The Goddess of Murderous Rain

The world of Edna St. Vincent Millay, American poetry goddess of the early twentieth century, comes alive in this lively play about the poet's romantic, political and artistic adventures, and her long and bumpy friendship with the great critic Edmund Wilson. Dorothy Parker and Robert Benchley create joyful and goofy chaos in the offices of Vanity Fair, Gene O'Neill rails against mediocrity, compromise and the Count of Monte Cristo on Macdougal Street, and Millay breaks hearts all over Greenwich Village as her fame and her reputation for promiscuity grow. Wilson the old man observes his much more innocent younger self, Bunny, falling hopelessly in love with Millay, and tries to make sense of her as he chronicles her transformation over the years from sexy and daring world famous poet to lonely, isolated upstate widow of the Dutchman who married and protected but could not tame her. Wilson is a brilliant critic who would much rather have been a creator, and Millay is a person who had a touch of genius, but not enough to last. Their bittersweet love story, over the first half of the twentieth century, is also the story of the difficulties of creation and the eternal struggle between those who create and those who examine and evaluate what they've created. By turns sad and very funny, this tour through the dark wonderland of early twentieth century American writers is also a look at a very compelling and independent woman trying to control her own destiny and create.