Sirk TV Book Review: WINGSPAN [Vintage-Short]

The aspect of an excerpt or a one-act play is not an anomaly in the mainstream literature world unless it has to do with illustrations or similar. That is why it is interesting to see something like ""Wingspan" [Chris Bohjalian/Vintage/36pgs] which is a diatribe on everything that makes us separate but different at the same time, the ideas that are boiling near the surface and the masks that people wear. In this instance it takes the form of two flight attendants, one grizzled andmature and the other rash and impulsive. One is winding down while one is looking forward. They have their own ambitions. The idea of the younger girl being afraid to fly yet was told to do so at the request of her married boyfriend who eventually dumps her. This speaks to the undeniable lack sometimes of identity and confidence of young adults who would rather sometimes, instead of engaging in life tend to coast a little longer than they should giving rise to radical ideas. This can become dangerous in a sense but also liberating in the fact that ideas are meant to revolutionize at times, civilize at others. How better to explain this than in a one fact play where everything means something else.A

By Tim Wassberg