"Luminous ... Kron marries vigorous political probing with pitch-perfect humor and heartache."
The New Yorker

"A powerful, engrossing and very funny examination of blind spots seen and missed ... a big, ambitious work that attempts to define a political era through the personal stories of a group of people affected by it ... IN THE WAKE is a serious and engrossing examination of a recent period in our history."
The New York Observer

"Formidable ... full of sharp, smart dialogue ... its message rings all too true."
Associated Press

"The morning after seeing IN THE WAKE, don't be surprised if Lisa Kron's resolute, maddening, emotionally distraught and very familiar characters are still rumbling around in your head like the aftereffects of an intense dream ... an astute and challenging play that scrutinizes American history with laser-beam precision."
Time Out New York

IN THE WAKE

It's Thanksgiving of 2000 and the presidential election still has not been decided. Ellen insists that her friends and family don't understand how bad the situation really is. But no one — not her loving partner, Danny, nor the passionate Amy, nor the brutally pragmatic and world-weary Judy — can make Ellen see the blind spot at the center of her own politics and emotional life. A funny, passionate, and ultimately searing play that illuminates assumptions that lie at the heart of the American character — and the blind spots that mask us from ourselves.

EXCERPT

ELLEN. I don't know, Judy. I don't know. I woke up in that horrible hotel room in Ohio on Wednesday morning and I couldn't - I couldn't turn on the TV. I couldn't bear to hear them say that he had won again. I felt so sick.

JUDY. It's sickening.

ELLEN. My roommate, this woman who'd traveled from Arizona to help get people to the polls, she and I just lay there. Nobody could talk. I don't think I've ever felt people so crushed politically. So many people worked so fucking hard. How did it happen? I mean when you went to the polls, how many people were in line?

JUDY. I didn't vote. (Beat.)

ELLEN. What?

JUDY. I don't vote.

ELLEN. I don't…I can't…How could you not vote in this election? How could you -- help George Bush to get re-elected?

JUDY. I didn't do that.

ELLEN. You didn't vote. I don't understand. I don't know how you, especially -- You're out there seeing first-hand the impact he's having in the world, how could you not have cast a vote against him?

JUDY. I don't vote.

ELLEN. Never?

JUDY. No.

ELLEN. Okay. You have to say more.

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