Grosse Pointe Theatre’s Purdon Studio Theatre production of “Failure: A Love Story” features, from left, Hayley Boggs, Grace Gillanders and Virginia Lee as the Fail sisters.
By: K. Michelle Moran | Grosse Pointe Times | Published January 22, 2025
GROSSE POINTE FARMS — A play in which the three main characters die at a young age might sound like a downer, but the director and cast for a new production of “Failure: A Love Story” say the show is surprisingly uplifting and enchanting.
The show — being staged by the Purdon Studio Theatre, the black box theater arm of Grosse Pointe Theatre — is set in 1928 Chicago and revolves around the three Fail sisters — Nelly, Jenny June and Gerty — all of whom die suddenly over the course of a year. The sisters run their family’s clock business and embrace their family, friends and pets as they blossom in an enchanted setting in which animals and inanimate objects like clocks and a gramophone talk. It will be staged Jan. 24-26 at Grosse Pointe Congregational Church in Grosse Pointe Farms.
Making her GPT directing debut is Meg Berger, of Huntington Woods, who found herself smitten with “Failure: A Love Story” after seeing a production at Planet Ant Theatre in Hamtramck several years ago.
“It was so good that it immediately piqued my interest,” Berger said. “I wanted to either be in it or direct it.”
Josh Kozakowski, of Grosse Pointe Park, plays Mortimer Mortimer, who falls in love with each of the sisters over the course of the show, only to lose them as they meet their untimely ends. He was initially only planning to accompany his friend, Stephanie Stoiko, of Detroit — a member of the chorus — to Stoiko’s audition, but after reading parts of the script the night before that audition, he said he decided to try out as well.
“I just fell in love with the show,” Kozakowski said. “It was just so funny and interesting.”
Mortimer Mortimer, who has lived something of a charmed life, is also imbued with surprising innocence, the actor said.
“It almost feels like with him, some presence is brought,” Kozakowski said. “The magic brings (the characters) together and helps them go through (hardship).”
While the specter of death looms over the story, the show’s focus is on life.
“This is more about a life well lived. … While it’s a little sad, it’s a healing sad,” Berger said.
Berger said the show is full of whimsy.
“It’s a fable,” Kozakowski said. “It’s not a musical, but there’s a lot of music in it.”
Audiences can expect to hear standards from the era, as well as see the actors dancing to those timeless tunes.
Anye Irving, of St. Clair Shores, a member of the chorus, is excited to be returning to the stage after not having performed since college and said the script was a big draw for the actors.
“The prose is really wonderful,” Irving said. “It’s like having gold on your lips.”
Others in the cast include Hayley Boggs, Grace Gillanders and Virginia Lee as the Fail sisters, Michael Kieliszewski as John N. Fail and chorus members McKenna Foster, Lynnie Heinemann and Chris Martin. Berger said the show is designed so that the cast can be as large as 50, depending on the size of the chorus.
The humor in “Failure: A Love Story” tempers its heartache.
“Ultimately, it’s about the heart and the family and love,” Berger said. “And you don’t leave brokenhearted — you leave hopeful.”
Grosse Pointe Congregational Church is located at 240 Chalfonte Avenue in Grosse Pointe Farms. For tickets or more information, visit gpt.org or call the GPT box office at (313) 881-4004.