This last also brings them in contact with Lydia, (Brenda Pressley) the mother of Need to be part of a Pentecostal church and Tommy's increasingly troubling behavior The firt signs of trouble in the homespun paradise are Liz's The only surprise is that it remained intact so long.

Phoebe Jonas does triple duty as the writer, a school teacherĪnd a waitress and Marj Dusay enters the stage late, briefly but memorably as Liz's mother.Īway any surprises when I tell you that the Miller's self-sufficient world will shatter and that Is Brenda Pressley as an affluent, black woman who has moved into their farm community Young Michael Phelan is most convincing as the troubled Tommy, as The play gains its strength from the excellent performances of Ms. That's what makes the picture real, like real life. In the end, you are left with an imperfect picture that can never be Picture is then revised by picking away at its edges through bit by bit revelations about the characters who inhabit the canvas. However, it contains many of that novel's traits: You are shownĪ beautiful picture of a content, or nearly so, family (in this case on a Pennsylvania farm) and the Written almost a decade before the much more widely read novel is not as epochal and far Her vision of rural life is not particularly idyllic. That fence projects a sense of spaciousness as well as the symbolic distance between thisĪs anyone who's read Jane Smiley's Pulitzer prize-winning A Thousand Acres knows, Steps down from the rest of the wheat-colored stage which is raked upward towards a wide miniaturized fence. The five years they've lived on their farm. Welcome to the idyll the Millers (and set designer George Xenos) have created in Of that burlap curtain to introduce himself, then throws it open proudly and husband of Liz (Dana Reeve) and father of young Tommy (Michael Phelan) - steps in front Overall clad Bob Miller (John Bedford Lloyd) Sort of independence from crass worldliness. Their story begins promisingly enough, a possible road map for others wanting to pursue this They live on an incredible $343 annual income by growing their own food, making their ownĬlothes and furniture, and through barter. Immediate and powerful image to set the tone for the play's setting and theme: An Americanįarm where an American family tries to live their dream of a simple self-sufficient life style. Isn't a case of a small company making do with found objects for an affordable curtain but an When you take your seat all you see is a curtain patched together from burlap potato sacks. That's not only interesting but quite perfect is what you get in Good Will, aġ983 novella by Jane Smiley adapted for the Directors Company by Joan Rater The better known small houses along Theater Row to allow for interesting staging. Theater 3 is conveniently close to the main theater district and with a stage wider than most of The Internet Theater Magazine of Reviews, Features,

Ordinary love and good will