Gail has been chronically ill for more than twenty-five years. Agonizing, intense, punishing. After a parade of doctors and specialists she is no closer to a solution. Understandably desperate, she sells her home to check into a sanitarium, that promises a possible cure. Once she gets there, she is greeted by Sacha, the gatekeeper. She offers Gail a glass of water, then tells her where she can get one. The consummate host.
It doesn’t take long to discover just how sketchy this institution is. Dr. Tolliver the “guru” has a doctorate in Literature, not Medicine. The regimen is decidedly Draconian. No leaving your Spartan cabin after curfew, no questioning their methods or ideology, no wandering the grounds. No contact with the outside for three weeks. Warmth or encouragement offered only in small doses, if at all.
We must wonder if Dr. Tolliver wraps her recovery retreat in mystery so she can appropriate the client’s money. Despairing patients willing to sign up for any inkling of hope. If the passengers of the Titanic knew their ultimate destination, would they have purchased a ticket? We could speculate on the strategy behind the treatment. Distract the patient from focusing on their illness. Some of the sick will hold fast to their pathology, because it gives them some psychological reward. Don’t indulge physical torment, because it could hold them back.
One is reminded of the notorious Boot Camps for delinquent teens, where they are subjected to Drill Sargent techniques. Prolonged hikes and sleep deprivation and compulsory submission. Results are no measure of success. If you shoplift and they cut off your hand, you’re reformed? For some it works, others die.
Playwright Blake Hackler aims to explain the inexplicable. If you’re chronically ill and science fails, try the unorthodox. If the unorthodox fails, find a metaphysical healer. Luckily Dr. Tolliver keeps one in the wings, for just such emergencies. Gail is wheeled out on a gurney, with the reassurance she’s in for worse suffering, but it should do the trick. No other explanation. Just another enigma.
There are patterns. Martyrdom. Lack of compassion. Victim blaming. Equivocation. It’s not unusual to find dramas that offer (to engage, to provoke) questions with no answers. Perhaps this drama (like a pilgrim) wants to find out why healing sometimes works, and sometimes doesn’t. Perhaps at long last, it’s unknowable.
Second Thought Theatre presents Healed, playing April 23rd-May 10th, 2025. Bryant Hall on the Kalita Humphreys Campus. 3400 Blackburn Street, Dallas, Texas 75219. 214-837-3091. secondthoughttheatre.com