After the death of their mother, two young brothers are sent to stay with their formidable grandmother for the longest ten months of their lives. Grandmother Kurnitz is a one-woman German front—a refugee and a widow who has steeled her heart against the world. Her coldness and intolerance have crippled her own children. The boys must contend with their strong-willed grandmother, their aunt and her secret romance, and their uncle, a small-time hoodlum, in this strange new world called Yonkers.

Playing the role of Grandmother Kurnitz and serving as co-director, Marsha Mason draws on her place as one of the premiere interpreters of Neil Simon’s work. Married to Simon for a decade, Mason received three of her four Academy Award nominations for pieces written by the eminent dramatist (The Goodbye Girl, Chapter Two and Only When I Laugh). Mason’s appearances in other Simon works include Broadway (The Good Doctor), London’s West End (The Prisoner of Second Avenue opposite Richard Dreyfuss), film (Max Dugan Returns), and on record (the Grammy-nominated recording of The Prisoner of Second Avenue for L.A. Theatre Works).