"The dialogue is rich in fine emotional nuance, and the direction, by Davis McCallum, is unfussy and focused...All the relationships in the play are drawn with care...Mr. Hunter, admirably, does not condescend to his characters for their faith...But there remains that problem of Mr. Hunter’s unwillingness to specify—or his characters’ cluelessness about—just whom they will be trying to convert...The primary plot strand ...didn’t exactly have me gnawing my fingernails in suspense."
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"Like much of Hunter's work, 'The Harvest' takes place in a jammed intersection of religion, family, sexuality and poverty, which the playwright maps out in evocative detail...Masterfully directed by Davis McCallum, the excellent cast—which includes Scott Jaeck and a wittily smarmy Zoë Winters—helps get us inside the complex worlds of these characters’ devotions, as they grasp in the fearful dark for revelation."
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"In 'The Harvest' Hunter has engaged, through this love, his anger, to thrillingly contrapuntal effect...There is a bit of awkwardly integrated exposition here and there, and the ending, though very powerful, requires perhaps too many turns of the screw for its own good. But it is passionate and funny and daring and, under Davis McCallum’s perfectly judged direction, marvelously theatrical in a way that most serious plays about faith are not."
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"The play is slow-going and lugubrious, lacking sufficient dramatic tension to fully command attention. When the speaking in tongues is more compelling than the dialogue, it's a problem...Director Davis McCallum's muted, hyper-realistic production never fully comes to life. It's tedious for long stretches, and although several of the performances are outstanding, much of the dialogue is inaudible...'The Harvest' doesn't bear much dramatic fruit."
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"With astutely unifying direction from McCallum, Hunter and the performers do an uncommonly good job of fleshing out all of the supporting roles...But the play really belongs to Kendall, a young actor of astonishing intensity and truthfulness...While a very late-in-the-game twist doesn't necessarily suit the piece as a whole, it is grounded enough in the uncommon reality that Hunter and McCallum create that it is easily forgivable."
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"McCallum's direction is emotionally sincere, and his staging the most that could be expected...There are some compelling performances, too...The prevailing problem with 'The Harvest,' though, is the same as with so much of Hunter's work...He falls back on the lazy shorthand of demonizing one side to make his points with a minimum of opposition...All it does is reduce a potentially worthwhile exploration of a key experience, or a critique of its efficacy, to mere babble."
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"Although scenes tend to feel drawn out and a bit unfocused, the play, directed by Davis McCallum, is compelling and engaging for the most part...We can guess that the inspirational stories we hear are not so straightforward...So what is Hunter trying to tell us? I’ll let you decide, but I can’t say that I left the theatre content or hopeful. More like a bit sick to my stomach. But I’m guessing that is the desired effect Hunter is going for.
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"The playwright doesn’t just lay it all out for us, though. He metes out tantalizing, impressionistic bits, leaving it to us to put the separate strands together. It turns out to be quite compelling. Davis McCallum—who has directed the New York productions of Hunter’s four main plays—clearly has a feel for the playwright’s work. His entire cast gives strong performances, with four of them compulsively watchable."
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