It's only a clichéd spirited old lady role, but Jane Alexander makes as much of it as could be hoped for in Tina Howe's Chasing Manet, currently at Primary Stages. In fact, her performance is the main point of interest in the otherwise under-developed, sitcom-thin play.

Alexander plays Catherine Sargent, an almost blind, famous painter who is indignant to find herself withering away in a nursing home "where people go to die." Her son Royal (Jack Gilpin), a Columbia professor and continual disappointment, lives nearby but rarely visits despite having uprooted Catherine from her small circle of friends to do so. She's understandably bitter and frustrated to spend the rest of her days[...]