When the people of Duke City Repertory Theatre say Ash Tree is suitable for all ages, they mean it. It may be tempting to interpret this claim as secret code for, “Parents! This is a show for your kids!” But cast aside any ideas you may have about the simplistic plots, over-acting and obvious lessons that usually mark children’s shows. Ash Tree may be written to include a younger audience, but it's magical for adults, too.The play by Georgina Hernandez Escobar is enjoying its world premiere here in Albuquerque. It centers on three young sisters who have a curious relationship with reality. The youngest, Selene, carries a pet butterfly named Memory but can’t remember where she got it. She is just given things sometimes, she says. The middle child, Tristan, dreams of a strange presence she calls The Echo and swears up and down that their bedroom is a portal to another world. While Gaela, the oldest, sneers at her siblings' active imaginations, their mother encourages them by telling stories of the world beyond the portal, the Island of the Apples.But when their mother suddenly falls ill, the girls begin to suspect that she is actually a character from her stories—a warrior princess who somehow crossed from the Island of the Apples into their own world and is fated to someday return home.

With Tristan in the lead, the girls open the portal and begin a quest to stop the forces that want to take their mother back.The premise is enchanting, and the girls’ bedroom, with its abundant trapdoors and trick walls, is delightful. Still, the show's execution is rocky. Warrior princesses, wizards, strange lands, interlopers from Arthurian legend and Greek mythology, spells, trolls, butterflies with mysterious powers and more are all crammed into one story, and the result is a fanciful but confounding world. dalton black eyelet curtainsI found myself wondering, Who are the girls trying to speak to? your zone chino curtains walmartNow they need a spell? wamsutta curtains blackout

What spell, and why? What exactly happened to their mother, anyway? And what does the famous nymph Echo have to do with it all? For such a fantastical plot, important world-building points are often brushed over or referred to only obliquely. The playwright takes great pains to preserve a sense of mystery about the Island of the Apples but goes too far. made to measure curtains prescotThis script wants clearer exposition. ikea 300cm drop curtainsPart of the confusion lies in a skewed balance between the real and fantasy worlds. made to measure curtains retfordThe girls’ journey begins when their mother falls gravely ill, their story an allegory for accepting death. But did the girls imagine it all as a means of coping with the possibility of loss, or did it really happen?

The audience should be left wondering. What is important is how their real lives are affected by what they learn through their adventure—whether it is imagined or not. But fantasy bleeds into reality too much and too soon, and the parallel we are meant to draw is never as richly realized as it could be. Much of these weaknesses could be overcome simply by strengthening the character of the mother. Though on stage for a relatively small amount of time, Mama is the lynchpin on which the entire story hinges. She is the reason for the quest, the motivating force that drives the story. If it’s not clear who she is and why she is so beloved, everything crumbles around her. What’s more, she’s the secret-keeper. She holds all the knowledge of the Island of the Apples, and she is the one who builds the world for her daughters and the audience. She decides what the girls should know and what must remain a secret to be discovered during the journey. In essence, she sets the rules that define the story.

All these traits are already there, but the mother registers only as a slight blip when she should be the play’s overpowering light.Admittedly, Ash Tree has some rough edges that need to be smoothed, but playwright Escobar has the beginnings of a magical and meaningful modern-day fairy tale on her hands. The show provides a positive message for young girls (and boys) about how to be brave, strong and honest in the face of life’s most difficult moments. Escobar manages this without being condescending. If you like caffeine with your booze, you might soon have to revert to chugging coffee alongside your alcoholic drink of choice. The Food and Drug Administration, after drawn-out deliberation, has ruled that caffeine-and-alcohol concoctions like Joose, Core, and Four Loko violate the law, and informed the makers that they have two weeks to respond with their plans to change the products. A typical alcoholic energy drink is 24 ounces (0.7 liters) and has a 12 percent alcohol content—compared with a 12-ounce (0.35-liter) can of beer, which normally has 4 to 5 percent—plus the caffeine equivalent of five cups of coffee.

Phusion Projects, the maker of Four Loko says it intends to remove the caffeine, as well as guarana and taurine, to bring the drink into compliance with the FDA. United Brands, which markets Joose, says the same. Despite FDA’s decision, Phusion’s leaders maintain that the alcohol-caffeine combo is not unsafe. (These companies are probably not wild about their products’ common nickname: “blackout in a can” drinks.) But for some public health experts, there are specific negative consequences for putting alcohol and caffeine together: The mixture creates a state of “wide-awake drunk” that makes it difficult for people to realize how intoxicated they are and enables them to consume far more alcohol than they otherwise would without passing out…. That puts them at increased risk for alcohol poisoning, engaging in risky behavior such as driving drunk, and committing or being the victims of sexual assaults. The decision was a year in coming; it had been simmering since high-profile accidents involving these drinks took place in 2009.