How The Light Gets In
by E M. Lewis

How The Light Gets In Book Cover
How The Light Gets In Cover

Highlights

90 mins Present Day Role(s) for Asian Actor(s) Unit Set/Multiple Settings Contemporary Costumes/Street Clothes

Synopsis

A travel writer who never travels.

A Japanese architect who can’t figure out how to build a simple tea house.

A gifted tattoo artist who resists the power of his talents.

And a homeless girl who lives under a weeping willow tree in the Japanese Garden.

Four lonely people, their stories written on paper, earth and skin, find each other when one of them falls apart.

Together they realize the heart is as strong as it is fragile, and that the safety of home might be found in the most fearsome explorations.

A beautiful, haunting and richly human play.

Press Reviews

"There’s nothing sentimental or facile... about this nuanced new play... effectively plays to the playwright’s emphasis on emotional authenticity in all its messy contradictions, rather than analytical judgment... Lewis’ play earns its optimism through hard-won human connection."

— Los Angeles Times

"Poetical... Each of these people is uniquely damaged — rather like a one-of-a-kind worn or cracked piece of pottery which can be mended kintsugi-style, so that its imperfections come to define its beauty and its value. This parallel, between a person and something we treasure, is what makes this play so special."

— StageRaw

"Thoughtful and embracing... a study in inward emotions... With great economy of words, everything spoken here is a reaching out from a shy, ascetic darkness that grips each of these four people, toward the light of more peaceful, open and joyous encounters."

— Cultural Daily

Characters

Character
GRACE WHEELER

(F/46) – A travel writer who has never been anywhere. She volunteers as a docent at the Japanese Garden (but she isn’t Japanese).

HARUKI SAKAMOTO

(M/52) – An architect who specializes in creating buildings set in natural spaces. Japanese.

KAT LANE

(F/17) – A young runaway. She wears lots of layers of clothes that obscure her gender. Hollow-eyed and wary.

TOMMY Z

(M/39) – A tattoo artist. Rough and dangerous-looking at first glance, but big-hearted. Has a special gift of seeing a person clearly, and drawing just the right thing on their skin

Videos

How the Light Gets In - Boston Court Pasadena Trailer

Publication

Publisher Samuel French
ISBN-13 9780573709913
ISBN-10 0573709912

How The Light Gets In is a play written by E M. Lewis and published by Samuel French .

Community Reviews

No community reviews yet

Rating

4.2

6 ratings · 9 reviews

Review

Buy Play

Performance Rights

Available for Licensing
Professional Only
Fee: Minimum Fee: $110 per performance

Restrictions: Major Markets Only (US) / Standard Restriction (UK)

Apply for Rights

Similar Plays

Plays with similar themes, style, and content.

More from E M. Lewis

More plays from E M. Lewis that we think you'll enjoy.