In All The Ways To Say I Love You, Neil LaBute’s “haunting, heartrending†? (AP) new play, Mrs. Johnson is a high school English teacher in a loving marriage. As she recounts her experiences with a favored student from her past, Mrs. Johnson slowly reveals the truth that is hidden just beneath the surface details of her life, in this riveting solo play about love, hard choices, and the cost of fulfilling an all-consuming desire. Two-time Tony winner Judith Light originated the role of Mrs. Johnson in a “full-throttle performance†? (Time Out NY) for the twice-extended Off Broadway premiere, at MCC in fall 2016.Also included is All My White Sins Forgiven, the evocative one-act companion play that gives depth and context to All The Ways To Say I Love You. In this engrossing two-hander, Mrs. Johnson’s husband, Eric, and his friend Todd banter, shoot hoops, and work their way around to talking some truth about their lives, their marriages, their children, and their own secrets and dreams. Rounding out the volume and an inspiration for the two plays is the short story “With Hair of Hand-Spun Gold,†? a masterfully crafted piece of prose that is pure Neil LaBute—as dark and timeless as any Grimm’s fairytale yet as chillingly modern as a teenage girl chatting with an anonymous new “friend†? on the Internet.
