Caroline Pramas

Writing Sample
**Below are excerpts from a review of Rapture, Blister, Burn by Gina Gionfriddo at the
Goodman Theatre. The piece was originally written for a Dramatic Criticism class taught
by Chris Jones of the Chicago Tribune**

Close to my familys home in Massachusetts, lies a cold and incomplete

mansion. It rests on the shore of a peaceful pond, surrounded by oak and pine trees,
and is built with warm, red stones. A pallet of excess materials with its gritty plastic
covering, sadly waves in the wind as it sits beside the windowless beast that waits to be
made whole. Somewhere down the line the money ran dry and the project was
abandoned. Whoever commissioned this dream home realized the answer to a question
the characters in Gina Gionfriddos play, Rapture, Blister, Burn grapple with. Can you
have it all? The owners of this house cant have the pond-side view, the partition of
trees, the quarried stone, the indulgent size, and the money. Sacrifices must be made.
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We watch people try to make things work, and if they dont, we watch them as
they make a choice to sacrifice something, a decision that will follow these characters
the rest of their lives. Is it possible to be happy with what you have, knowing there is
something that you dont?
Even though I feel like I will never be able to do all the things I want, I am not
discouraged by this play. I am not the only person who left the theatre knowing that Im
still going to try to do everything I want. There will always be people who will try to have
it all, it is what makes this play relevant and worthy of your attention. If we were meant

to leave this play defeated, then it wouldnt be produced, and wed be doing something
different with our Friday nights.
Jack Magaws picturesque scenic design features snippets of sunset that peek
up from behind rooftops and are framed by blackness, creating the collage of a New
England summer. Like these squares of sky, and like the mansion with dead leaves
collecting in the corners, the characters in this Pulitzer Prize finalist play are left
unfinished. New relationships are hastily cemented together and before they are dry, fall
apart, and old relationships are repaired with plywood patches.