by Cari Lynn Pace *

Marin County’s Larry Sultan took photos of his parents over a decade, creating a loving tribute to them and an often-annoying pain in the neck for them. Sultan travelled to his childhood home in Southern California each month seeking conversations and photographing his parents’ lives in search of a deeper understanding of his memories. In 1992, he published Pictures from Home, his candid family memoir filled with family snapshots from the 50s and 60s.

In 2023, Sharr White debuted his theatrical adaptation of the book with a same-titled play. Pictures from Home opened in New York’s Studio 54 and starred the current toast of Broadway Nathan Lane. The unique production featured Sultan’s colorful and sunny photos of the family in their sprawling San Fernando Valley tract house where he grew up. It must have intrigued East Coast audiences.

Now it’s time for West Coast audiences to examine Sultan/Sharr’s work. Mill Valley’s Marin Theatre is offering the West Coast premiere of Sharr’s take on the family Sultan and the intimate images and insights. It runs through May 31.

Jonathan Moscone directs Daniel Cantor in the role of Larry Sultan, while Victor Talmadge portrays his father, Irving, and Susan Koozin enacts his mother, Jean.

Sultan’s intermittent intrusions documenting and exploring his parents’ lives were not always welcomed. Rather than visit them so often, they urged their son to go home to spend time with his wife and children. Sultan, who lived on Greenbrae’s boardwalk, died at 63, leaving that memoir sadly unwritten.

Many of the photos used are as off-center and casual as those found in any candid family photo album. Some are more evocative than others with a piercing gaze that startles.

Pictures from Home reveals a dysfunctional family on many levels and, in many ways a typical, ordinary family. Caught in the camera’s eye, Sultan’s photographs reveal his aging parents. They may be disinterested in one shot, or pleased and proud in another.

It’s when the lens focuses on their everyday lives that the love they share with their son becomes visible in the light and in the shadows.

Playing through May 31 at Marin Theatre, 397 Miller Ave., Mill Valley.

Click HERE for more information and tickets.

Photos by David Allen

Cari Lynn Pace is a long-time Bay Area theatre critic whose reviews were regularly featured in the Marinscope Community Newspapers and is a member of the San Francisco Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle.