Visiting Edna & Good for Otto - by David Rabe (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

Good for Otto, which premiered in October 2015 at the Gift Theatre in Chicago, directed by Michael Patrick Thornton, is an unflinching portrayal of the world of mental illness and therapy. Drawing on material from Undoing Depression by Connecticut psychotherapist Richard O'Connor, it is a deeply moving look into the life of a number of patients trying to navigate personal trauma, including a profoundly troubled young girl, and one therapist, Dr. Michaels, who makes great efforts to help them, but is haunted by his own demons, and stymied by the financial obstacles of the American healthcare system.

Visiting Edna, which premiered in September 2016 at the Steppenwolf Theatre in Chicago, directed by Anna D. Shapiro, is a stylistically dazzling exploration of the bond between mother and son. As Edna, a woman in the last years of her life, faces a short future plagued by her many illnesses, from diabetes to arthritis to cancer, she maintains the emotional distance she has kept from her son Andrew since he became an adult, and they both struggle to communicate about their shared past as they contemplate the future.

Taken together, the plays form a startling and thought-provoking vision of American society and cement Rabe's place in the upper echelons of the canon of contemporary theater.

Review Quotes

Praise for David Rabe:

"Many would list [Rabe] among the very greatest of living playwrights"--Chris Jones, Chicago Tribune

"Rabe's theatrical universe is at once vivid and mysterious, a pageant and a puzzle, where his bemused characters glimpse only the barest outline of what one of them calls 'the unrelenting havoc' in which they flounder . . . Rabe . . . has produced a wide-ranging body of distinguished drama . . . Rabe's daringly stylized dramas hover in the realms between the natural and the metaphorical."--John Lahr, New Yorker

"Rabe's moving drama [has] a symphonic quality . . . As exciting as it can be to discover fresh new voices, it can be just as heartening to see a veteran playwright return to powerful form, as Mr. Rabe unquestionably does in this sprawling drama about mental illness . . . Mr. Rabe digs into his subject with a depth that almost feels bottomless . . . The play's near-epic nature is integral to its strength."--Charles Isherwood, New York Times, on Good for Otto

"Remarkable . . . The great American writer David Rabe . . . [is] justly one of the most revered American dramatic writers of the 20th century, and a writer who has, at the age of 75, now penned as comprehensive, heartfelt and even-handed a theatrical look at the issues surrounding mental illness in America as you ever are likely to see . . . [A] thoroughly wonderful play . . . Rabe is a humanist poet and there are, trust me, some astoundingly beautiful gushes of prose in this work . . . Rabe is a giant of the American theater with plenty more to contribute."--Chicago Tribune, on Good for Otto

"The distinguished American playwright employs a couple of extraordinary devices . . . [A] searing play . . . A great American poet and dramatist . . . The writing soars with Rabe's remarkable fusing of wisdom and ignorance about life, with his compassion for troubled souls and yet his fury at how from one another we find ourselves wrenched apart . . . Inestimably moving . . . An important play"-Chicago Tribune, on Visiting Edna

"Remarkable . . . Good for Otto is an altogether breathtaking piece of theater . . . Otto might just become Rabe's crowning achievement."--Chicago Sun-Times, on Good for Otto

"If anyone worried that Rabe might be rusty, such concerns dissipate quickly in Good for Otto . . . The play is long, dark, and deep . . . also thoroughly compelling."--Variety, on Good for Otto

"[A] fascinating drama . . . Rabe's play mightily resists traditional dramatic twists or revelations, insisting on a realistic depiction of a complex relationship, loving but bafflingly unsatisfying to both . . . The work ultimately has a deeply searing power . . . Beautifully agonizing."-Variety, on Visiting Edna

"An immersive, engaging look inside a profession of passion."--Time Out Chicago, on Good for Otto

"The finest play on mental illness in America I've ever seen . . . filled with humor and hope, in homage to the many wounded souls among us who courageously carry on, choosing life against the longest of odds . . . The people standing before us in Otto are accorded tremendous empathy and respect; within the small room where their stories get told, they become our neighbors and our friends. By play's end, I loved them all . . . Otto doesn't just teach us a thing or two about loving our neighbors. It teaches us to love--and be honest with--ourselves . . . A major play by one of our most important 20th-century playwrights."--Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, on Good for Otto

"Tough and moving . . . Th

About the Author

David Rabe is an award-winning playwright, screenwriter, and novelist. He is the author of numerous dramatic works, including Sticks and Bones, which won the Tony Award for Best Play, and The Basic Training of Pavlo Hummel, which won the Obie Award for distinguished playwriting. He is also the recipient of the New York Drama Critics Circle Award, the Drama Desk Award, the Variety Poll Award, the National Institute and American Academy Award in Literature, and the PEN/Laura Pels Award for Master American Dramatist. He lives in Connecticut.