A Lie of the Mind

I bought this for my daughter who read it and is using an excerpt from it for her musical theater auditions. It's a great play.

In almost every playwriting class I have taken the teacher has asked the participants to go around the room and discuss their favorite plays. A Lie of the Mind is always everyone's favorite Shepard play. I have curiously never heard playwrights mention Fool for Love, Buried Child, or Curse of the Starving Class which are much more popular with actors and directors (and the Pulitzer Committee). True West is sometimes a favorite for its tight X-shaped structure. But, A Lie of the Mind has a gorgeous ensemble feel, interwining the lives of two troubled families into an alcoholic and violent aria of tortured love. I have seen it performed twice and seen actors work on each individual scene as class work so it haunts me a lot and never fails to astonish. The play has a heartbeat and sweet warm flesh. It also has one of the most dramatic and involving beginning scenes ever penned. A must read for playwrights interested in writing ensemble pieces.

This wonderful drama is a great example of the imperfect quality of human nature. Even the characters that seem to be the most put together have their own weaknesses and foibles. Shepard has done a very good job of constructing the scenes in a logical manner, appropriately switching between the homes of two different, yet strongly connected families. One of the crowning achievements of this drama is that it draws you in and makes you feel for the characters of the two midwestern families, especially Beth, the now-mentally damaged wife of Jake. I have not seen this play performed but if the written play can draw you the reader in so deeply, I can only imagine what the performed piece can do to the audience. I highly reccomend this drama to anyone who loves to read well-written plays.