Gidion’s Knot

Gidion’s Knot
Feb 20-22 + Feb 27-Mar 1 + Mar 6-8*
Written by Johnna Adams
Directed by Timothy Maloney

*Special Talk Back Session March 8 –
Johnna Adams’ story deals with difficult subjects and brings up many emotions and questions. We’ve invited Benjamin Kohl, PhD, LCSW-C to join us for a special Talk Back session to be held Sunday, March 8 following our 3pm matinee performance. The Talk Back will begin at approximately 5pm. Audience members from all previous performances are invited to attend.

Benjamin Kohl, PhD, LCSW-C is a social work administrator, educator and practitioner whose 35 year career has focused on mental health services to children, youth and families.  Ben currently serves as Director of Programs and Director of Training for Eastern Shore Psychological Services.  ESPS is one of the largest providers of behavioral health services on the Shore.  Dr. Kohl is an adjunct faculty member at Washington College and maintains a small private practice in Kent County.

During a parent/teacher conference in a 5^th grade classroom, a distraught mother and an overwhelmed teacher try to construct a satisfying explanation for a child’s suspension, including the events at school and at home that preceded and followed that suspension. While in the process of confronting questions of teacher and parent responsibility, freedom of expression and societal restriction , morality, student rights, school discipline, academic freedom, the parent and the teacher find a way to come to terms with their personal culpability. The playwright, Johnna Adams approaches these difficult issues with compassion, irony, objectivity, and surprising humor.

A Washington Post review of a production describes the play as a “particularly eloquent study of people caught between the competing demands of reason, morality and family…harrowing…a narrative that is as elegant as it is chilling.”

Click here to read an interview with Director Timothy Maloney.