An old barn that has been converted into a scantily-furnished home in the most remote part of Alaska is the singular setting for Cindy Lou Johnson’s one-act Brilliant Traces. But what the home lacks in external furnishings, it makes up for in the internal chaos cascading through the play’s two characters. Henry Harry is very content to live a life of isolation, but when Rosannah Deluce arrives at his home in the middle of a whiteout blizzard, the bubble he’s built for himself suddenly constricts. What follows is an unraveling of two complex psyches. Richly atmospheric, the play’s mise en scene is at once haunting and comforting. Brilliant Traces is a relatively short play, but contained within it is a raw and poetic exploration of lasting pain as two isolated people are flung together to confront their psychological scars.
Brilliant Traces guide sections
