by Tennessee Williams
directed by Jessica Kubzansky
Tennessee Williams’s rarely staged The Night of the Iguana tells the story of the Reverend T. Lawrence Shannon, a defrocked minister now conducting guided tours through Mexico on the verge of a nervous breakdown. As he struggles with his connection to God and yearns to escape his own tortured existence, he is surrounded by two equally imperfect women, one of whom offers him sensuality, the other spirituality as a means of easing his tormented soul. Taking place over the course of one turbulent night at the Costa Verde hotel on the verge of a world war, the play asks what constitutes escape, what bargains are we willing to make with ourselves, and how much we yearn for real human connection – especially when we’re at the end of our rope.
