Comments on: Calling all First Look 101’ers http://blog.steppenwolf.org/2006/08/11/calling-all-first-look-101%e2%80%99ers/ Sun, 07 Sep 2008 22:57:14 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.0 by: Susan Hubbard http://blog.steppenwolf.org/2006/08/11/calling-all-first-look-101%e2%80%99ers/#comment-120 Mon, 14 Aug 2006 19:27:07 +0000 http://blog.steppenwolf.org/2006/08/11/calling-all-first-look-101%e2%80%99ers/#comment-120 I saw Saints Friday 8/11 and came away feeling like a gourmand who's just had a very satisfying meal. The play was deep, involving, provocative. On a conscious level I care very little about religion but the characters' yearning for connection and spirituality caught me, drew me in and spoke to me to a degree that surprised me. It didn't hurt that the casting, directing and acting were superb, but there was great writing to hang it all on. My husband and I last saw Red Light Winter, The Pain and the Itch, and the Unmentionables at Steppenwolf and while we liked all those, it is a credit to Kate Fodor that we liked Saints the best and we have very different tastes! The characters -- esp. Theresa, Matthew and Abby -- seemed fully dimensional to me and their psychology, real. I did think the first scene between Matthew and his mother went on a little long and the play ending seemed abrupt. I really liked ending with the concept and the words "see the face of God," but felt I'd missed something along the way that would illuminate the full meaning of those words for me within the context of the play. The link is there in the whole play of course, but "the face of God" is so specific, I felt I needed those words highlighted more forcefully throughout the play for them to carry maximum weight at the end. Because of these two things, I did get the sense that the play was still a work in progress. That is thrilling because what is there now is so resounding. What a credit to First Look. I was really delighted to see the work of three female playwrights highlighted this year. A terrific program and a great contribution to American playwriting. I saw Saints Friday 8/11 and came away feeling like a gourmand who’s just had a very satisfying meal. The play was deep, involving, provocative. On a conscious level I care very little about religion but the characters’ yearning for connection and spirituality caught me, drew me in and spoke to me to a degree that surprised me. It didn’t hurt that the casting, directing and acting were superb, but there was great writing to hang it all on.

My husband and I last saw Red Light Winter, The Pain and the Itch, and the Unmentionables at Steppenwolf and while we liked all those, it is a credit to Kate Fodor that we liked Saints the best and we have very different tastes! The characters — esp. Theresa, Matthew and Abby — seemed fully dimensional to me and their psychology, real.

I did think the first scene between Matthew and his mother went on a little long and the play ending seemed abrupt. I really liked ending with the concept and the words “see the face of God,” but felt I’d missed something along the way that would illuminate the full meaning of those words for me within the context of the play. The link is there in the whole play of course, but “the face of God” is so specific, I felt I needed those words highlighted more forcefully throughout the play for them to carry maximum weight at the end.

Because of these two things, I did get the sense that the play was still a work in progress. That is thrilling because what is there now is so resounding. What a credit to First Look. I was really delighted to see the work of three female playwrights highlighted this year. A terrific program and a great contribution to American playwriting.

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