In 1971 Washington D.C., Robert Ammidown's life became tabloid fodder after his father, a high-ranking navy commander, orchestrated the murder of Ammidown's mother. It took Ammidown 30 years to write the play he's had inside his head since her death. Life, Love and Chaos is based on the traumatic event and explores Ammidown's own emotional journey through his past. Ammidown, now living in Brandon, writes as if his father has died. (In fact, he's "living a quiet life" after completing a 15-year prison sentence, and the playwright rarely speaks with him.) "It's me trying to make sense of my parent's death," says Ammidown. "How do you find a way to forgive your father for killing your mother? Do you even do that?" While Life, Love and Chaos can be deeply disturbing, Ammidown says that a vein of ironic humor runs throughout. "After mom's death, they [the police] told us to get out of town for a while because they hadn't caught the murderer yet. So we went to Disney World." Aug. 11-27, 8 p.m. Fri. and Sat., 5 p.m. Sun., Galaxy Center for the Arts, 8045 46th Ave. N., St. Petersburg, admission accepted on a "Pay-What-You-Can" basis, 727-643-9504.
