The Shadow Box

Shadow Box, The (1977), a play by Michael Cristofer. [ Morosco Theatre, 315 perf.; Pulitzer Prize, Tony Award.] At a hospice for the terminally ill, three patients await death in separate cottages. Joe (Simon Oakland) is a family man who is determined that he and his wife and son enjoy their last weeks together. Brian (Laurence Luckinbill) is a bisexual author who would like to reach an understanding with his ex‐wife (Patricia Elliott) and his male lover (Mandy Patinkin). Felicity (Geraldine Fitzgerald) is an aging woman who finds solace in pretending that a long‐dead daughter is still alive. Like many of the best modern works, this play was presented at important regional theatres (the Mark Taper Forum and the Long Wharf Theatre) before reaching New York. California director Gordon Davidson staged the play beautifully in an impressive forest setting designed by Ming Cho Lee. Otis L. Guernsey Jr. observed that the work was “remarkable more for texture and tone than momentum,” adding, “Cristofer handled his subject—not death itself, but life before death—with emotional maturity, with a touch of gallows humor but no trace of morbidity.” The play received many regional productions and was revived at the Circle in the Square in 1994. Michael CRISTOFER [né Procaccion] (b. 1944) was born in Trenton, New Jersey, and raised there and in Princeton. He dropped out of Catholic University to become an actor, appearing in such New York productions as Lincoln Center's The Cherry Or‐chard (1977), Conjuring an Event (1978), No End of Blame (1981), and the Roundabout Theatre's Hamlet (1992). Cristofer also wrote Black Angel (1982), The Lady and the Clarinet (1983), and Amazing Grace (1998), none of which found success in New York.

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