"Butterflies Are Free" at Rogers Street Theatre, downtown Gloucester

Rogers Street Theatre has just celebrated its first-year anniversary and is delighted to have “Butterflies Are Free” as the first play of its new 2019-2020 season.    Directed by the inimitable Ray Jenness, this play is perfect summertime entertainment.   Ray is thrilled with his dream cast of Dylan Fitzpatrick (Don Baker), Danielle Bauke (Jill Tanner), Kris Burke (Mrs. Baker), and Ken Stoeffler (Ralph Austin, the director), who work together amazingly well to bring this play to life.

The play centers on a blind aspiring singer-songwriter Don Baker, who is living in a Manhattan apartment, away from the smothering influence of his overprotective mother for the first time. Free-spirited actress Jill Tanner moves into the apartment next door, and the two young people bond over music and literature – and sex! But when Don’s Scarsdale mother makes an unexpected visit, she clashes with the headstrong Jill, assuming that she’ll get bored and leave Don, just as his last girlfriend did.     And it seems that she may be right to be concerned when Jill breaks a dinner date with Don and announces that she plans to move in with her new director. Ultimately – when the chips are down — Mom shows that it’s really all about having her son’s best interests at heart.