Photo by Julieta Cervantes

So much theater is about family dynamics where we often recognize ourselves and our families on stage. However, sometimes we are relieved that it is NOT our family or your marriage. In “Blood Quilt” at the Mitzi Newhouse Theater at Lincoln Center, playwright Katori Hall uses the metaphor of the quilt to explore a family’s relationships.

The four Jernigan sisters who shared the same mother but different fathers come together after the death of their mother to sew a quilt at their family home at Kwemera, an island off the coast of Georgia where the family has lived for years. It will be the first time “having the Jernigan Gal quilting corner without Mama.” The women all look quite different, and the stage directions suggest that they be all shades of black.

As they work, old resentments emerge.The cast is fine with each actress playing a very different type of character. Eldest sister Clementine ( Crystal Dickinson,) has stayed behind to care for their mother and she is the “piece-keeper”. Adrienne C. Moore is Gio, a bigger than life police officer going through a divorce. She’s blustery and boisterous and though embittered, the most enjoyable character in the play. Susan Kelechi Watson is Cassan, an army nurse,who is kind of bitter. Although she is married to a man in the military, she feels like a single parent. Lauren Banks plays the youngest sister, Amber, the most educated and successful. Her speech reflects it. Perhaps that’s why Banks doesn’t seem as natural as the others. Mirirai is Zambia, Cassan's 15 year old daughter, whose true role is to learn about the family’s history and hear the stories in the place of the audience.

Old hurts quickly become apparent when Amber finally arrives and Gio begins picking on her immediately. Resentments really flare when Mama’s will is read.

Quilting, a longtime pastime where women get together, is a visual theatrical device for stitching disparate elements together. The key word in the script is ‘unravel” just as they need to stitch and sew and connect. Each of the four sisters works on her own corner and Zambia will work on the center. The set (Adam Rigg) is covered by several old family quilts; each has a story and we hear many of them.

As I watched Hall's The Blood Quilt,” I thought about Jez Butterworth’s latest work “The Hills of California.” In both, four sisters come together at the family home. In “Hills…” the mother is dying, in “Blood Quilt “it’s been weeks since the matriarch has been gone. In both there is a prodigal daughter, the favorite, and there’s the other sister who harbors deep anger and resentment towards her. Are playwrights reminding us to cherish our histories and our families or be mindful that some familial hurts always remain?

“Blood Quilt” goes on a bit too long but is still a satisfying piece of theater. The story is about relationships and family history. Many of us save photographs while the Jernigans have told their stories through quilts. Although the quilts almost unravel the relationship between the sisters, ultimately they bind them together.