Nora's Lost
at American Heritage School

Reviewed on October 25, 2013

Nick Lopez
Cypress Bay High School
Submitted for publication to

The lights dimmed, and only a vaguely defined fragile figure struggling through the fog remained visible onstage– it was at this moment that the audience in American Heritage's black box theater nonverbally but unanimously realized that Nora's Lost was going to be no ordinary play.

This one act play, written by New Hampshire High School English and Theater teacher Alan Haehnel, has only been performed 78 times since its publication in 2005. It takes the audience through an evening with Alzheimer's-stricken Nora as she gets lost in the woods and recollects her life in a series of nonlinear, fragmented memories. This would be an ambitious and bold choice for any high school to take on, but American Heritage had no trouble in earning a very passionate round of applause.

Much of the production's success was attributed to its phenomenal, soaring ensemble cast that worked together to perfectly tackle the play's difficult themes. At the center of it all was Old Nora, played by Katrina Hickey, who spent the duration of the play stumbling about the forest in a cyclical dance of longing and frustration with the memories that materialized before the audience. Hickey's performance was hypnotizing – she nailed the physicality of her character, and through an absent yet poignant gaze breathed painful realism into Nora.

The entire cast showed enormous versatility and command of their roles. Young Nora, played by Emily Schwartz, gave an emotionally hard-hitting performance. Schwartz truly stepped into her character by very accurately embodying her 1960s female role, but steered away from making her performance archetypical and showed the ability to execute extremely dramatic scenes without exaggeration. Chris Ralph created the most interesting character in the show with his performance as Nora's husband, Gene; he had tremendous charm and stage presence, and constructed a unique physicality that perfectly complemented a multi-layered performance that could have easily turned shallow in the hands of a less able performer.

Sergio De La Espriella and Tess Rowland played Nora's children, Mark and Young Martha, respectively, at different ages very convincingly and with ease - Rowland in particular had an uncanny ability to perfectly manipulate her diction to fit the specific ages of her character. Felicia Reich was an audience favorite with her irresistibly ambiguous and effectively unsettling performance as Death.

The student-designed make up seemed to infuse itself into the narrative, becoming a fascinating atmospheric component to the production. It was applied creatively and very cleanly, adding to the dark aesthetic allure of the show. The stage crew worked seamlessly around the elaborate staging, executing many crucial set-piece movements perfectly.

Nora's Lost was an effectively uncomfortable, cathartic experience which most would have an overwhelming desire to watch again and again. Even the most cynical amongst us would have trouble finding flaws in American Heritage's latest production – tears were almost as plentiful as the applause, but the best moment of all occurred after the show, as the audience remembered that they had just walked out of a high school production.

Melody Zapata
Western High School
Submitted for publication to

We often take for granted our mind's ability to remember in detail the moments of our everyday lives. We remember faces, names, places, what we had for breakfast two days ago, and what we did last summer. What we tend to forget is that approximately 5 million Americans are currently living with Alzheimer's disease, an incurable progressive deterioration of the brain that affects memory, thinking, and behavior. The chilling reality of this condition came to life on the stage at American Heritage's production of Nora's Lost by Alan Haehnel.

In a non-linear format, the play manifested a day in the life of Nora Blodget, an elderly Alzheimer's patient who follows the vision of her late husband into the woods on a cold night. We see small snippets of Nora's life come to light, helping us discover all the things that Nora has truly lost in her life.

Every aspect of American Heritage's production made a necessary contribution to the eerie and dynamic mood of the play. The commitment to character and focus from every member of the 18-person cast had the audience hooked on the story from beginning to end.

Emily Schwartz, who played Young Nora in the flashbacks of Nora's life, outstandingly portrayed the archetype of a 1960's mother. Her endearing motherly voice added to the sweeter moments of the play and contrasted perfectly with her part in the most emotional points of the story.

