Actress Linda Purl is rehearsing on stage at the Rubicon Theater in Ventura. She’s playing not one but sixteen different characters in this production of Crazy Mama. It’s billed as a true story of love and madness—and it’s the first time the solo play, written by Ojai resident Sharon Scott Williams, has been produced.
“All of those characters are needed because what’s so integral to the play is the collateral damage that happens,” explained Purl. “It’s not just the person, it’s everyone around it, the immediate family, the extended family, the village. Everyone has a reaction and their lives are changed because of it and we all have to adjust.”
The story follows the true story of a decades-long battle of one daughter’s dream to save her mother from the grip of mental illness. Purl said—it’s emotional but not without light in the dark…