Synopsis: When you've suffered inexplicable cruelty, how do you continue to live without being consumed by bitterness and a desire for revenge? Two strangers, Hush and Linda, meet by chance on a plane and confess to each other the heinous crimes they have committed. However, during this plane ride, a revelation that this was not a chance meeting and these two are not exactly strangers surfaces.

Cast:
Kyra Sedgwick .... Linda
David Strathairn .... Hush
David Harbour .... Frank, ?
Julianne Nicholson .... ?

Notes:
• Stranger was written by playwright Craig Lucas, whose other works include The Dying Gaul. The Vineyard Theatre marked the premiere production of Stranger.
• David and Kyra Sedgwick would work together again in a public reading of Her Heart.

Critical Praise & Commentary:
• "Few theater actors working today find the sounds in silence that David Strathairn does. Give him a stage and a character with a reason to be quiet and he'll highjack your attention, no matter what kind of noise is going on around him.

"In the first act of Stranger, Craig Lucas's bleak and crudely drawn new play at the Vineyard Theater, Mr. Strathairn spends close to an hour held captive in an airplane by a seat belt and a loquacious fellow passenger. He scarcely moves and he doesn't talk much. But, boy, does he manage to say a lot.

"...With nary a vulgar tremor or twitch, Mr. Strathairn does indeed send off electric waves that hint at some strenuously contained black force. His very soft-spokenness becomes a danger sign. He's a monument to willed passivity, a gentle giant acutely aware of his capacity to harm...

"Students of acting are nonetheless urged to check out Stranger to see what Mr. Strathairn achieves with minimal words and gestures. Watch his eyes, particularly in a second-act flashback when you see Hush acting out a scene he has previously described. You hear what he's hearing in the silence. Indeed, the excessively talkative Stranger is never stronger than when it has the good sense to be quiet." -Ben Brantley, New York Times

• "Sedgwick and Strathairn give impressively committed performances..." -Charles Isherwood, Variety

• "The quiet, diffident, almost nebbishy demeanor of Hush (David Strathairn) seems to be covering up the true personality of someone who committed a terrible crime and served 15 years in jail. Now about 50, reading the Bible and talking about serving Jesus, he is, in Strathairn's edgy portrayal, an eerie, quietly threatening character." -Lucy Komisar, New York Theatre Wire

• "Sedgwick and Strathairn make the most of the rich acting opportunities the script provides... Strathairn gets Hush just right. He is neither smarmy or deceptively charming but a man you can picture committing a crime even as you want to believe that his religious zeal and pills will help him achieve the tranquility he seeks." -Elyse Sommer, Curtain Up

(David On His Role:)
• "This man [Hush] is dangerous, but you can't play him 'crazy,' on the one hand, or a charming sicko, on the other. Our challenge is not to be making any blanket statements. People who are schizophrenic represent a range of personalities." -David Strathairn, 2000

• "The play is neither indicting nor endorsing religion, but for Hush religion is a life raft. Religion--believing in something--is his handle... It's such a brave, complicated work." -David Strathairn, 2000

• "I just hope audiences appreciate what [playwright] Craig Lucas is trying to do. He is depicting two people who for some reason have a deep connection to each other. They are not simply 'sick.' We are not telling audiences what to think or feel about these characters. I would like audiences to walk out of the theatre talking about what they've just seen. Look, there are as many ellipses in the issues as there are in the dialogue." -David Strathairn, 2000

Related Links:
Vineyard Theatre (off site)