It is the summer of 1980, and a young English director leaves his girlfriend in London for a California production of Chekhov's Three Sisters. His summer idyll is soon disturbed by a suicide, an assassination, and an ardent affair, as he and the vivid characters around him struggle to understand America on the brink of the decade of greed.
Content Notes: Adult language, mature themes
Set: Simple, fluid unit set"...Taut, witty, intelligent, and emotionally compelling [with] complex and fascinating characters."
"Deceptively simple and nicely understated ... a well-constructed narrative ... the characters are diverse and interesting."
"Deceptively simple and nicely understated ... a well-constructed narrative ... the characters are diverse and interesting... Chekhov (along with Dylan Thomas) is used skillfully in this piece -- think loneliness, pointlessness, people in situations they cannot control, lives of luxurious emptiness."
"[Edmund] has laid to rest that traumatic time [1980], re-birthing it dramatically in this moving and humorous two-act interpretation, where fact skillfully merges with fiction... Paradise is where art permeates reality, laughing nervously at life's little tragedies, those that stalk us all, that change us forever."
"A lively, pithy and poignant tale of 'two cities' -- or rather, two worlds colliding, and then retreating from each other, somewhat bruised by the experience ... all singular, well-drawn characters... Edmund is very good at writing tight, punchy dialogue..."
"An interesting play, peopled with interesting characters, and with a strong sense of the emotional narrative of the protagonist. It's also about the theatre and the theatre world, so it's doubly enjoyable if you've got that background."