Tess Rowland, who played Young Martha, was excellent at making a distinction between when she was a child, teenager, and adult by changing the delivery and affliction of her lines, which helped the audience notice a passage of time in the story. Felicia Reich (Death) and Jonah Stabinski (Jack) made a wonderful addition to the cast. Reich's personification of death, a reoccurring theme in the story, was interesting and alluring, while Stabinski's characterization of a young, foolish boy added irony to plot.

The smoothness, efficiency, and invisibility of the stage crew was integral to the success of this production. Various set pieces almost seemed to be moving across the stage on their own, which added to the eerie mood of the play. The make-up, designed by Camila Estrada, was creative and different. The pale face and dark shadows around the eyes of the characters that died throughout the story reminded the audience how Nora perceives her world.

The cast and crew of Nora's Lost did a phenomenal job with a play that is both emotionally demanding and difficult to stage. Their versatility and talent brought a very serious disease to light in an incredible way.

Arielle Rozencwaig
Pine Crest School
Submitted for publication to

Performers at American Heritage took their audience on a heart-wrenching journey lost in time, lost in space, lost in love, and lost in reality in their unforgettable play, Nora's Lost.

The genius writing of Alan Haehnel follows Nora, an old, fragile woman who struggles in dealing with the debilitation of Alzheimer's disease. Due to the deterioration of her brain, Nora finds herself constantly reliving the most impactful moments of her life. Haehnel utilizes both unconventional and non-linear style to create a raw experience that allows audience members to live the confusion and grief of a once respected teacher, loving wife, and devoted mother who becomes a victim in her own body.

Students at American Heritage created a viewer experience that was both intimate and inspiring. Revealing the harsh truth that is the life of an Alzheimer's patient, actors demonstrated a strong sense of understanding, focus, and maturity.

Katrina Hickey's sensational performance as Nora was absolutely chilling. She showed great technique in her meticulous, age-appropriate body language, voice tone, ability to connect with cast-mates, and overall energy. Hickey's aptness to play off of Emily Schwartz, the actress who portrayed Young Nora, added to the audience's heart-breaking experience. Emily demonstrated sincerity and powerful chemistry with other characters such as Gene, her husband, Martha, her daughter, and Mark, her son. The more viewers came to care for Young Nora's character, the more distraught they felt over Old Nora's condition, creating an emotional roller coaster. The uneducated, compassionate handyman, Gene was played by Chris Ralph with great strength and understanding of his character. Tess Rowland (Young Martha) and Sergio de La Espriella (Mark) both contributed significantly to the presentation with their versatility. Both Rowland and Espriella are commendable for their ability to clearly embody their characters in three distinct stages of their lives.

In her portrayal of Death, Felicia Reich was both cynical and sensitive. Her cryptic manner added to the appropriately uncomfortable aura throughout the show. Jonah Stabinski's light-hearted, charismatic performance as Jack, Mark's childhood best friend, was a pleasure to watch.

Make-up designer Camila Estrada was successful in properly aging each character's face. The props, chosen and created by Edward Bryan, and the publicity, done by Nicole Mariutto, were simple, yet effective. Fernanda Barboza and her stage crew were incredibly discreet. They were phenomenal in allowing the focus to remain on the actors at work while performing great tasks in complete silence.

Nora's Lost brought to the stage the harsh reality of patients with Alzheimer's disease. American Heritage's rendition left its viewers lost for words.

Eden Skopp
Stoneman Douglas High School
Submitted for publication to

Nora, a mother, wife, and a teacher, who appears full of heartache, full of poetry, and full of love, is lost in the woods of her own mind. American Heritage's production of Nora's Lost provided a haunting insight into the true nature of Alzheimer's disease.

Flirting with the distinction between time and space, reality and illusion, Alan Haehnel bends the rules of traditional theatre with the haunting story of Nora Blodget, an old woman afflicted by Alzheimer's disease, who follows a mirage of her deceased husband into the woods one cold night. In a non-linear format, Haehnel conveys the significant people and events in Nora's life while reproducing the confusion and fear that those suffering from dementia experience.

