Ruth Leon recommends… Water by the Spoonful – Oregon Shakespeare Festival

Water by the Spoonful – Oregon Shakespeare Festival
Click here for tickets  :  $15

Through September until 25  

In this 2014 production from The Oregon Shakespeare Festival, worlds virtual and real unfold, challenging notions of family, forgiveness, community, and courage.

This fearless, groundbreaking play won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama for its playwright Quiara Alegría Hudes in 2012. It deals with crack addiction and post-traumatic stress disorder, as well as the advantages and limits of connecting through the internet. Some scenes take place in online chat rooms, a storytelling device many viewers will experience differently today than when the play first surfaced.

A janitor. A software mogul. A college grad. An IRS paper-pusher. Although they live thousands of miles apart, these four people share a secret: They’re recovering addicts who’ve found a safe haven in an online chat room. There, with liberal doses of jokes and bullying, they help each other navigate the broken terrain of their lives. But when an Iraq War veteran’s tragedy spills over into their cyberhome as he struggles to adapt to life when he returns home, everything changes. The play contains vivid descriptions of tragic occurrences from the past, including the violence of the Iraq War.

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