Stay Then Go

As STAY THEN GO begins, Marion (Janel Maloney, “The West Wing”) awaits her only son Eddie (rising British star Matt Kane, THE LAST OF ROBIN HOOD) in the Emergency Room after a rollerblading tumble. Marion has always taken charge with Eddie, been there to protect him no matter what. But today, as a series of unusual events keep her frustratingly isolated from him, she is left alone to try to comprehend the twists and turns that brought her to this juncture. Once Marion had been a young mother, in love with her husband Dick (Nicholas Baird, “Body of Proof”). But when Eddie received the dismaying diagnosis of autism, Marion’s life suddenly veered in an unimagined direction. Determined to give her son the best possible chance, Marion transformed herself into a kind of 24-7 guide and interpreter for Eddie, mapping out step-by-step instructions for him to approach this beautiful, dangerous, and mysterious world and its routines that seemed to elude him. Unremitting, even obsessive, in her commitment to Eddie, who needed her so fully, she sacrificed almost everything else – her career, ultimately her marriage, and at times it seemed her every waking moment. But just as it seemed Eddie was finally turning a corner – becoming an artistically perceptive teenager grasping in his own way for independence – a sudden incident changed everything for mother and son. Now, as Marion waits in anxious limbo for Eddie, she begins to see that she is the one who has to make the next move and reconcile with the unpredictable future.