By Gary Wien
originally published: 02/01/2005
What do you think Touch of Rapture is about?
I think it's about love and loss. It's the idea of possessing a gift and passing it on. I've actually have always been fascinated by genetics and the idea that people will be customizing their babies and someday they may find the genetic marker for gifts such as being a musician or a painter or mathematician; someone's destiny will be completely figured out for them before they're even born. So I thought, what if a gift could be passed through shear will? And that's the impetus of the play. Also there's a red cloth that goes from scene to scene and it's about how we perceive an object. They've discovered that the person perceiving the object actually affects the object at a subatomic level. All of these ideas coalesced in my mind - my demented mind - and became this play.
Was there a particular reason that you have the play set in London?
Well, one of the characteristics of the English people is eccentricity, so I thought it would be more fun to have it take place there. There's also a big sculpture movement in England; a very active art world. And I'm allowed a lot more liberties with regards to language. I can use words like bullocks. It's a wonderful language that I couldn't use if it took place in New York.
The other thing I like is a heightened passion that takes me to unfamiliar worlds. If the characters have English accents and a kind of slanted speech it asks the audience to listen in a different way. And maybe they'll enter the whole fantastical world... Or maybe they'll resist but it's more fun for me.
The laughs in Touch Of Rapture seem to grow larger as the play moves on.
I think people need to get comfortable with the play and each other and give themselves permission to laugh. It is a comic drama.
The play is very much based in fantasy but plot driven as well.
Aristotle said the essence of drama is story and I think he means plot. I have to admit I do love plot. Look at the shows on tv that are successful - shows like Law & Order - and they're plot driven. So, because I love story I do put the story element in my plays. And sometimes it takes me a long time to figure out what the story exactly is but the characters are clear and they help write the story.
I'm just grateful when anybody agrees to my run with my perversions. I don't think I write in the normal, more conventional-linear-sequential- domestic-realism style. I prefer a more fantastical theatre and not everyone's willing to enter my demented world.
About the author:
Gary Wien has been covering the arts since 2001 and has had work published with Jersey Arts, Upstage Magazine, Elmore Magazine, Princeton Magazine, Backstreets and other publications. He is a three-time winner of the Asbury Music Award for Top Music Journalist and the author of
Beyond the Palace (the first book on the history of rock and roll in Asbury Park) and
Are You Listening? The Top 100 Albums of 2001-2010 by New Jersey Artists. In addition, he runs New Jersey Stage and the online radio station
The Penguin Rocks. His personal website is at
lightyscorner.com. He can be contacted at
[email protected].
EVENT PREVIEWS
Mile Square Theatre presents "An Evening in the Woods: Musical Selections from Into the Woods" on June 13th
(HOBOKEN, NJ) -- Mile Square Theatre will hold its first-ever Education Program Fundraiser, An Evening in the Woods: Musical Selections from Into the Woods in Concert, on Saturday, June 13, 2026 at 7:00pm, with a preshow reception beginning at 6:00pm.
The Growing Stage presents round 2 of the 2026 New Play Reading Festival on June 13th
(NETCONG, NJ) -- The Growing Stage presents round 2 of the 2026 New Play Reading Festival on Friday, June 13, 2026 at 4:00pm. The plays include Snapped, The Wind in the Wildflowers, Timmon and the Magic Shoes, and My Tree.
Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey presents "American Folktales" on Saturday
(MADISON, NJ) -- The Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey (STNJ) presents American Folktales, the next installment in the Theatre's popular Classics for Kids! series, on Saturday, June 13, 2026 at 11:00am at the F. M. Kirby Shakespeare Theatre. The performance is appropriate for all ages.
Studio Players' Reading Series presents "The Laramie Project 10 Years Later" on June 14th
(MONTCLAIR, NJ) -- Studio Players' Reading Series presents a Staged Reading of "The Laramie Project 10 Years Later" on Sunday, June 14, 2026 at 7:00pm. Written by Moises Kaufman and Leigh Fondakowski, this is a powerful and deeply moving epilogue to the groundbreaking original. The reading is directed by Thomas J. Donohoe II.
The Company Theatre Group presents a Staged Reading of "Final Day, the Musical" on June 16th
(HACKENSACK, NJ) -- The Company Theatre Group presents a Staged Reading of Final Day, the Musical in the Ruth Bauer Neustadter Gallery at Hackensack Performing Arts Center on Tuesday, June 16, 2026 at 3:00pm & 7:00pm. Set on the final day of World War II in Germany, Final Day follows prisoners awaiting liberation as they confront a camp commandant under orders to execute them all.
interACT Theatre Productions presents "Psycho Beach Party"
(MAPLEWOOD, NJ) -- interACT Theatre Productions presents Psycho Beach Party by Charles Busch presented as part of OUT IN MAPSO PRIDE 2026 with two performances June 19-20 at The Burgdorff Center for the Performing Arts.
The Barn Theatre presents The Solstice Showcase
(MONTVILLE, NJ) -- The Barn Theatre presents The Solstice Showcase, its biennial festival of original one-act plays, from June 19-21, 2026. This three-day event showcases new works of up-and-coming playwrights from the NJ/NY area and beyond and other theatrical talent.
Chatham Community Players present a reading of "Indecent" by Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Paula Vogel
(CHATHAM, NJ) -- The Chatham Community Players present a reading of Indecent by Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Paula Vogel on Sunday, June 21, 2026 at 7:00pm. The play charts the history of an incendiary drama and the path of the artists who risked their careers and lives to perform it.
Cape May Stage presents a reading of "What Would Meryl Do?" by Neal Lerner
(CAPE MAY, NJ) -- Cape May Stage presents a reading of What Would Meryl Do? by Neal Lerner on Monday, June 22, 2026 at 7:00pm. This is a one-man comic whirlwind about a desperate man in a small upstate town who decides to teach a class on how to live like Meryl Streep — because why not? Admission is free, but donations are accepted.
Middlesex County's Plays in the Park presents "All Shook Up"
(EDISON, NJ) -- Middlesex County's Plays in the Park kicks off its season with All Shook Up from June 17-27, 2026. Loosely based on Shakespeare's Twelfth Night, it's 1955, and into a square little town rides a guitar-playing young man who changes everything and everyone he meets.
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