A SAMUEL FRENCH, INC. TITLE

How The Light Gets In

Full-Length Play, Drama  /  2w, 2m

E. M. Lewis

E.M. Lewis' richly human play is a heartfelt and poignant look at four grieving individuals who understand that personal connection, though messy, may be their best path to healing.

How The Light Gets In

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  • Cast Size
    Cast Size
    2w, 2m
  • Duration
    Duration
    90 minutes
  • Audience
    Target Audience
    Adult
Accolades
Accolades
  • Winner! 2020 Harold and Mimi Steinberg / American Theatre Critics Association New Play Award

Details

Summary
A travel writer who never travels. A Japanese architect who can’t figure out how to build a simple tea house. A gifted tattoo artist who resists the power of his talents. And a homeless girl who lives under a weeping willow tree in the Japanese Garden. Four lonely people, their stories written on paper, earth and skin, find each other when one of them falls apart. Together they realize the heart is as strong as it is fragile, and that the safety of home might be found in the most fearsome explorations. A beautiful, haunting and richly human play.
History
How the Light Gets In premiered at Boston Court Theatre in Pasadena, California on September 29, 2019. Directed by Emilie Pascale Beck, the production featured Amy Sloan, Ryun Yu, Chelsea Kurtz and Dieterich Gray.
Keywords
Performing Groups
  • Time Period Present Day, New Millennium/21st Century
  • Setting A hospital, Grace’s house, a tattoo parlor, a highway overpass. The present.
  • Features Contemporary Costumes/Street Clothes
  • Additional Features No Intermission
  • Duration 90 minutes
  • Cautions
    • Alcohol
    • Strong Language
    • Mild Adult Themes

Media

“Nuanced... earns its optimism through hard-won human connection.” – Los Angeles Times

“There’s nothing sentimental or facile... about this nuanced new play... effectively plays to the playwright’s emphasis on emotional authenticity in all its messy contradictions, rather than analytical judgment... Lewis’ play earns its optimism through hard-won human connection.” – Los Angeles Times

“Poetical... Each of these people is uniquely damaged — rather like a one-of-a-kind worn or cracked piece of pottery which can be mended kintsugi-style, so that its imperfections come to define its beauty and its value. This parallel, between a person and something we treasure, is what makes this play so special.” – StageRaw

“Thoughtful and embracing... a study in inward emotions... With great economy of words, everything spoken here is a reaching out from a shy, ascetic darkness that grips each of these four people, toward the light of more peaceful, open and joyous encounters.” – Cultural Daily

Videos

  • How the Light Gets In - Boston Court Pasadena Trailer youtube thumbnail

    How the Light Gets In - Boston Court Pasadena Trailer

  • Developing How the Light Gets In with E.M. Lewis youtube thumbnail

    Developing How the Light Gets In with E.M. Lewis

Licensing & Materials

  • Minimum Fee: £55 per performance plus VAT when applicable.

Scripts

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Authors

E. M. Lewis

E. M. Lewis

E.M. Lewis is an award-winning playwright, teacher and opera librettist. Her work has been produced around the world and is published by Samuel French/Concord Theatricals.

Lewis received the Steinberg Award for both How the Light Gets In and Song of Extinction, and the Primus ...

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