Truth is all in the lighting, the angle, and the eye of the camera; or so Mother would have her family believe. Instead of leaving because her husband and children didn't live up to her expectations, she invented a family that did. Mother's eye, through the lens of her camera, is ever at the ready to blur the focus and create a picture of a life well lived. Family photos of fish never caught, races never won, prizes never received, crowd the walls and tables of her home. When Daddy packs his bags in an effort to leave the imperfect life that gives lie to the picture perfect gallery, Mother, with the help of their children, reels him back. "After all," she reminds him, "the truth doesn't make us free. It makes us all the more miserable for showing us up for what we aren't. What we don't have and never will." This is why when Mother says, "Smile," everyone does.
Published in the collection Off Off Broadway Festival Plays, 30th Series.