![\"Personal](\"https:\/\/sduptownnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/hall.jpg\")
When Hall was attending the graduate school at the Yale School of Drama, her mentor was acclaimed playwright Sarah Ruhl. While Hall was trying to decide on a topic for her graduate thesis, Ruhl suggested that she write a gift play for someone that she loved.<\/p>\n
\u201cRuhl looked to me and said, \u2018I think you\u2019re trying to write a gift play for your father,\u2019\u201d Hall said. \u201cI realized maybe I am.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Alaskan setting is important to Hall\u2019s story. She spent a few years working with the Jesuit Volunteer Corps Northwest, helping marginalized groups in Anchorage and Missoula, Montana.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe show is a bit of a love letter to the time I was living in Alaska,\u201d she said. \u201cWhen writing the script, I felt like I could get into the aspects about what it was like when I was living there.\u201d<\/p>\n
Director Rosina Reynolds hasn\u2019t been to Alaska, and she did a significant amount of research in preparation for the rehearsals.<\/p>\n
\u201cI watched videos and did visual research on the landscape and the land,\u201d Reynolds said. \u201cI spent a good amount of time in Northern Wisconsin, and you can feel a similar sense of isolation.\u201d<\/p>\n
The need to connect to people in a lonely place is a crucial theme of the drama. Reynolds is working closely with Hall to help the writer tell her story on stage.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m a part of her journey in getting her play realized and fulfilled in the way she saw it and wrote it,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s a very collaborative environment.\u201d<\/p>\n While the script specifically deals with Catholicism and homosexuality, one aspect of Hall\u2019s story that Reynolds finds unique is the universality of the plot.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s about the spirituality in all of us, regardless of your denomination,\u201d she said. \u201cShe has a fascinating handle of that part of our humaneness.\u201d<\/p>\n There might be a nuanced take on religion, but Hall doesn\u2019t ignore the conflicts Ed faces owing to his sexuality. Reynolds feels that members of the LGBT community will be affected by Ed\u2019s \u201ccrisis of faith.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cLearning to reconcile with inner-faith and stay true to your own sexuality and beliefs is a very large part of the play,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Hall acknowledges that love is far from absent in the narrative. A theme that she wants theatergoers to take away from the story is that \u201cit is possible to find love in unexpected places.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI want audiences to feel like it\u2019s never too late to love somebody,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Throughout the evening, Hall incorporates both light and dark moments with humor, warmth and levity, especially in scenes where the characters display vulnerability. She does view her theatrical piece as one that\u2019s, overall, an empathetic one.<\/p>\n With an interesting premise and a talented cast of mostly local artists including Tom Stephenson, Patrick Mayuyu and Dana Case, Diversionary\u2019s latest production gives San Diegans an opportunity to watch a new work from a rising playwright. The experience should be one that is both personal and universal.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Hour of Great Mercy\u201d is running at Diversionary Theatre through March 3. For tickets or more information, visit diversionary.org<\/a> o llame al 619-220-0097.<\/p>\n![\"Personal](\"https:\/\/sduptownnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/this-hour-headshots-5-1.jpg\")