Someone keeps searching for the term “balms and gilead” in my Search box. I don’t know what they are finding, but it seems they are coming up empty, since the searching for that term continues – and I figure I should correct this person, so hopefully he/she can find what he/she is looking for. Now it could be that this person is searching for a Bible verse, ie: “Is there no balm in Gilead? is there no physician there?” but I imagine that this person is looking for Lanford Wilson’s play Balm in Gilead (not “balms and gilead”), and here is a post I wrote about that groundbreaking play, more influential than I think it is given credit for, for helping to create that overlapping montage effect of dialogue so prevalent now.
Strangely enough, I just had a conversation a couple weeks ago about Balm in Gilead with friend Alex (who has directed the play), and Jeff Perry, who appeared in the Steppenwolf production of said groundbreaking play in 1980, directed by John Malkovich (which was eventually moved to New York). Perry played Franny. We were talking about how to create a sense of conversation, realistically and convincingly onstage. Especially when there are many cast members, and there has to be the illusion of a crowd scene, where we dip in and out of many different conversations (one of the biggest challenges of Balm in Gilead, not just for the audience, but for the actors. How to pick up your cues, how to listen while you are pretending to silently talk to someone else – how the entire cast in such a play has to become one big organic entity. Not easy.)
So I hope that helps you, in whatever you are searching for.
