Kindness (Paperback, Samuel French Acting ed.)

Drama / Characters: 2m, 2f / Interior An ailing mother and her teenaged son flee Illinois and a crumbling marriage for the relative calm and safety of a midtown Manhattan hotel. Mom holds tickets to a popular musical about love among bohemians. Her son isn't interested, so Mom takes the kindly cabdriver instead, while the boy entertains a visitor from down the hall, an enigmatic, potentially dangerous young woman. Kindness is a play about the possibility for sympathy in a harsh world and the meaning of mercy in the face of devastating circumstances. Premiered at Playwrights Horizons, New York City in 2008. "Compelling. A well-crafted mini-thriller, which keeps you in suspense until the final blackout." - Joe Dziemianowics, New York Daily News "Rapp has raised some provocative questions about the prickly mother/son relationship he has drawn in such detail."- Marilyn Stasio, Variety "Pungent, vivid...Rapp finds a gentle approach to his characters' physical and emotional pain without turning sentimental. His playful side is on display too." [Four stars] - Diane Snyder, Time Out New York "Adam Rapp can write dense, tense, funny dialogue." - Charles Isherwood, The New York Times "A taut and involving dark comedy. Hilarious and unsettling." - Dan Bacalzo, TheatreMania.com