Returning to his home after an absence of 17 years, Richard (Tony Goldwyn) wants a relationship with his two 20-something children (Mamie Gummer and Austin Lysy) and at least a cordial understanding with his estranged wife, Helen (Kate Burton). He's also coming back for another reason. The lakefront house where he lived with his family is his boyhood home, one which holds many happy memories. And he wants the house back. Having been driven away following a family tragedy, Richard has come to terms with the past and is more than ready to move on.

Cast & Characters: Kate Burton (Helen), Tony Goldwyn (Richard), Mamie Gummer (Erica), Austin Lysy (Nate), Katharine Powell (Lucy)
View the gallery for more pictures Gummer makes the spunky girl rush in with a pre-judgment of almost everything and everyone, and then she nicely shows the cracks in her shell. Lucy is the odd girl out, spending much of the play saying she shouldn't be there, and she's probably right except the story would never get told without her.

Ms. Gummer brings a crackling electricity to Erica's anger that recalls the young Meryl Streep (who happens to be Ms. Gummer's mother), at her hostile best, in Woody Allen's "Manhattan."

As Helen's angry daughter, Gummer begins the production at an emotional level that is too high for her to reach. But she finally wrests some believability from a role that, like so much of "The Water's Edge," is irritatingly contrived. The Second City Theatre official website
Review by CurtainUp (June 11, 2006)
Review by Talkin' Broadway (June 14, 2006)
Review by The Hollywood Reporter (June 15, 2006)
Review by The New York Times (June 15, 2006)