Lightning Bugs in a Jar

Farrah and her son Ben have not spoken kindly to each other in years, but the sale of the family home forces them back under one roof to sort through a lifetime of belongings. Every box they open seems to release another grievance, and the packing becomes an excavation of the secrets that drove them apart. Caught in the middle is Ben's boyfriend Max, the outsider who may be the only person able to help mother and son see each other clearly. Directed by Robert Ian Simpson and Sara Wolkowitz, the twenty-minute short stars stage veteran Betsy Aidem as Farrah, Devin McDuffee as Max and Ethan Slater as Ben. A chamber drama about the wounds families inflict and the strangers who help heal them, it finds flashes of light in a house full of old darkness.