Solitary God

Solitary God is a serious comedy about a divorced woman, Eva, in her late twenties living alone in an apartment. The only thing that happens in real time at the beginning of the play is that she walks into her apartment and turns on the light. The only thing that happens in real time at the end of the play is that she cleans up a bit, calls her mother, and leaves her apartment. What transpires between these two points is characters from her past and present coming in and out of her "apartment space" interacting with her and each other, revealing the emotional evolution underlying Eva's growth and development, exposing the pain of her failed marriage, her unresolved feelings toward her mother and dead father, and the working through of her childhood religious attachments and their connections to her family. Eva's relationship with her grade school nun, Bonaventure, represents that aspect of herself that values her Catholic education; she is able to bond with Bonaventure, even though Bonaventure is a figure from Eva's past. Eva's relationship with her grade school pastor, Stetzel, represents that aspect of herself that condemns her Catholic education, that rebels against the unaccepted authority and built-in hypocrisy of the Church. Eva's relationship with her high school boyfriend, Sheldon, represents her longing for childhood innocence and her wish to forget the lack of innocence in her own life while simultaneously condemning naivet . And Eva's relationship with her ex-husband, Arvin, an aggressive abusive man who mistreated Eva in their marriage, represents Eva's own inability to assert herself in a healthy manner in the face of aggressive attacks by members of the opposite sex. Current relationships with her brother, Oliver, and her mother help ground Eva in the present and offer her the opportunity to transcend the determinations of her past. The distinction between real and surreal is dropped, and the two 'realities' are integrated into a tapestry of smoothly flowing scenes-within-a-scene that overlap each other. Through this evolution, Eva comes to realize herself, her strengths and weaknesses, and her autonomy without losing touch with her past. Realism and surrealism are integrated throughout the play. For the exception of Eva, all characters' entrances and exits are surreal, though many appear quite natural; all character action is real, though many characters express their emotions in an exaggerated, somewhat surreal fashion. Solitary God depicts a solitary woman's attempt to integrate her personality in the wake of a past characterized by multiple abuses. The integration is depicted not in realistic action but in the imagination, and not in Eva's imagination but that of the play itself. The play "is" emotional growth and personality integration occurring right before our eyes.