FAMILY, FEAR,
AND FINDING A VOICE

Neil Simon’s coming-of-age drama blends humor
and heartbreak in an intimate, character-driven production

Now playing at Walnut Creek’s Lesher Center for the Arts, Neil Simon’s Pulitzer Prize-winning Lost in Yonkers is a semi-autobiographical coming-of-age story set in 1942, during the height of World War II.

Tristan A. Rodriguez

Brothers Jay (Tristan A. Rodriguez) and Arty (Ray Khalili) are recently bereaved, their mother having died, leaving their father Eddy (Adam Magill) struggling to keep the family afloat. Forced to take a job out of town, Eddy has no choice but to leave the boys in the care of their formidable grandmother, Grandma Kurnitz (Ellen Ranter), who runs a Yonkers candy shop and rules her household with an iron will.

Ellen Ratner

Grandma Kurnitz is a product of hardship—an immigrant who endured a difficult life and raised her children with severity rather than affection. Her physical pain from a long-ago leg injury mirrors the emotional rigidity she imposes on those around her. She is reluctant to take in her grandsons and makes little effort to disguise it.

Ray Khalili, Tristan A. Rodriguez, Renee Rogoff and Adam Magill

Also in the household is her adult daughter Bella (Renee Rogoff), whose childlike demeanor and emotional volatility have led the family to treat her as someone in constant need of supervision. From a contemporary perspective, Bella’s behavior suggests a developmental condition that would be better understood today, but in 1942 she is simply labeled “difficult” or “strange.”

Adam Magill and Tristan A. Rodriguez

The extended family includes Aunt Gert (Sarah Mitchell), whose nervous condition affects her speech, and Uncle Louie (Vinny Randazzo), a shadowy figure whose mysterious activities suggest ties to organized crime. The family dynamic is fraught: everyone fears Grandma, and affection is buried beneath sharp words and passive-aggressive exchanges.

Tristan A. Rodriguez, Renee Rogoff, and Ray Khalili

“Dysfunctional” barely begins to cover it. Yet for Jay and Arty, this strange household becomes a place of reluctant adaptation. They are drawn to Bella’s warmth and fascinated by Louie’s aura of danger, even as they learn to navigate their grandmother’s harsh authority.

The young actors more than hold their own, delivering grounded and believable performances that anchor the play’s emotional core. Simon’s trademark humor—often self-deprecating—threads through the dialogue, offering moments of levity that soften the story’s harsher edges. Beneath the wit lies a deeper current: love that is rarely expressed but persistently felt.

Vinny Randazzo and Ray Khalili

The production unfolds entirely within Grandma’s apartment, realized through Deanna Zibello’s detailed scenic design. The modest furnishings—a fold-out couch, wooden table and chairs, cabinets—evoke a working-class home with specificity and warmth, reinforcing the intimacy of the setting. Under Nancy Carlin’s direction, the cast creates a fully realized family unit, each character distinct yet convincingly interconnected.

Ray Khalili, Tristan A. Rodriguez, and Ellen Ratner

The most compelling arc belongs to Bella. Renee Rogoff delivers a performance of increasing depth, transforming Bella from an object of pity into a figure of strength and self-determination. As the story progresses, Bella begins to assert herself in ways that reshape the family dynamic, culminating in a moment that resonates long after the curtain.

Though Lost in Yonkers was adapted into a 1993 film, this story thrives in the theater. On a single set, with its focus on character and relationship, the play achieves a level of intimacy the film cannot match. Here, the audience is drawn into the family’s emotional landscape, experiencing both its tensions and its quiet moments of connection.

As with many productions at the Lesher Center, the attention to detail and strength of performance are evident throughout. Lost in Yonkers remains a poignant exploration of family, resilience, and the complicated ways people learn to care for one another—even when they don’t know how to show it.

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photos by Kevin Berne

Lost in Yonkers
Lesher Center for the Arts
1601 Civic Drive, Walnut Creek
ends on April 19, 2026
for tickets, call 925.943.7469 or visit lesherartscenter.org

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