Published May 03, 2018 by Rebecca Goldfine

Don’t Sneeze at Parker Lemal-Brown’s One-Act ‘Gesundheit’

Gesundheit, written by Parker Lemal-Brown ’18, has something in common with the four other plays that were also selected this year for the Maine Playwright’s Festival.
Three characters acting in Parker Lemal-Brown’s absurdist comedy, ‘Gesundheit,” which is being performed in Portland, April 26-May 5
Three characters acting in Parker Lemal-Brown’s absurdist comedy, ‘Gesundheit,” which is being performed in Portland, April 26-May 5

All of the scripts touch on death in some way. But then there are differences, too, which Lemal-Brown jokingly describes as, “Theirs are nuanced, mature takes on death and existence. And I’m like, ‘Yeah, death, let’s have fun!'”

Gesundheit is a absurdist comedy with three characters: a man who has “decided he’s on his deathbed,” his daughter, and his physical therapist. Though Lemal-Brown originally wrote it to make people laugh — which it has been doing during its run from April 26 to May 5 at Portland Stage — the play also deepened slightly during the revision process.

For four weeks before its production, Lemal-Brown worked closely with the director, writer-in-residence, and three actors. “It has been an awesome process, I was so happy about how collaborative it was,” said Lemal-Brown, who went down to Portland twice a week during the four-week rehearsal period (or at least Skyped in from campus).

And in this process, Gesundheit gained a touch more gravitas, as well as a couple extra jokes. “It was absurdist, with no meaning, but the revision made me want to give it more meaning, and I was thinking a lot about death and spirituality,” Lemal-Brown said.

Lemal-Brown also had a play called Straw Man in Bowdoin’s one-act festival earlier in April. Recur, a play that Lemal-Brown wrote about women in STEM fields, will be performed at Bowdoin on May 11. After graduation, Lemal-Brown plans to head to Los Angeles, to seek work in the TV business.