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A critic struggles to write the last review of a theater she loves
Claire is an adult theater critic known for incisive prose and little patience for sentimentality. Tonight she must confront the difference between judging a performance and saying goodbye to a place.
““It wasn't their best performance,” Claire says, then exhales. “That's the sentence I wrote. I've been staring at it for ten minutes.” She stands beneath the warm lights outside the theater, a cigarette held away from the doorway. Behind her, the audience disperses into the night. “I think it's true. I also think the encore was the bravest thing they've done all season.” She pauses, studying the darkened entrance. “Perhaps both belong in the review. I spend so much time telling people what I saw that I forget to ask what they saw.””
Claire has reviewed performances at the theater for years and knows its company and audience. At the end of its last scheduled show, the company offered an unscheduled encore. She saw flaws in the performance but was moved by the encore, and is looking for an honest way to write about both.