Emily Schwartz portrayed Young Nora with the utmost sincerity. Her impeccable vocal projection and clarity, emotional range, and commitment to her character brought Nora to life onstage. Schwartz substantiated the memories of Nora Blodget, often performing alongside the elder Nora (Katrina Hickey) as she wandered through her broken mind.

Tess Rowland's (Young Martha) distinctive vocal styling aided in representing the passage of time. By altering her tone of voice according to Young Martha's age, Rowland portrayed all facets of Nora's daughter with clarity and authenticity. Chris Ralph (Gene) captured the simple man's honest character in a similar way with his expressive body language, demonstrating a spectrum of emotion.

Reciting poetry that touched on themes presented in the story, Chloe Nadon-Enriquez (Lilac/Saundra), Teener Renee Lucas (Darcy/Karen), and Emily Grossutti (Nancy/Mary) exhibited the change in the public opinion of the Vietnam War and simultaneously provided insight into the significance of death and the cycle of life in Nora's Lost. Felicia Reich's (Death) ominous yet unthreatening presence indicated the inevitability of death. Reich (Death) and Katrina Hickey (Nora) established the growth of their characters together to control the interpretation of death in relation to the story.

Effortlessly navigating the complex stage movement, the cast of Nora's Lost blurred reality to emulate Nora's fleeting memory. Each performer's voice resounded throughout the intimate black-box theatre even without microphones. Camila Estrada's makeup design for Death enhanced the character's skeletal appearance with dramatic shading. Estrada also executed believable cosmetic aging on Katrina Hickey's (Nora) face.

American Heritage's production of Nora's Lost expresses the importance of respect for the older generations.

Brooke Whitaker
Archbishop Mccarthy High School
Submitted for publication to

Voices taunt Nora Blodget as she chases the ghost of her husband into the woods, and what follows is a deeply chilling, surreal experience through the eyes of a woman suffering from dementia. American Heritage's recent production of Alan Haehnel's Nora's Lost was a poignant tale embedded in quality acting.

Very few performances break the fourth wall of theater, but Nora's Lost does so with the intention of the audience experiencing what Alzheimer's is like through Nora's own eyes. The audience watches Nora experience a whirlwind of forgotten memories as she trudges through the woods. She sees her students, her family, and the grief that has permeated her life. Voices cry, Death comes knocking, and carols are sung, representing the confusion that is the heart of the story.

Such a frustrating and twisted storyline is hard to pull off, yet American Heritage handles the winding script with delicate heart and feeling. Each member of the cast understood their own character and became them on stage, portraying each scene of Nora's life with captivating emotion.

Katrina Hickey, in her role as Nora, gave a brilliantly subtle portrayal of the main character. With her gently shaking hands, blank stare, and hunched posture, she handled the difficult role of a dementia-ridden woman exquisitely. Her counterpart, Young Nora (Emily Schwartz), embodied the role of a mother torn by grief. Her moving performance, especially the scene when she was fighting with her husband Gene (Chris Ralph), provided a welcome contrast to older Nora.

Actors popped in and out of scenes like ghosts. The entire cast worked hard to keep an eerie pacing, by jumping into their characters and then quickly fading away. The Schoolgirls ensemble added a melancholy feel, their lines of poetry intertwining with the shouts of the other characters. Vocals were executed wonderfully and characterization was prominent throughout the story.

Stage crew did a skilled job at moving props on and off stage, while remaining seemingly nonexistent. The movement of the giant door across the stage gave an unearthly feeling, as of the door was gliding on its own. Makeup was effective, with Nora's wrinkles and wig making her character seem genuine. The combination of lightning, sound, and set design gave a dream-like atmosphere, adding to the production overall.

American Heritage's production of Nora's Lost tugged gently at the heartstrings and played with the mind, showcasing just how delicate our own memories truly are.