitions effortlessly from borderline pantomime of scenes which offer great insight into her real experiences on movie sets to sincere and honest moments retelling stories of her ailing mother on dialysis. Her performance is brave and bold throughout and a pleasure to watch. The show also benefits greatly from its tight sound cues and splendid visual effects, which carry us from Litteer's mother’s elegant sun room and then abruptly back to a shady film set.
At once raunchy and soulful, Litteer’s aim is true – to inspire and give hope to all of us out there just trying to win, to never give up hope and to live by her mother’s words: when life hands you lemons, make lemonade.
