You know how you're always looking for that Shakespeare-adjacent witty one-act comedy that takes place in the ER? Problem solved: It's What Light? by Erin Dealey.
This play explores the answers to the following questions: How can light break a window? Is partying such sweet sorrow? How much do you remember from your 7th grade Romeo & Juliet unit (JK you're on your own there).
Strangers become friends when they stage their own fractured, misquoted version of those famous star-crossed lovers, on a not-so-quiet-after-all night in the Emergency Department of a university hospital.
*For extra credit, look for meta-R&J easter eggs hidden throughout*
**Want more like this? What Light? appears alongside two more Shakespeare-inspired one-acts by Dealey, forming the full length piece All The World.
It’s a slow night on a snowy November, in the ER of a university hospital, where an overwhelmed and overly-cheerful nurse tends to three undergrads, each with a painful break that needs medical attention. Lucy may have broken her wrist, and worries she’s lost her big theatrical break in her first college play. Jake swears his abdominal pain stems from a recent breakup. Finn may need stitches for the laceration caused by a lacrosse stick to the head as she entered-but-for-the-record-did-NOT-break-into the dorm room next door. As they open the curtains between their exam rooms, their hearts open as well. And when Lucy finally confesses she’s been cast as the Nurse, and not Juliet as everyone has assumed, the others rally to create their own mis-quoted version of R&J, so she can have her moment, and possibly find her Romeo.
