Thus it is timely that Andrea Stolowitz’s Knowing Cairo is enjoying its world premiere at The Globe Theatres, having had its reading at UCSD in 2001 where Andrea earned her MFA in Playwriting. In Knowing Cairo, this award-winning local playwright has developed a work that is lovingly, wittily, and realistically written, portraying the story of an elderly mother, her daughter, and an in-home nurse. The three characters include Rose as the elderly and lonely Jewish lady with an attitude, Winsome as the no-nonsense African-American nurse who combats Rose’s attitude with plenty of her own, and Lydia as Rose’s impatient psychologist daughter who becomes jealous of the beautiful, unlikely friendship that grows between Winsome and her mother.

All three actresses turn in sterling performances. Susan Wands as the petulant, frustrated, often selfish daughter who occasionally forces herself to be polite to her mother, but rarely considers her anything but an inconvenience. Although, admittedly, Rose sometimes goes out of her way to try to be an inconvenience! But the playwright was careful to give each character depth and believability, and there are definitely times when warmer emotions slip through the cracks, when we see that Lydia is not just the “bad person.”

Regina Hilliard Bain is Winsome, the nurse who is assigned to take care of Rose after Rose has chased off all the others. At first coming off rude and insensitive, it’s soon clear that Winsome knows just how to deal with what the nursing agency refers to as a “Class One Screamer,” i.e., someone who is as difficult as she can possibly be and who screams during the night due to panic attacks (attacks that are sometimes more authentic than others). As time wears on, the two forge a friendship that breathes new life into Rose’s dull and routine existence.

But stealing the stage and the audience’s heart throughout is Marilyn Chris as Rose. Hilarious with her biting humor and cutting tongue, even more hilarious as she becomes giddy with her new life and friendship emerging with Winsome, and touching as she deals with the frightening consequences of age and her inability to control her own life. Andrea Stolowitz gave her a many-layered personality, and Marilyn brought it all out.