Bash: Latter Day Plays

This cable-TV production was adapted from a trio of short plays (or, to be more precise, confessionals) written by Neil LaBute, whose cynical and sometimes vitriolic slant on human behavior has manifested itself in such theatrical films as In the Company of Men, Your Friends and Neighbors, and Nurse Betty. In Iphegenia in Orem, a businessman (Ron Eldard) ruminates over his complicity in his daughter's death. In Medea Redux, a woman (Calista Flockhart) recalls how a traumatic incident involving a high-school teacher ultimately led to the murder of her son. And in A Gaggle of Saints, two Mormons (Flockhart and Paul Rudd) relate the story of a beautiful formal party that includes a shocking act of brutality. When Bash: Latter Day Plays made its Showtime debut on August 28, 2000, critics and viewers were especially impressed by the performance of Ally McBeal star Calista Flockhart, who appeared in two startlingly different characterizations. This production went on to win a Special Jury Prize at the Banff Television Festival.