WHORL INSIDE A LOOP Starts Tonight at Second Stage — Page 2

More spoilers- And was the betrayal that she was in there doing community service and wasn't volunteering or that she had created the website for the play she was writing and was already taking the steps to produce it outside of the prison?

"More spoilers- And was the betrayal that she was in there doing community service and wasn't volunteering or that she had created the website for the play she was writing and was already taking the steps to produce it outside of the prison?"

Well, the easy answer is that the betrayal is that she was stealing their stories without permission or compensation. And she also jeopardized their standing (particularly Walter's) with the parole board. And as they emphasized time and time again (through events that we now have to see as fictionalized) she disregarded the rule that WHITRIPSITRIP.

But now that I think about it, it's an interesting question. She never says whether she's doing community service or volunteering. Jeremy assumes it and she doesn't contradict him. It's also interesting when you go back and think of the line the dance teacher had about the men knowing which of the volunteers are there for the long term. They let themselves be vulnerable by showing their anger on making the "discovery" but also put in an earlier line that's foreshadowing but also kind of saving face.

Another thing I thought the first time was that all the stories came across as too polished (you're supposed to believe that when they tell them in context, Bey, Jeremy, Sunnyside, Source, etc. are telling those stories for the first time after Dep. King told them to write something) but that makes more sense if you don't think about it happening in real time but as a play they wrote to reflect their experience and tell their stories.

@TotallyEffed OK, for the first point... I think they portray her as not wanting to come back after her time (assuming she was serving community service) is up. But there could be alternate theories. Maybe she might have visited if she wasn't putting on this second commercial play (in spite of the 3 hour drive and her need to be with her son and her conflict with her husband) but the guilt and the threat of being caught made her say no. Jeremy is hurt at first that the relationship he thought they had built doesn't seem to be reciprocated on her part. But on the whole the men portray themselves as understanding, saying that they wouldn't want to return either after serving their sentences.

For the second point, yes, Sherie's character is having a dinner with her friends and her lawyer brings up a moral dilemma about relative guilt and innocence. But remember that this lawyer is played by Walter and that as far as we know, the inmates don't know what Sherie's character did and we're assuming that all of this is made up. So the comparison that the lawyer/Sunnyside makes is between him as an intoxicated (high) teenager who killed someone and Sherie's character as an intoxicated (drunk) mother who drove with her son in the backseat but hit a tree or stop sign or something before she could hurt anyone. So Walter has written a scene where he imagines Sherie's crime to be parallel to his own because of the larger questions of the play.

The last 10 minutes were really not effectively communicated at all, and I was unable to follow it (really didn't even care by that point, since the rest of the show was such a huge bore and after almost 2 hours I couldn't wait to finally escape). I know Sherie changed into a prisoner's uniform at the end but that's really all I was able to follow. I think she was a prisoner who had to do community service?? (If EVERYONE in the audience is not able to follow what's going on, then that's lazy writing.)

Updated On: 8/17/15 at 08:36 PM

Good points VintageSnarker, I left there a bit confused, reading some of these posts are helping putting together pieces. There was a talkback on Saturday, unfortunately I could not stay.

To solve one mystery that people have been bringing up:

I asked about the extra inmate on stage after the show. One of the employees said it was the assistant stage manager. They decided to put him in costume and make him part of the piece since there really is no backstage to speak of on that set. Interesting idea.

I saw tonight's performance and enjoyed it quite a bit. I thought the twist added a wonderful extra layer and the more I think about it the more it really does make the piece come together. Of course the metal detector couldn't be real after you realize what's going on by the end.

I thought all of the actors did a fine job; they seemed to be having a lot of fun with the multiple roles and nothing was ever difficult to follow.

The play had a kind of Passing Strange feel to it, without the music. A fictional semi-autobiographic story with a cast of black actors playing different roles, including a host of white people. It lacked the emotional gut punch that Stew delivered, but I laughed a lot and was misty-eyed after Jeffrey's big monologue.

What I want to know is how much of this was true to Sherie's real life. I would love to hear what inspired the play.

I saw this Saturday night and absolutely LOVED it. So many emotional moments. I laughed, I I cried. The acting is just terrific. Four days later, I'm still thinking about it.

What's the PLAYBILL cover art for this one? I love Sherie, hoping to catch this at some point!

Seeing this this weekend thru TDF. Anyone know where TDF seats have been?

Thanks.

We've seen many shows there which is why we'll take a chance with TDF, since all seats are good, except for those "boxes" on the top left side, that aren't always full view.

We did TDF for Riverside/Crazy and were seated smack dab in the middle.

My TDF seat was in the front row. Normally I prefer to be at least a few rows back, but for this production I actually really enjoyed sitting so close to the action. And I agree, I don't think you'd miss much by sitting in the "box" seats--the set is minimal, so there aren't many chances for obstruction. Although for what it's worth, I've seen at least 4-5 shows at Second Stage with TDF, and I've never been seated in the boxes.

"What was this "twist" I have been reading here on various posts?"

I'm really not trying to be rude but did you actually read all the posts?