EVER CLOSER TO THE EDGE

(dedicated to James Leaf RIP) A pre-workshopped first-draft reading by the author of a script conceived for solo theatrical performance. Inspired by a friend & colleague's journal of his time spent in a "mental ward". Self-committed for chronically disabling "depression". A harvard graduate, classical scholar, director, actor, haunted by his disappointments in himself and his apparent incapacity to make a mark in this world to his highest standards. His greatest theatrical ambition, he told me, was to direct "Marat-Sade", that bedlam of humanity to the hellish nth degree of insanity battling to salvage itself into some heavenly peace of mind and body. In a personal moment of heroic/ tragic hope/ despair he fatally flung himself into the Niagara Falls. And I trust with all my heart he now rests in peace....