Let it never be said that Rajiv Joseph is not an ambitious playwright. The world premiere of The Monster the Door, at the Alley Theatre in Houston, had some of those theatrical affects and events in it that make you really happy to be on stage. Especially feeling the audience’s inhale when I got pushed out of a boat...into the air. Scuba diving, simulating swimming twenty feet up, peering down at the audience, as a kind of Fish of Death, was a terribly fun experience.

What was the play about? It concerned five different people whose lives were touched by a piece of art, created by a mentally-unstable Brooklyn artist, commissioned by a global securities firm.

The play concerned identity and pain; who are we? And who are we without those integral pieces of pain that make us who we are?

Director: Daniella Topol

Playwright: Rajiv Joseph

Set Design: Kevin Rigdon

Costume Design: Amy Clark

Lighting Design: Tyler Micoleau

Sound Design: Jill BC Duboff

Stage Manager: Terry Cranshaw

With: Rebecca Brooksher, Portia, Brian Reddy, James A. Stephens

Swimming in the air, and not even doing shrooms