Shea, Gray + Gibson

A few years ago, I had the pleasure of accompanying Channing Gray to a little town in Western Massachusetts where we visited the celebrated playwright William Gibson. We were rehearsing his delightful The Butterfingers Angel, Mary & Joseph, Herod the Nut & the Slaughter of 12 Hit Carols in a Pear Tree. Channing was to interview him for a feature in the Providence Journal.

Mr Gibson, who was in his nineties at the time, has since passed away. But the memory of that afternoon remains with me.

As the opening of his Golda's Balcony nears, I am reminded of a profound exchange that occurred mid-interview.

He was reminiscing about his recently deceased wife and the years they spent together. He described her strength of character and how she was his rock, artistically, personally, professionally.

This prompted me to ask: "You wrote about Annie Sullivan and Helen Keller in The Miracle Worker. You chronicled the life of Golda Meir in Golda's Balcony. In Butterfingers Angel, you portray Mary as a powerful and independent force of nature. What compels you to write about--"

He interrupted me with a wave of his hand and answered in a tone suggesting he'd been asked this question a thousand times before. "I know, I know," he sighed. "Why do I write about strong women?"

"Well, yes, " I said. "Why do you?"

He shrugged and tilted his head to the side. "What else is there? " he asked.

What else indeed.

-Ed Shea, Artistic Director Second Story Theater Warren RI