Perhaps the playwright's own struggle with premature death influenced this script, for it has qualities of pathos, quirky humor and the absurdity and beauty of life bumping into each other throughout.

Wisconsin Lutheran College has again lived up to its reputation for executing pristine productions under the able direction of Jan Nelson-Gompper, who is sadly leaving her post in January.

A fractured family, terminal illnesses, mental aberration, child abuse, delinquency, less than ideal medical and support systems - hardly fare for humor, unless it be of the darkest variety. But somehow McPherson manages to impart a perspective on many of life's woes, and without sentimentality, flavor his story with a goodly dose of humanity and love.

Bessie is the caregiver for her father, who suffers from a stroke and cancer, and her aging aunt, Ruth, who has recently found an electrical cure for her semi-paralyzed condition, a remedy with its own set of oddities.

To add to this shaky formula for peace and happiness, Bessie herself discovers that she has leukemia, so she contacts her long-lost younger sister, hoping that she or one of her two teenage sons can provide her with a bone marrow match. This family reunion is the heart of the humor and the drama.

Bessie, so heart-wrenchingly portrayed by MaryFran Stephanich, is a modern-day saint, without any of the saccharine qualities that moniker can conjure up to real, everyday people. She has a strong sense of duty without being self-righteous; she is strong and yet admits her limits.

Her sister Lee, very well rendered by Deanna Strasse, is also a well-developed character. She has little capacity for generosity, but despite her superficiality and shrewish tendencies, has survived some hells of her own. We grow to love her, too, when some of her faŤades start tumbling down.

Kyle Bartelt movingly captures Hank's mix of bravado and vulnerability. Renee Pottorff meets the formidable challenge of playing Aunt Ruth, an aging woman, without creating a caricature, a frequent occurrence when the young try to portray the old.

Cameo parts were well executed by Joel Jahnke as the nerdy Charlie, Josh Sheibe as the fumbling Dr. Wally, Jacob Roberts as the slow-witted simpleton Bob and Rose Mueller and Anastasia Wilde as the ineffectual psychiatrist and ditsy nursing home director respectively.

There are no duds in this cast, including the voice-only Marvin, whom we never see but only hear as his incoherent, unintelligible mumblings from a distant room remind his caregiver of his relentless need for care. Josh Kneser makes his presence felt throughout.

In closing, I want to give a tribute and many thanks to director Nelson-Gompper for her stellar work as actor, director, teacher and mentor for the elucidation of many students and patrons throughout her many years on the faculty at Wisconsin Lutheran College. She will be a hard, maybe impossible, act to follow.