If, as the Dalai Lama says, “compassion is the radicalism of our time,” then
Samuel D. Hunter’s 2016 one-act, The Harvest, is the most
revolutionary play you’re likely to see anytime soon. In this current,
angry cultural climate plenty of writers try to catch the zeitgeist by
weaponizing empathy: lavishing it on some, withholding it from others in
order to shake audiences out of their presumably smug complacency. Not
Hunter. The Harvest doles it out to everybody.
We soon find out that Josh isn’t as alone as he thinks. His older sister,
Michaela (Paloma Nozicka), comes looking for him at the church, having
received his text about emigrating to a God-drenched/God-forsaken war zone
7,000 miles away.
Through 8/26: Thu-Sat 7:30 PM, Sun 3 PM; also Sat 8/25 3 PM, Den Theatre, 1333 N. Milwaukee, 773-697-3830, griffintheatre.com, $28-$36.
