October 27, 2020
Mary Elizabeth Scallen—who goes by MB—serves as both performer and researcher for the Wilma’s production of Heroes of the Fourth Turning. In the midst of rehearsal, she penned the following in response to the play’s characters and ideas.
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In this beautifully written, compelling work
Playwright Will Arbery acts as
Poet
Investigator
Exorcist
Four young friends shaped by a strict Catholic college reunite after years in the secular world
But things have changed
As they wrestle with demons
Metaphoric and not
Arbery exposes the thoughts, beliefs, assumptions, and fears
On which fanatics and doubters rely
The whip-smart debate
Rivets
Inspires
And horrifies
But Arbery’s most shocking move in the course of the play
A radical act
Surprise
Is to humanize American religious conservatives
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Let’s consider how polarization
Prompts each side to other the other
And stop their own ears
If I, as a leftist, engage with a right-winger’s argument
I fear that I’m
Dignifying haters
Elevating lies
Polluting myself
Or simply wasting time better spent doing any small good
How can I listen when there’s so much to protect?
I foresee
The tabernacle armoring my softest hidden hope
My good
Spattered with the spume of beasts
So heresy—no wonder—to acknowledge and receive
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Arbery’s play features crisp, smart writing
Fiery minds that snap at big ideas
Deep, mercurial characters who listen really listen to what they don’t want to hear
It’s a fugue for five voices, a crush
A thrilling rush of fast water
But for me, the remarkable part
Is the humanness of these conservative Catholics
They question and hope and fight like I do
And though I cannot agree neither can I deny
They are no more ‘other’ than I
They remind me that a true Church and a true Republic
Are made of people people people
Who long for
Welcome
Safety
Relevance
And love
Who seek homes for their bodies and homes for their souls
Don’t we all yearn for a real home
Always?
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Arbery’s HEROES—the brazen opposition—
With searching hearts, hungry minds, and incendiary thoughts
Wander the road with the rest of us
Achingly real
Doing their best before darkness falls
To just come home
