Substance of Fire and Other Plays

Jon Robin Baitz startled the theatrical world with the 1985 debut of The Film Society. A frank examination of the controlling forces behind a nearly bankrupt private school for boys in South Africa, The Film Society introduced a young playwright with an extraordinary mature grasp of people, language and society. Baitz's recent works have fulfilled his early promise and enhanced his reputation. In The Substance of Fire (1991), a fiercely intellectual New York publisher struggles with his children for control of his business, and with the relentless pride which has made him impervious to love. In The End of the Day (1992), an expatriate British doctor adapts to America by abandoning his ideals and succumbing to the twin lures of status and crime.