Sympathetic Magic
by Lanford Wilson

Sympathetic Magic Book Cover
Sympathetic Magic Cover

Highlights

120 mins Unit Set/Multiple Settings American LGBTQ

Why we like it

"'Sympathetic Magic' by Lanford Wilson blends the magical with the realistic, exploring how our beliefs can shape our experiences."

From: Fantasy and Magical Realism

Awards & Recognition

Obie Award

Winner of the 1997 Obie Award for best play.

Synopsis

THE STORY: Liz Barnard is an anthropologist studying West Coast gangs for behavior similar to African tribes.

Her son, Don, is a homosexual Episcopal minister whose parishioners are poor and many sick with AIDS.

Liz's daughter, Barbara, is a gifted

Press Reviews

"Winner of the 1997 Obie Award for Playwriting. ”Lanford Wilson's idiosyncratic SYMPATHETIC MAGIC is his best play yet…the rare play you WANT…chock-full of ideas, incidents, witty or poetic lines, scientific and philosophical argument…you'll find your intellectual faculties racing.“ —New York Magazine. ”The mystery of the unexplored universe and the mystery of artistic creation begin to re-volve around the more familiar mystery of life on earth and why we keep reproducing it. She does something unwise, he does something unforgivable. The result changes them and everyone in their intimate circle, irrevocably. The play ends where it started, with the scientist lecturing about the inexplicable nature of the universe and the “dark matter” of which it seems to be largely composed; only now we've experienced what he means. Wilson has made the dark matter in human beings tangible; particularly in the scientist, whom we come to like and understand before he does something monstrous, and who"

— Village Voice

Publication

Year 1998
Binding Paperback
Pages 72
Place New York
Language English
ISBN-13 9780822216308
ISBN-10 0822216302
LCCN 98231835
LCC PS3573.I458 S96 1998
DCC 812/.54

Sympathetic Magic is a American lgbtq play written by Lanford Wilson and published by Dramatists Play Service in New York (1998).

Community Reviews

No community reviews yet

Rating

3.5

15 ratings · 28 reviews

Review

Buy Play

Performance Rights

Available for Licensing
Amateur & Professional
Fee: Minimum Fee: $110 per performance

Restrictions: Major Markets Plus (US) / Standard Plus Add'l Postcodes (UK)

Apply for Rights

Similar Plays

Plays with similar themes, style, and content.

More from Lanford Wilson

More plays from Lanford Wilson that we think you'll enjoy.