Nest
This play started with the event that happens before the play begins, the
"wounding" of Herman in the supermarket. I wanted to write a play in which a tiny
incident is blown completely out of proportion and changes peoples' lives in very
radical ways. I am told that the play might have some resonances in world affairs; I'll
leave that for audiences to decide. I also wanted to write what might seem at first to
be a conventional living-room comedy. I was also quite taken with the idea of the
makeover, that stalwart of present-day television programming that has created its
own vocabulary (the "reveal"). The reading at NCRT was very exciting for me.
Audience members reacted well and they were all over the place in their
interpretations of the play. The direction by Jeffrey Ingman was first-rate. Like so
much of my work, this is not yet finished. In particular, I have been advised to
strengthen the motivation of Sophie's conversion. NCRT billed the piece as
"semi-absurd." I have no quarrel with that. It is certainly not kitchen-sink realism.
At the same time, all life is, at the very least, semi-absurd, in my view. For a 2007
production by InnerMission, a new character (Hughie) was added.
To the play.