Hope Is The Thing With Feathers

A moment of impulse from an old doctor towards a young girl changes forever the lives of three interconnected couples from three different classes. Their stories are told through a collection of styles and a collage of material, from found to autobiographical to fictional. Each character in the play loses all hope of any future, only to all come together at the end and find faith with and through each other.

The title of Frank Pugliese’s difficult but rewarding new play, ‘HOPE’ IS THE THING WITH FEATHERS, is taken from an Emily Dickinson poem. The play, too, by the time it is through, is an ode to hope. It is also very much a poem in dramatic form, a poem that baffles at first, and strains the mind. Perhaps, for some, the theater is never supposed to be difficult, but for those whose attention can hold under such challenging conditions, the reward is considerable. For this play is a ninety-minute jigsaw puzzle whose pieces, seemingly unrelated, gradually come together and by the end, the picture is in focus and complete… All these people, then, are in midst of making decisions about their lives, present and future. In one way or another, each is in despair. At play’s end, they make their decisions, perhaps on the basis that ‘love is not the opposite of hate–hope is.’ By that time, having been honored with patience and attention, Mr Pugliese’s play becomes most rewarding…

Martin Gottfried, New York Law Journal