Tom Block

Tim, an African American painter, has developed a “ministry of the arts” by basing his work on spiritual masters of the past. He has been brought to Detroit to exhibit his work in a church gallery. The church is having financial problems, however, and it was unclear that they would be able to pay his way, so they accessed monies from Northrup-Grumman, where Dick, the chairman of the Church Arts Board, once worked. Tim is astounded to learn that his trip is being underwritten by a munitions maker.
Immediately after learning this information, however, he finds out that his hostess Sally – where he will stay for the weekend while in Detroit – was raped two years ago. Lilac, one of the art committee leaders, keeps insisting that the rapist was black, but she is continually corrected by those around her: he was a white man of Swedish extraction. Joan, another hostess, who is in charge of shepherding Tim through his time in Detroit, is a highly-sexed 50-something woman, who conflates sex and mystical realization. Tim, who is at first mature and helpful, slowly finds all of the sexual energy breaking through his calm spiritual veneer, and assaulting him with his own sexual anxieties and spiritual uncertainties.
Simone Weil – an historical figure, 20th century prophet on whose thought Tim’s art is based – shows up (a figment of Tim’s imagination) in scanty clothes to mock and tease Tim. Dick and Lilac, 70-something leaders of the church community, reappear onstage with Joan and Tim (though not interacting with them), and all four have a strange, four-way conversation about sex, desire and spirituality.
Finally, the last scene takes place deep in the night at Sally’s house, when neither Sally nor Tim can sleep. Their interaction quickly heads into the surreal, where it is not exactly clear what part of the action is taking place between the two, and what solely in Tim’s head. Simone reappears and is apperceived by Sally, who finds the apparition fascinating. After Simone exits, Sally assumes the role of Tim’s mentor/tormentor. Finally, Tim can take it no more and exits to the bathroom, where he finds dubious consolation alone, somewhere between a “faith in faith” and the lost.

Set in the foothills of Jerusalem in 1947, the play follows a family of Jewish refugees from Europe, after the destruction of World War II.  Amir, the unofficial leader of the small Palestinian village of Bayt Jiz, welcomes Melke, the patriarch of the arriving Jewish family, and they become fast friends.  Amir invites Melke into his home, teaches him the intricacies of growing olives and assures him that things will not be the same for him and his family here, as they were up in the northern lands.
The world is changing, however.  Amir's nephew Mahmud discovers Herb Gordon, a famous American new used car dealer, and takes his name and assures that he will bring motorcars to the ancient land.  Unbeknownst to him, Melke's son Moritz, recently arrived from Switzerland, has discovered the same thing -- and has, as well, changed his name to Herb Gordon.  When they meet, they both declare that the land is not big enough for two Herb Gordons.
Moritz falls in love with Mahmud's sister.  The two Herb Gordons argue.  The cold winds of history blow, but Amir -- a Sufi mystic -- assures that history can be changed, or at the very least ignored.  Melke and his friendship grows stronger and deeper.  
But the winds of history cannot be staid.

Duck (Billy) has reached the end of his rope and only communicates by quacking. After a career in the CIA, which has led to a downward emotional spiral, he finds himself on a park bench, which happens to be the home of his older brother Crumb (John), who was also once a CIA operative and Duck's boss. Crumb lost faith in the system, leaving his younger brother to kill for reasons of state while he, Crumb, dropped out of society.
In the opening scene, Abbie, who has undergone a personal travail of her own, enters and tries to talk to Duck, who only quacks. However, he will talk to his brother. Abbie is very taken with the injured Duck (though not at all with his acerbic brother) and tries to befriend him. Crumb tires of the game and drags Duck off the bench to take a voyage through Duck's past, so he can understand how he found himself there.
Duck sees the man he killed in Damascus (probably innocent), watches his father (once an eminent neurobiologist, but now decimated with Alzheimer's disease) euthanized in Rotterdam and even explores his original psychic injuries, as a bullied elementary school student. His brother protected him from exterior threats in that long ago, though beat him up when they were alone together.
We also meet his wife, his journalist biographer (Duck has been awarded an Intelligence Star Award for his work in the Middle East) and see him in therapy.
We end where we began: with Duck, Crumb and Abbie in the play's "present." Duck never is able to speak directly with Abbie, but she feels strongly that she can save him from whatever internal war he is going through. They exit together, unable to communicate but somehow bound together, and Crumb is left alone on his bench.

Don't Sit Under the Apple Tree follows Irv, a 75 year old psychiatrist and convicted felon, backward through time from through his life of pain and loneliness.  Why, nearly 60 years before, was he unable to kiss that girl he loved, when they sat together under the apple tree composing poetry together?  And why did this one non-decision, made out of fear or inertia or simply youth, affect rest of his life, leading to his own studies in intimacy, driving him to psychologically abuse another lover, causing a late-in-life a felony conviction for growing marijuana and then leading him to court-appointed therapy, where his own interior narrative begins to unravel, replaced with the sad truth of his long-ago decision not made.  The audience is confronted with the proverbial butterfly sneeze, a seemingly insignificant event in one's youth  which metastasizes through the decades, becoming the defining experience of a lifetime.

Actuary Day opens with Susan, a road construction worker, alone in a room, the last survivor in a world that has disappeared.  Her only clue to rebuild human civilization is a short video, which offers (she believes) an original myth from which to rebuild.   Jennifer, a risk assessor at The Hartford insurance company and a hidden poet, enters the room.  Susan informs her they must rebuild humanity. Jennifer asks: if they are really charged with rebuilding human civilization, aren’t they missing something?  Just then, Ted, a stay-at-home father and Doctor of Philosophy, ambles into the room. A homeless friar, Benedict, wanders into the room.  Then the orderlies – Pat and Chris – bustle in.  A bunch of stuff happens which is metaphor for other, deeper stuff.  Then the play ends as the universe began.

Desperate, Danny seeks answers amongst Carl Jung’s writings.
He lays down for a nap.
Dream and waking converge: He finds himself in therapy, but the secrets are not what he initially thought, nor do they belong to the one they should, to the one Danny thinks they should. To himself.
Ultimate violence (to destroy his pain) enters Danny’s mind, but he is overwhelmed by wisdom, provenance of the therapist’s chair in the room, as well as an extensive vocabulary.
Peace and discomfort fuse.
His wife, Chloe, dances into this universe. A metaphor is wheeled unto stage…is it life? Or it might be an answer. This is discussed among the now three members of the session.
Roles grow indistinct: Sometimes one is leading, sometimes another–leadership takes many forms. The play ends. The actors filter downstage for a talk-back. It might have been about something simple. Or love. 

The play begins with the audience onstage and the actors in the audience. Why are they there? They seem to be waiting for something. They talk of mass murderers and unicorns and free will. They decide to go out, but when exiting the theater, one of them kills an audience member. There is an intermission in a bordello. Jazz music and free champagne. The second act begins. The dead man wears a mask. The wife knits and agrees with everything he says. Two of the characters cannot be seen. It is afternoon. Two children play “ring around the rosie.” The only way to be seen is to murder the man again. Madame DeFarge from Dickens’ A Tale of Two Cities finishes her knitting. The play ends. The audience must slog through rats to get out.