←Recommendations of Arbor Falls

With crystal clarity, Svich renders a world torn by violence and doubt with a delicate poetic hand. The search for meaning, for faith, is a visceral one, and while there are no easy answers posited in the play, the resolution offered of being at peace with an answerless existence and just being is well-earned. A beautiful haunting piece which would be amazing to see staged and brought to life.

There's an amazing moment in this play that made me gasp and close my eyes to imagine the ways in which it could be staged, and there were many ways. In ARBOR FALLS, I connected so deeply with the shape of spirituality in the lives of these characters. Caridad Svich presents the dialogue in such poetic and creative ways throughout, giving those reading the text an extra layer of meaning to incorporate into their performance and our imaginations. This is a play that will stay with me and continue to reveal even deeper meanings the more I reflect.

Lyrical, lush poetry meets spare conversational dialogue. Both of these modes serve to characterize the Preacher and the intriguing landscape of the remainder of the town quite well. I always love creative visual clues in texts to help unpack a text, and the way lines in the two-character exchanges are grouped together quickly and effectively guided my reading of the scenes. I loved how fleshed out the world and town were by just these simple duologues and monologues. Well-drawn themes of compassion and community made this feel like an important and, as others have stated, timeless parable.

I loved the quiet power of this play. The majority of the play is written in two-character scenes which leads to a great feeling of intimacy, whether those characters are long-time lovers or have just met. This play felt timeless and contemporary all at once.

I was deeply reminded of Church (by Young Jean Lee) due to the themes and the flexible nature of the casting. Arbor Falls feels so impressively sparse and rich at the same time. There are multiple powerful monologues for the preacher and the traveler that are prayer as much as theatre. The loss of a congregation, the yearning for nature, and the appeal of wandering make this post-Romantic world so universal. The honesty in the text hurt my heart like a purifying fire.

This play is both extremely of today while also being timeless. It appears that politics and religion will be strange bedfellows for the foreseeable future and Svich's poetic and at times sparse writing beautifully captures the gravity of that. The role of Preacher is a fantastic flawed hero like many others that populate Svich's plays. What happens when helping others and helping our own are at odds?

The language is both economical and effectively lyrical in this commentary of modern America's moral compass and depressing hypocrisies. Svich exposes the rot underneath the veneer of small town America and explores the hollow arguments of economic hardship and historical interaction as justification for immoral acts. It's laid out bare here. Religious disillusion, resentment, the struggle to be better, and yes, even love. Svich is creating something special in her AMERICAN PSALM cycle. Taken together with RED Bike you feel the rumblings of something awe-inspiring just over the horizon. I am anxious to read more. I highly recommend this play!