By Mary Ann Bourbeau
LONG BRANCH – There comes a time when families realize they can no longer properly care for a loved one with dementia, and that person needs to be transferred into an assisted living facility. Those family members are likely dealing with conflicting emotions such as loss and guilt, but also a sense of relief.
Playwright James Anthony Tyler and his family dealt with a similar situation, and he used it as inspiration for his comic-drama “The Drop Off.” The 90-minute play will have its world premiere at New Jersey Repertory Company in Long Branch from Oct. 30 to Nov. 23.
Set in Las Vegas, where Tyler was raised, the play follows Allain as she drops off her mother, Delphina, at an assisted living facility. When Delphina refuses to stay, long-buried memories of loss, broken dreams and an impending eviction surface in ways that threaten to unravel their bond forever. Funny, heartwarming and ultimately touching, “The Drop Off” is an exploration of how best to care for loved ones while also learning to care for ourselves.
“I started writing it about 11 years ago,” Tyler said. “We put my aunt in an assisted living facility, and I helped with the move. Afterward, I could not stop thinking about it. These characters just popped into my head, and I started writing.”
Tyler said the process stirred up a lot of emotions.
“Because I’m a writer, I do a lot of observing,” he said. “I want the audience to go through myriad emotions as well. The play starts off funny but, as we reveal deeper issues of the characters, it pulls at your heartstrings. I think people will be moved.”
“The Drop Off” is directed by Delicia Turner Sonnenberg and stars Chantel Jean Pierre, Niambi, Joyce Sylvester and Harmony Harris. The play aims to start a conversation about how we take care of loved ones as they age, especially the financial realities faced by working-class families and those living paycheck to paycheck.
“This is a more normal reality than we like to think,” Tyler said. “Most of us are working 9-to-5 and trying to stretch a dollar.”
Tyler is the recipient of the 3rd Annual Horton Foote Playwriting Award. He was a staff writer for “Cherish the Day,” Ava DuVernay’s show on the OWN Network, and he recently worked in the writer’s room for the upcoming Apple TV show, “The Savant,” starring Jessica Chastain. He said as a kid he loved writing, and it was a conversation he had with his uncle that opened his eyes about his future.
“He asked me what I wanted to do as a career,” Tyler said. “I told him I like to write.”
His uncle pointed out that many people make a living writing movies and television shows.
“It blew my mind that people actually were paid to do that,” he said. “I wanted to be part of it.”
Tyler earned a master’s degree in film from Howard University and went on to study dramatic writing at New York University, where the curriculum required him to take a playwriting class.
“It changed my life,” he said. “I had no idea how deep you could go with the writing of plays.”
He wrote his first play, “Some Old Black Man,” while in graduate school. It was produced by Berkshire Playwrights Lab in 2015 and later moved to 59E59 Theaters in New York City. In the fall of 2020, the play was performed under strict COVID protocols in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and filmed for streaming, starring actors Wendell Pierce and Charlie Robinson.
“It was incredible working with these great actors,” Tyler said.
A graduate of Juilliard’s Lila Acheson Wallace American Playwrights program, Tyler took “The Drop Off” to Juilliard, where he did a reading for the students. He wasn’t sure a story about characters in their later years would resonate with students as young as 18, but he was pleasantly surprised.
“They laughed like crazy, and there were moments when they cried their eyes out,” he said. “People said they had similar experiences in their families. It was such a great lesson for me. It’s a universal story.”
New Jersey Repertory Company is located at 179 Broadway, Long Branch. Tickets are $65 and can be purchased at njrep.org.
