Tolstoy's Den
3 m, 2 w approximate running time 2 hours
This play was inspired by two women I met in my early years in Provincetown. One
was an AIDS patient in her thirties, dealing with her impending mortality. The other was an eccentric woman in her seventies who claimed to be psychic.
This play was inspired by two women I met in my early years in Provincetown. One
was an AIDS patient in her thirties, dealing with her impending mortality. The other was an eccentric woman in her seventies who claimed to be psychic.
Ernest Becker (The Denial of Death) argues that humans, terrorized by the knowledge of their own mortality, seek to escape death’s inevitability through various strategies. What interested me about these two women was how they each rationalized and navigated their fear of death. I put them in the same house and introduced a stranger who disrupts and re-shapes their lives. The title refers to a quote from Maxim Gorky: “Tolstoy and God were like two bears in a den.”
I wrote the first draft in 1993 - but then did many additional drafts. This play was a challenge. I return to it from time to time and still feel it’s not quite right. |
Productions - Readings - Awards
Provincetown Theatre Company reading - April 1993
Lark Theatre Company reading March 2001
Provincetown Theatre Company reading - April 1993
Lark Theatre Company reading March 2001