Girl Gumshoe & Detective Dad: Meet Irene Davenport
Irene (Kate Kunkel Bailey) is a bit of a cipher. We know she owns a yarn store, but that's almost all of what we learn of her beyond her identity as Gina's mother and Troy's wife. I don't often like to do that, especially with female characters, but for Irene, the question of identity is a slowly evolving one, the answer to which she herself has neglected for far too long.
The question I asked myself most often regarding Irene is: why? Why did she marry Troy in the first place? Why has she stayed with him so long? Why did she never put her foot down about the girl Gina was and the woman she was becoming, when she clearly wanted something different for her daughter?
The thing is, when you're a serious young woman, as Irene was, a light-hearted jokester like Troy can be very appealing. His lack of pretention and seemingly straight-forward nature charmed her. When Gina was young, she was grateful for a partner who could engage with a child at her own level, something Irene could never entirely unbend enough to do. But she imagined that, eventually, Troy would leave behind that jokey exterior and reveal a serious man, husband, and father beneath. The day she realized that would never happen-and that their endless adolescence might be jeopardizing Gina's future ability to cope with adulthood-was the day she approached Troy with The Deal.* She ends the play facing one of life's ultimate questions: who am I, independent of the roles and labels that have been imposed on me?
*What is "The Deal"? Find out at Gadfly Theatre Productions' premiere of Girl Gumshoe & Detective Dad, October 17-26 at the People's Center Theater (pay-what-you-can performances on 10.19, 10/2-, and 10/26).
The question I asked myself most often regarding Irene is: why? Why did she marry Troy in the first place? Why has she stayed with him so long? Why did she never put her foot down about the girl Gina was and the woman she was becoming, when she clearly wanted something different for her daughter?
The thing is, when you're a serious young woman, as Irene was, a light-hearted jokester like Troy can be very appealing. His lack of pretention and seemingly straight-forward nature charmed her. When Gina was young, she was grateful for a partner who could engage with a child at her own level, something Irene could never entirely unbend enough to do. But she imagined that, eventually, Troy would leave behind that jokey exterior and reveal a serious man, husband, and father beneath. The day she realized that would never happen-and that their endless adolescence might be jeopardizing Gina's future ability to cope with adulthood-was the day she approached Troy with The Deal.* She ends the play facing one of life's ultimate questions: who am I, independent of the roles and labels that have been imposed on me?
*What is "The Deal"? Find out at Gadfly Theatre Productions' premiere of Girl Gumshoe & Detective Dad, October 17-26 at the People's Center Theater (pay-what-you-can performances on 10.19, 10/2-, and 10/26).