Response for Saving Mom (from Jenny)

1. AFFIRMATION AND OBSERVATION
So...these are things I liked or noticed
-I noticed that the Reverend's wife and children were more present in the sections we read today than in what we had seen before. I liked having additional information about them.
-I like the complications of the dynamic between Mother and Reverend.
-I like the details you give us about the church and congregation. There is a specificity to those comments that brings to mind, for me, the "ripple effect" you've talked about in other places...ie, the particular details you give us have me painting in the rest of that world.
-I notice that the relationship between the mother and the reverend has a growing specificity and weight...it is coming into clearer and clearer focus for me, and feels very important to me, and I like that.
-I notice that there are moments, sometimes only split-seconds, in the Harriet/Reverend scene (the one we explored on Thursday) where I can imagine, for a minute, how the Reverend might conclude that Harriet cares for him. I like those moments.
-I find myself being really affected by the Mother/Reverend bond that you've got going and seem to be working on.
-This is workshop, not play-related. I notice that the two of you have found very specific (that word keeps surfacing), pragmatic ways into unlocking the play, and have been very organized about it. I like that (and hope to emulate it).


QUESTIONS
Some of these are not "why did you do X or Y" questions, so much as "I wonder about X or Y aspect of script..."
-I wonder about what we discussed in class today, that question of why the Mother/Reverend relationship has endured for 20 years, not just in the context of the two of them, but in the context of their families and community.
-I wonder what the Reverend's finest qualities are.
-I wonder what Sunshine makes of everything; how much she knows and how she reacts.
-This stems from our class with Steven Dietz: What do you think happens to these characters 5 years from now? 10 years from now? What do you think each member of the group would see as the best or worst 5/10 year case scenario? I guess I'm curious about what the endgame is for each of them.

CRITICISM AND OPINIONS
I guess the first and main thing is that I really like the direction in which you've seemed to be moving as part of the workshop so far. You've picked very important, specific (ay, yi yi, I'm using that word all over! a good thing) aspects of the script on which to focus, and it feels like it's generating some strong writing.
One of the things that still isn't clear to me, as I look at the script as we first saw it, is the overall "bone structure" of it. I feel like every scene I see gives me a nice window into the situation/predicament in which this family+reverend find themselves; ie I'm getting really useful information from them all over the place. What I'm still having trouble with is what needs to go where in order for me to see the story you want me to see.
It seems, though, like you've got, and are continuing to make, a lot of strong material from which to make those choices.
Your choice to focus our initial lab on the Harriet/Reverend scene really got me thinking hard about it. I don't know that that counts as an opinion...just wanted you to know that I'm thinking hard about it.