Artistic Statement

Artistic Statement

As a physician and stand-up comedian, it has always been organic for me to mix very serious subject matter with very strong comedy. The power of humor to establish rapport and relieve stress is enormous and was an invaluable tool to me in my medical career and in my life in general. Also, being happily married for forty years to a psychotherapist has lead me to a deep understanding of family dynamics and individual psychopathology. As a playwright, I strive to create characters that are real, psychodynamically accurate, and multifaceted. I then put them into extremely difficult scenarios and allow the pathology to take over. Resolution is not the endpoint for me. Movement and self-awareness are the goals for these characters. Getting there can be a very rough journey.

UNLIKELY HEROES is a brief window into the lives of a family filled with undercurrents of love and resentment, power and submission, longing and buried desires. It is a take-no-prisoners dramedy that ranges from light comedy to emotional savagery. There are no angels and no devils. Every character (as is everyone) is flawed and both likable and detestable. When a seemingly insurmountable crisis occurs that rocks the foundation of the family, no one and no dynamic will ever be the same. The audience is left asking themselves what they would do personally under these most difficult of circumstances. Sometimes those whom one would least expect to step up and take control of the situation emerge as the "Unlikely Heroes." Sometimes, "strength" is a weakness and "weakness" a strength.